Today, TIME reveals the ninth annual TIME 100, which lists the 100 most influential people in the world.
Managing Editor Rick Stengel writes, “The TIME 100 list is about the infinite possibilities of influence and the power of influence to change the world…. Now [one] can tweet a phrase that reaches millions in a flash. Influence was never easier—or more ephemeral. Which is why we try to choose those people whose influence is both lasting and, with a few notable exceptions, laudable.”
The TIME 100 features often-surprising pairings of the influentials and the guest contributors TIME selects to write about them. The ninth-annual list includes: President Barack Obama on Warren Buffett, Bill Bain on Governor Mitt Romney, Howard Stern on Matt Lauer, Garry Trudeau on Stephen Colbert, Valerie Plame Wilson on Claire Danes, Johnny Depp on Harvey Weinstein, Al Gore on Tim Cook, Stella McCartney on Rihanna, Cicely Tyson on Viola Davis, Alyssa Milano on Pete Cashmore, Robert Gates on Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush on Marco Rubio, Judd Apatow on Kristen Wiig, Pink on Adele, Jeremy Lin on Tim Tebow, Ralph Nader on Ron Paul, and many more. The list is divided into five categories: Moguls, Breakouts, Icons, Pioneers and Leaders.
The TIME 100 includes 54 international figures from 37 countries, more than any previous TIME 100 and the first time that there are more international names on the list than American. Some of the notable international names include: Benjamin Netanyahu, Lionel Messi, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Pippa Middleton, Maria das Graças Silva Foster, Dilma Rousseff, Wang Yang, Xi Jinping, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, René Redzepi and many more.
The winner of the TIME.com TIME 100 poll was Anonymous, the network of Internet activists, which received more than 395,000 “Yes” votes. As winner of the poll, they are included on the official TIME 100.
The list appears in the first ever perfect-bound edition of TIME, the April 30, 2012 issue, which goes on sale Thursday, April 19.
A selection of 50 of the TIME 100 are listed below, while the entire list can be seen at TIME.
Adele, Singer
José Andrés, Chef and activist
Anonymous, Internet collective; winner of TIME.com’s 2012 TIME 100 poll
Eike Batista, President, EBX Group; Brazil’s richest man
Sara Blakely, Founder, Spanx
Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
Sarah Burton, Creative Director, Alexander McQueen
Pete Cashmore, Founder and CEO, Mashable
Jessica Chastain, Actor
Louis CK, Comedian
Hillary Clinton,United States Secretary of State
Stephen Colbert, Host, The Colbert Report
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
Barbara Van Dahlen, Founder, Give an Hour
Claire Danes, Actor
Viola Davis, Actor
Novak Djokovic, Tennis player
Maryam Durani, Afghan activist; radio station owner and operator
Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify
Asghar Farhadi, Director, A Separation
Ali Ferzat, Syrian political cartoonist
Chelsea Handler, Comedian
Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs; founder, The Aspen Institute
E.L. James, Author, 50 Shades of Grey
Salman Khan, Founder, Khan Academy
Matt Lauer, Host, NBC’s TODAY Show
Chen Lihua, Founder and Chairman, Fuwah International Group; China’s richest woman
Jeremy Lin, Point guard, New York Knicks
Christian Marclay, Artist, The Clock
Erik Martin, General Manager, Reddit
Lionel Messi, Football player, FC Barcelona
Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge
Pippa Middleton, Sister of the Duchess of Cambridge
Alexei Navalny,Blogger and activist
SharmeenObaid-Chinoy, Oscar-winning filmmaker of Saving Face
Barack Obama,President of the United States
Ann Patchett, Novelist
Oscar Pistorius, Double amputee sprinter
Ben Rattray, Founder, Change.org
René Redzepi, Chef, Noma
Rihanna, Singer
Virginia Rometty, CEO, IBM
Raphael Saadiq, Singer
Sheryl Sandberg,COO, Facebook
Tilda Swinton, Actor
Tim Tebow, Quarterback, New York Jets
Yani Tseng, Professional golfer, LPGA
Alice Walton, Founder, Crystal Bridges Museum
Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman, The Weinstein Company
Kristen Wiig, Actor and comedian
The entire list is here: www.time.com/time100