Time Person of the Year

Person of the Year, called Man of the Year or Woman of the Year until 1999, is an annual issue of the American news magazine and website Time featuring a person, group, idea, or object that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year". The Time website or a partner organization also runs an annual online reader's poll that has no effect on the selection, although no poll was held in 2023 or 2024.

Background

The tradition of selecting a "Man of the Year" began privately in 1927, with Time editors contemplating the news makers of the year after a series of "slow news days" leading up to New Year's Day. Before the online poll was instituted, "readers were invited to weigh in by mail." "American Women" were recognized as a group in 1975. Other classes of people recognized comprise both men and women, such as "Hungarian Freedom Fighters" (1956), "U.S. Scientists" (1960), "The Inheritors" (1966), "The Middle Americans" (1969), "The American Soldier" (1950 and 2003), "You" (2006), "The Protester" (2011), and "Ebola Fighters" (2014). However, the title on the magazine remained "Man of the Year" for both the 1956 "Hungarian Freedom Fighter" and the 1966 "Twenty-five and Under" editions which both featured a woman standing behind a man, and "Men of the Year" on the 1960 "U.S. Scientists" edition which exclusively featured men on its cover. It was not until the 1969 edition on "The Middle Americans" that the title embraced "Man and Woman of the Year".

In 1999, the title was changed to the gender-neutral "Person of the Year" (its first recipient under the new name being Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com). Women who have been selected for recognition after the renaming include "The Whistleblowers" (Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley, and Sherron Watkins) in 2002; Melinda Gates (jointly with Bill Gates and Bono) in 2005; Angela Merkel (2015); "The Silence Breakers" (2017); Greta Thunberg (2019); Kamala Harris (jointly with Joe Biden) in 2020; Taylor Swift (2023); and "The Architects of AI" (among whom Fei-Fei Li and Lisa Su) in 2025. To celebrate International Women's Day in 2020, Time editors released 89 new magazine covers, each showing women, in addition to the 11 already chosen, as counterparts to the Man of the Year choices from the past century. Since 2022, Time has awarded a separate "Women of the Year" title to a number of women each year, in a similar fashion to Time 100.

Groups and non-humans

Despite the name, the title is not just granted to individuals. Pairs of people such as married couples and political opponents, classes of people, and inanimate objects have all been selected for the special year-end issue.

Multiple named people

Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling, president and first lady of China (1937)
William Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell, crew of Apollo 8 (1968)
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, political allies (1972)
Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov, Cold War rivals (1983)
Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk; Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, political leaders leading peace negotiations (1993)
Bill Clinton and Ken Starr, key figures in the Clinton impeachment (1998)
Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley, and Sherron Watkins, whistleblowers (2002)
Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Bono, philanthropists (2005)
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, American president-elect and vice president-elect (2020)

Classes of unnamed people

The American fighting-man / The American soldier (1950 and 2003)
The Hungarian freedom fighter (1956)
U.S. scientists (1960)
The Inheritor (1966)
Middle Americans (1969)
American women (1975)
You (2006)
The Protester (2011)
Ebola fighters (2014)
The Silence Breakers (2017)
The Guardians (2018)
The Architects of AI (2025)

Inanimate objects

The Computer (Machine of the Year, 1982)
The Endangered Earth (Planet of the Year, 1988)

Abstract concepts

The Spirit of Ukraine (2022)

Special editions

In 1949, Winston Churchill was named Man of the Half-Century, and the last issue of 1989 named Mikhail Gorbachev as "Man of the Decade". The December 31, 1999 issue of Time named Albert Einstein the "Person of the Century". Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi were chosen as runners-up. Aside from Einstein, the December 31 edition also named Persons of the Century for every century of the 2nd millennium: William the Conqueror for the 11th century, Saladin for the 12th century, Genghis Khan for the 13th century, Giotto for the 14th century, Johannes Gutenberg for the 15th century, Elizabeth I for the 16th century, Isaac Newton for the 17th century, Thomas Jefferson for the 18th century, and Thomas Edison for the 19th century.

Controversial choices

Despite the magazine's frequent statements to the contrary, the designation is often regarded as an honor and spoken of as an award or prize, simply based on many previous selections of admirable people. Time observes that controversial figures such as Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939 and 1942), Nikita Khrushchev (1957), and Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) have also been granted the title for their impact on events. Nevertheless, as a result of the cancellation of subscriptions from the American audience for naming Khomeini Man of the Year in 1979, following the Iran hostage crisis, the magazine's editors have since shied away from using figures who are controversial in the United States, fearing reductions in sales or advertising revenue.

Times Person of the Year for 2001, immediately following the September 11 attacks, was Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor of New York City at the time of the attacks. The stated rules of selection—the individual or group of individuals who have had the bigger influence on the year's events—made Osama bin Laden the more likely choice that year; however, Giuliani was selected for symbolizing the American response to the attacks, in the same way that Albert Einstein was selected Person of the Century for representing a century of scientific exploration and wonder instead of Adolf Hitler, who was arguably a stronger candidate.

Withdrawn and alleged selections

In 1941, the fictional elephant Dumbo from Walt Disney's animated film of the same name was selected to be "Mammal of the Year", and a cover was created showing the title character in a formal portrait style. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 pre-empted the cover. The U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt was named Man of the Year for a record third time, although Dumbo's Mammal of the Year profile still appeared on the inside pages of the magazine.

U.S. president Donald Trump claimed on Twitter in November 2017 that Time editors had told him he would "probably" be named Person of the Year for a second time, conditional on an interview and photo shoot, which he had refused. Time denied that they had made any such promises or conditions to Trump, who was named a runner-up.

Person(s) of the Year

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Image

! scope="col" | Choice

! scope="col" | Lifetime

! scope="col" | Notes

! scope="col" | Runners-up

|- id="1927"

| 1927

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1902–1974

| Lindbergh completed the first solo transatlantic flight in May 1927 by piloting his monoplane Spirit of St. Louis from Garden City, New York to Paris, France.

| rowspan="49" | Time did not release a shortlist.

| 1928

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1875–1940

| In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his company, Chrysler, with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.

| 1929

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1874–1962

| Young chaired a committee which authored 1929's Young Plan, a program for settlement of German reparations after World War I.

|- id="1930"

| 1930

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1869–1948

| Gandhi was the leader of India's independence movement. In 1930, he led the Salt Satyagraha, a 240-mile march to protest the imposition of taxes on salt by the British Raj.

| 1931

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1883–1945

| Laval was first appointed Prime Minister of France in 1931. He was popular in the American press at the time for opposing the Hoover Moratorium, a temporary freeze on World War I debt payments that was disliked in both France and the US.

| 1932

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1882–1945

| Roosevelt won the 1932 US presidential election by a landslide, defeating the incumbent, Herbert Hoover.

| 1933

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1882–1942

| In 1933, Johnson was appointed director of the National Recovery Administration. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave him the task of bringing industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices.

| 1934

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1882–1945

| Roosevelt was President of the United States from 1933 to 1945. In 1934, Roosevelt's New Deal reforms were beginning to bring results.

| 1935

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1892–1975

| Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia in 1935, when Italian forces invaded Ethiopia, starting the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

| 1936

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1896–1986

| In 1936, Simpson's relationship with King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom led the king to abdicate the throne to marry her.

| rowspan="2" | 1937

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1887–1975

| Chiang was Premier of the Republic of China at the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1898–2003

| Soong was wife of Chiang Kai-shek from 1927 until his death in 1975, and was active in rallying support for the Republic of China in the US. Addressed as Madame Chiang Kai-Shek by the magazine, she was recognized together with her husband as "Man & Wife of the Year".

| 1939

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1878–1953

| In 1939, Stalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Premier of the Soviet Union. He oversaw the signing of a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany before invading eastern Poland.

|- id="1940"

| 1940

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1874–1965

| Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain.

| 1941

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (3)

| 1882–1945

| Roosevelt was President of the United States in 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, declaration of war against Japan and resulting entry of the United States into World War II. The editors had already chosen Dumbo as their "Mammal of the Year" before the Pearl Harbor attack, but quickly changed it to Roosevelt.

| 1942

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1878–1953

| Stalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, overseeing the Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943) and Second Battle of Kharkov.

| 1943

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1880–1959

| As United States Army Chief of Staff in 1943, General Marshall was instrumental in organizing US actions in World War II.

| 1944

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1890–1969

| General Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during 1944's Operation Overlord.

| 1945

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1884–1972

| Truman became President of the United States after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, authorizing the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

| 1946

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1882–1972

| In 1946, Byrnes was United States Secretary of State during the Iran crisis of 1946, taking an increasingly hardline position in opposition to Stalin. His speech, "Restatement of Policy on Germany", set the tone of future US policy, repudiating the Morgenthau Plan economic policies and giving Germans hope for the future.

| 1947

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1880–1959

| Appointed United States Secretary of State in 1947, Marshall was the architect of the Marshall Plan.

