Rihanna named world's most marketable celebrity

American R&B singer Rihanna has been named as the world's most marketable celebrity, outranking other A-list celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Beyoncé and the Kardashians, according to global information provider The NPD Group.

“Rihanna is the most marketable of all big-name celebrities, with fans that have more distinctive brand preferences than any other big-name celebrity in any genre (including athletes, actors, musicians, and others),” NPD said.

According to its findings, a celebrity is considered to be a strong endorsement opportunity for a brand if the fans of that celebrity are at least 50 percent more likely to use the brand.

Thus, the 27 year-old singer landed an index score of 367, which is almost 3.7 times as many strong brand endorsement opportunities as the average big-name celebrity.

Rihanna will debut her first sneaker collaboration with Puma at NYFW

Rihanna, who is set to debut her first sneaker collection with Puma at New York Fashion Week in February, has also helped UK fashion chain River Island to hit a 70 percent rise in 2014 profits with her celebrity collaborations.

However, NPD said motor brand Jeep was one of the brands driving Rihanna's top endorsement score with her fans showing a distinct preference for that brand.

Beyoncé, who has a successful and growing collaboration with UK fashion retailer Topshop, was the second-best big-name celebrity with a Brand Endorsement Score of 336. Also in the Top Ten are: Ne-Yo, Usher, Wiz Khalifa, The Weeknd, Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Hart, Dr Dre and Khloé Kardashian.

The organisation said the study was powered by its BrandLink database of responses from 92,000 consumer surveys covering 1,000 celebrities and 2,500 brands across automotive, consumer packaged goods, beauty/fashion, financial services, restaurants, technology, and others.