Fortune: ‘Apple Most Admired Company’. Forbes: Nuh-uh

Apple has landed the No. 1 spot on Fortune’s annual “World’s Most Admired Companies” list for the sixth year in a row.

Fortune conducts its poll by asking executives, industry analysts, and other notable business-heads to rank companies according to their attributes, such as innovation, social responsibility, quality of products and services, etc., and Apple apparently scored the highest in all nine categories and won most admired company for the following reasons:

Apple has had a rough time lately with its stock price in a free fall and the widely publicized failure of its Maps feature. However, it remains a financial juggernaut, posting $13 billion in net income last quarter, making it the most profitable company in the world during that period. The company has its fanatical customer base, and it still refuses to compete on price, making the iconic iPhone and iPad products that are still widely seen as prestige devices. Competition may be stiff, but so far it remains behind: In Q4 2012, the iPhone 5 was the world’s best selling smartphone, followed in second place by the iPhone 4S. —OA

Apple’s achievement might not be well received by some, or, specifically, Capitol Media’s founding partner Brad Chase. He wrote a Forbes post earlier this week and forecasted that Apple would likely drop from the No. 1 spot on Fortune’s list:

Apple has been the “world’s most admired company” for five years running, and there’s a chance Fortune will defy logic and give Apple the crown once more for posterity. If Amazon somehow fails to leapfrog the bumbling Apple and the pugnacious Google this year, it’s clear the algorithm is flawed. One way or another, the drop has begun.

Ouch. Well, Apple didn’t lose its spot. How embarrassing for Chase. The entire Top 10 is below: