Time 100
Time Magazine's annual listing of 100 influential people
The Time 100 is a list published by the American news magazine Time of the 100 most influential people in the world. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly publicized annual event. It is generally considered an honor to be included on the list, but, much like the magazine's Person of the Year, Time makes it clear that entrants are recognized for changing the world, regardless of the consequences of their actions. The final list of influential individuals is exclusively chosen by Time editors, with nominations coming from the Time 100 alumni and the magazine's international writing staff. Only the winner of the Reader's Poll, conducted days before the official list is revealed, is chosen by the general public. The corresponding commemorative gala is held annually in Manhattan, and has emerged as one of the world's most celebrated galas as well as high fashion events.
In 2019, Time began publishing the Time 100 Next list, which "spotlights 100 rising stars who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, science, health and more".
Selection criteria
In 2000, Time's editors identified "three rather distinct qualities" when choosing people to be listed. Time's editor-at-large Michael Elliott wrote:
First there were those who came to their status by means of a very public possession of power. President George W. Bush is the pre-eminent example.
“Time 100” enters the record as time Magazine's annual listing of 100 influential people. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Time, Magazine's and annual can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Time 100” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Time, Magazine's and annual provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q604370. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1999, 2019 and 2000.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Time 100” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.