| 1948

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1884–1972

| Truman was elected President of the United States in 1948, which is considered to be one of the greatest election upsets in American history.

| 1949

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1874–1965

| Proclaimed as the "Man of the half-century", Churchill had led Britain and the Allies to victory in WWII. In 1949, Churchill was Leader of the Opposition.

|- id="1950"

| 1950

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Representing US troops involved in the Korean War (1950–1953)

| 1951

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1882–1967

| In 1951, Mossadegh was appointed Prime Minister of Iran and expelled Western oil companies, starting the Abadan Crisis.

| 1952

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1926–2022

| In 1952, Elizabeth acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms upon the death of her father, King George VI.

| 1953

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1876–1967

| In 1953, Adenauer was re-elected as Chancellor of West Germany. Adenauer was overseeing the reconstruction of Germany and the Economic Miracle, had successfully restored relations with Germany's wartime enemies in the West, and was working towards European integration.

| 1954

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1888–1959

| As United States Secretary of State in 1954, Dulles was architect of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

| 1955

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1893–1962

| Curtice was President of General Motors (GM) from 1953 to 1958. In 1955, GM sold five million vehicles and became the first corporation to earn US$1 billion in a single year.

| 1956

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Representing Hungarian revolutionaries involved in the 1956 uprising against the Soviet-dominated government, which was put down by the Soviet Army

| 1957

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1894–1971

| In 1957, Khrushchev consolidated his leadership of the Soviet Union, surviving a plot to dismiss him by Stalinist members within the Presidium, and leading the Soviet Union into the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1.

| 1958

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1890–1970

| De Gaulle was appointed Prime Minister of France in May 1958 and, following the collapse of the Fourth Republic and establishment of the Fifth Republic, was then elected as President of France in December.

| 1959

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1890–1969

| Eisenhower was President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. In 1959, Eisenhower arranged the state visit by Nikita Khrushchev to the United States and toured several countries, becoming the first US president to visit India.

|- id="1960"

| 1960

! scope="row" |

| Time claimed in 1960 "science is at the apogee of its power for good or evil", although it noted that "the 15 men [on the cover] include two or three whose greatest work is probably behind them".

| 1961

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1917–1963

| Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States in 1961, ordering the failed invasion of Cuba by U.S.-trained Cuban exiles.

| 1962

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1881–1963

| Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963. In 1962, he volunteered as a mediator in the Cuban Missile Crisis between the U.S. and USSR, gaining praise from both sides. He also initiated the Second Vatican Council that same year.

| 1963

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1929–1968

| A leader of the American Civil rights movement, King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.

| 1964

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1908–1973

| Johnson was elected in his own right as President of the United States in 1964, secured the passage of the Civil Rights Act, declared a War on Poverty, and escalated US involvement in the Vietnam War.

| 1965

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1914–2005

| General Westmoreland was commander of US forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

| 1966

! scope="row" |

| Representing a generation of American men and women, aged 25 and under – the Baby Boom generation, who in 1966 made up nearly half the population and were influential both in the counterculture of the 1960s and as drafted soldiers in the Vietnam War. The face most prominently seen on the cover representing the generation was that of Thomas M. McLaughlin.

| 1967

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1908–1973

| Johnson was President of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Time noted that it had been a year of setbacks and failures for Johnson, with race riots across the US, deepening involvement in the Vietnam War, and the Dump Johnson movement within his own party.

| 1968

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Frank Borman: 1928–2023<br />Jim Lovell: 1928–2025<br />William Anders: 1933–2024

| In 1968, the American crew of Apollo 8 (William Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell) became the first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, orbiting the Moon and paving the way for the first human Moon landings in 1969.

| 1969

! scope="row" |

| Conservative, small-town Americans, also referred to as the silent majority. Time saw Middle America as the driving force behind Richard Nixon's 1968 election win, the background of the American astronauts of Apollo 11, and the conservative side of debates on social issues such as school desegregation, prayer in public schools, sex education and drugs policy.

|- id="1970"

| 1970

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1913–1992

| As Chancellor of West Germany, Brandt was acknowledged for "seeking to bring about a fresh relationship between East and West" through his "bold approach to the Soviet Union and the East Bloc". In 1970, Brandt renounced German claims on Poland and recognized East Germany, and acknowledged the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland with the symbolic Kniefall von Warschau.

| 1971

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1913–1994

| Nixon was President of the United States from 1969 to 1974. In 1971, Nixon had withdrawn the US dollar from the gold standard, triggering the Nixon shock, created the Economic Stabilization Program, and re-opened relations with communist China.

| rowspan="2" | 1972

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1913–1994

| As President of the United States, Nixon visited China in 1972, the first U.S. president to do so. Nixon later secured the SALT I pact with the Soviet Union before being re-elected in one of the largest landslide election victories in American history.

