Donald Trump has been crowned the Time magazine person of the year once again, beating the likes of Kamala Harris, and Elon Musk to the prestigious award.
The award goes to an event or person deemed to have had the most influence on global events over the past 12 months.
Barack Obama was crowned twice, in 2008 and 2012, while last year's winner was the pop icon Taylor Swift.
But controversial past winners of the award, including Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Vladimir Putin in 2007, have left many wondering how Time’s Person of the Year is chosen.
How is Time Person of the Year chosen?
Time magazine has chosen a Person of the Year since 1927.
The magazine grants the title, which isn’t necessarily an award, to the person or group it deems the most influential in the past 12 months.
Despite the name, the title is not just granted to individuals. It can be a person, group, idea or thing that “for better or for worse … has done the most to influence the events of the year".
The distinction was originally called Man of the Year.
Who are the 2024 finalists?
Joining incoming US President Trump on the shortlist were Elon Musk, Kamala Harris, Kate Middleton, Mark Zuckerberg, Yulia Navalnaya, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jerome Powell, Joe Rogan, and Claudia Sheinbaum.
After winning the 2024 election, Mr Trump, the next US president – who was chosen as Time's Person of the Year in 2016 – completed what may have been the greatest spectacular political comeback in history. In addition to being the oldest president in US history, he will be the first convicted felon to hold the nation's highest office.
Mr Musk, known as a “innovative disruptor” by the magazine, became the world's richest person in 2024, and his increasing ties to Mr Trump have positioned him to have a significant impact on the incoming US government. He was named Person of the Year in 2021.
Ms Harris, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, would have been the first female commander-in-chief of the United States, but she lost the November election to Mr Trump.
In addition to receiving cancer treatment, the Princess of Wales has had a difficult year as the target of terrible conspiracy theories. Her story's headlines “stirred a conversation about privacy and health for public figures”, according to the magazine.
Surprising past winners
Politicians, business titans, activists and religious leaders are among those who have been declared Time’s Person of the Year. Here are a few of the most surprising:
Adolf Hitler – 1938
Undoubtedly Time magazine’s most controversial selection, the choice to make Adolf Hitler Person of the Year in 1938 has long provoked disbelief among those who aren’t aware of the outlet’s morally neutral criteria for selection.
He was selected because of his influence in Europe, and the magazine was vehement in its condemnation. The cover of the issue depicted the dictator playing a gothic organ draped with dead bodies, while the article poured scorn on the “horrified and apparently impotent world” for allowing Hitler to re-establish Germany as a military power.
Joseph Stalin – 1939 and 1942
Stalin was twice named Person of the Year, firstly in 1939 for signing a non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The magazine wrote that he “not only sacrificed the good will of thousands of people the world over sympathetic to the ideals of Socialism, he matched himself with Adolf Hitler as the world’s most hated man”.
In 1942, the magazine praised the Soviet dictator for standing resolute against Hitler in what the magazine described as the “year of blood and strength”.
Ayatollah Khomeini – 1979
Mr Khomeini was the central figure in the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which saw a pro-Western government ousted and involved the Iran Hostage Crisis at the US embassy in Tehran.
In November 1979, Mr Khomeini condoned Iranian students who seized the US embassy in Iran and took the staff hostage. The 52 American hostages were ultimately held in captivity for 444 days.
Writing on the decision to name Khomeini Person of the Year in early 1980, Time said, "The lean figure of Khomeini towered malignly over the globe. As the leader of Iran's revolution he gave the 20th-century world a frightening lesson in the shattering power of irrationality, of the ease with which terrorism can be adopted as government policy."
‘You’ - 2006
The 2006 award for Person Of The Year proved to be a controversial one, with the magazine selecting the millions of people who contributed to user-generated sites such as Youtube, Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia during the midst of the social media boom.
Time said: “For seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time’s Person of the Year for 2006 is you.“
However, the award drew criticism from spectators, with Paul Kedrosky calling it an “incredible cop-out”.
Vladimir Putin – 2007
Time magazine named Russian president Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year for 2007, saying he had returned his country from chaos to “the table of world power” though at a cost to democratic principles.
“He’s not a good guy, but he’s done extraordinary things,” said Time managing editor Richard Stengel.