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1923–2023

| Kissinger, as Nixon's National Security Advisor, traveled with the President to China in 1972, and was negotiating peace in the Vietnam War.

| 1973

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1904–1992

| In 1973, as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Sirica ordered President Nixon to turn over Watergate-related recordings of White House conversations.

| 1974

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | Faisal

| 1906–1975

| Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia, was acknowledged in the wake of the oil crisis, which arose when Saudi Arabia withdrew its oil from world markets to protest Western support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1975

! scope="row" |

| Highlighting the successes of the American feminist movement and "the status of the everyday, usually anonymous woman, who moved into the mainstream of jobs, ideas and policy making".

| rowspan="1" |

| 1976

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1924–2024

| In 1976, Carter was elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent President Gerald Ford.

| rowspan="2" | Time did not release a shortlist.

| 1977

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1918–1981

| Sadat, as President of Egypt, traveled to Israel in 1977—the first Arab leader to do so—to discuss normalization of relations of both countries.

| 1978

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1904–1997

| Deng, as Vice Premier, overthrew Hua Guofeng to assume de facto control over China in 1978, as Paramount leader.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1979

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1902–1989

| Khomeini led the Iranian Revolution, overthrew Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, establishing himself as Supreme Leader.

| rowspan="1" |

|- id="1980"

| 1980

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1911–2004

| Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980, defeating incumbent President Jimmy Carter.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1981

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1943

| Leader of the Polish Solidarity trade union and architect of the Gdańsk Agreement until his arrest by the communist authorities and the imposition of martial law in Poland in December 1981

| rowspan="1" |

| 1982

! scope="row" |

| Denoted "Machine of the Year" to herald the dawn of the Information Age

| rowspan="1" |

| rowspan="2" | 1983

|frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1911–2004

| In 1983, as President of the United States, Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada and championed the Strategic Defense Initiative.

| rowspan="2" |

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1914–1984

| Andropov, as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was a critic of the Strategic Defense Initiative and tried to revive the stagnating Soviet economy. Andropov was hospitalized in August 1983 and died in 1984.

| 1984

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1937

| Ueberroth orchestrated the organization of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which involved a Soviet-led boycott.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1985

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1904–1997

| As Paramount Leader of China, Deng acknowledged the need for "sweeping economic reforms that have challenged Marxist orthodoxies". In 1985, Deng had lifted price controls and eased the restrictions on private ownership and business.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1986

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1933–2009

| Aquino was a prominent figure in 1986's People Power Revolution, being elected president of the Philippines.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1987

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1931–2022

| As general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev oversaw perestroika and glasnost political reforms in 1987, aimed at liberalizing Soviet society.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1988

! scope="row" |

| Planet of the Year, representing the growing environmental movement as well as several natural and ecological disasters that struck in 1988: among them were the North American drought, "syringe tide", Bangladeshi cyclone and an earthquake in Armenia, as well as ozone depletion, global warming, radioactive contamination and deforestation.

| rowspan="2" | Time did not release a shortlist.

| 1989

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| 1931–2022

| Acknowledged as "Man of the Decade". Gorbachev, as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Soviet leader), oversaw 1989's first free Soviet elections in history before the fragmentation of the Eastern Bloc and overthrow of Soviet-dominated communist governments in Eastern Europe.

|- id="1990"

| 1990

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1924–2018

| As President of the United States, Bush oversaw U.S. involvement in the Gulf War (1990–1991).

| rowspan="1" |

| 1991

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1938–2026

| Founder of CNN. The piece particularly highlighted CNN's coverage of Operation Desert Storm and the Gulf War, proclaiming it "History as it happens".

| rowspan="1" |

| 1992

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1946

| Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992, defeating incumbent President George H. W. Bush.

| rowspan="3" | Time did not release a shortlist.

| 1993

! scope="row" |

| Represented by Yasser Arafat, F. W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela, and Yitzhak Rabin. De Klerk, as State President of South Africa, oversaw Mandela's release from prison in 1990. In 1993, the pair were negotiating the end of the Apartheid system, and had just jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. Arafat, as President of the Palestinian National Authority, and Rabin, as Prime Minister of Israel, signed the 1993 Oslo Accord, the first face-to-face agreement between Palestinian and Israeli authorities.

| 1994

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1920–2005

| Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005. In 1994, he had been active in several social debates: he released a book-length interview and the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, ruled out the ordination of women, criticized the promotion of abortion and family planning at the Cairo Conference, and established relations with Israel.

| 1995

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1943

| Leader of the "Republican Revolution", a Republican Party election landslide, which led to Gingrich being elected Speaker of the House.

| rowspan="1" |

| 1996

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1952

| Ho, a scientist, pioneered much of AIDS research. In 1996, he had announced that a medical trial of combination therapy had reduced the viral load in HIV-positive patients to levels too low to be measured, changing the disease profile from terminal to a manageable disease.

| rowspan="1" | Time did not release a shortlist for 1996.

| 1997

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1936–2016

| In 1997, Grove was chairman and CEO of Intel, recognized as a pioneer in the semiconductor industry and taken as a representative of the Digital Revolution and the tech boom.

| rowspan="2" | 1998

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| Born 1946

| As President of the United States, Clinton was impeached in 1998 following the Lewinsky scandal. The Senate acquitted him of the charges.

| rowspan="2" |

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| 1946–2022

| Starr, a lawyer investigating various figures within the Clinton administration, published his Starr Report in 1998, opening the door for the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

| 1999

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1964

| Bezos is the founder and was the CEO of Amazon.com, at that point one of the most successful companies in the dot-com boom.

| rowspan="1" | Time did not release a shortlist for 1999.

|- id="2000"

| 2000

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1946

| In 2000, Bush was elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent Vice President Al Gore.

| rowspan="1" |

| 2001

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1944

| Giuliani, Mayor of New York City at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001, was selected as a symbol of America's response to the attacks.

| rowspan="5" | Time did not release a shortlist.

| 2002

! scope="row" |

| Represented by Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley, and Sherron Watkins. In 2001, Watkins uncovered accounting irregularities in the financial reports of Enron, testifying before Congressional committees the following year. In 2002, Cooper exposed a $3.8 billion fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history. In 2002, Rowley, an FBI agent, gave testimony about the FBI's mishandling of information related to the September 11 attacks of 2001.

| 2003

! scope="row" | (2)

| Representing U.S. forces around the world, especially in the Iraq War (2003–2011)

| 2004

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" | (2)

| Born 1946

| In 2004, Bush was re-elected President of the United States, defeating John Kerry and overseeing US involvement in the Iraq War.

| 2005

| frameless|upright=0.5<br />frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Represented by Bono, Bill Gates, and Melinda Gates. Bono, philanthropist and member of the rock band U2, helped to organize the 2005 Live 8 concerts. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and richest person in the world at the time, and his wife Melinda, founded the philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

| 2006

! scope="row" |

| Representing individual content creators on the World Wide Web

| 2007

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1952

| Putin was President of Russia from 2000 to 2008, and from 2012 onwards. In 2007, it was apparent that Putin's power would continue after his presidential term expired: he had suppressed much of the opposition to his rule, including having a suspected role in the 2006 assassination of Anna Politkovskaya and poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, and had secured his position as Prime Minister of Russia to his loyalist successor Dmitry Medvedev.

| 2008

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1961

| In 2008, Obama was elected President of the United States, defeating John McCain to become President of the United States in January 2009.

| 2009

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1953

|Chairman of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession

|- id="2010"

| 2010

| frameless|upright=0.5

! scope="row" |

| Born 1984

| Founder of the social-networking website Facebook. In 2010, Facebook passed half a billion users but was involved in privacy disputes, and Zuckerberg had been the subject of the Oscar-winning biographical film The Social Network.

| 2011

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|Recognizing the historic significance of many grassroots protests across the world during that year, such as the Arab Spring which started in Tunisia and those against austerity measures in Greece and later in Spain, against corruption in India, against the drug war in Mexico, for education in Chile, for social justice in Israel, as well as the riots in England, the anti-government protests in Russia and the emerging global Occupy movement

| 2012

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| Born 1961

| In 2012, Obama was re-elected President of the United States, defeating Mitt Romney.

| 2013

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! scope="row" | Francis

| 1936–2025

| Elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 2013, following the resignation of Benedict XVI.

| 2014

! scope="row" | fighters

|"Ebola fighters" refers to health care workers who helped stop the spread of the Ebola virus during the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, including not only doctors and nurses, but also ambulance attendants, burial parties and others.