The issue has 8 worldwide covers, each highlighting a member of the TIME100: immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, performer The Weeknd, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, COVID-19 frontline nurse Amy O’Sullivan, actor Gabrielle Union and athlete Dwyane Wade, performer Megan Thee Stallion, President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, and Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.
The TIME100 often includes surprising pairings of the list members and the guest contributors TIME selects to write about them. The seventeenth annual list includes: Denzel Washington on Michael B. Jordan, Derek Jeter on Patrick Mahomes, Common on Angela Davis, Ted Cruz on Tsai Ing-wen, Oprah Winfrey on Tyler Perry, Taylor Swift on Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Elizabeth Warren on Ady Barkan, Stevie Wonder on Yo-Yo Ma, Maya Moore on Naomi Osaka, Leonardo DiCaprio on Nemonte Nenquimo, Cyndi Lauper on Billy Porter, Deepika Padukone on Ayushmann Khurrana, Lena Waithe on Michaela Coel, Ayanna Pressley on Kamala Harris, Tilda Swinton on Bong Joon Ho, Kim Kardashian West on JoJo Siwa, Melinda Gates on MacKenzie Scott, Ronan Farrow on Julie K. Brown, Timothy Geithner on Jerome Powell, Jennifer Garner on Greg Berlanti and many more.
See the 2020 TIME100 full list, tributes, videos and photos.
In addition to these 8 covers, the issue will also feature a new cover and a special tribute commemorating Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was featured on the TIME100 list in 2015.
Of the 2020 TIME100 list, TIME CEO and editor in chief Edward Felsenthal writes, "This year’s list looks far different than any of us could have predicted just six months ago. The TIME 100 has always been a mirror of the world and those who shape it. While you will certainly find people who wield traditional power on this year’s list—heads of state, CEOs, major entertainers—it also includes many extraordinary, lesser-known individuals who seized the moment to save lives, build a movement, lift the spirit, repair the world.... Their work challenges each of us to wield our own influence toward a world that is healthier, more resilient, more sustainable and just.”
Of this year’s list, Felsenthal continues, "As a rule, the TIME 100 focuses on the living, but looming large over this year’s list is the impact of individuals such as Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade, whose killings galvanized a reckoning around police brutality and systemic racism; Aimee Stephens, whose case led to a historic Supreme Court decision protecting the rights of LGBTQ Americans; and Li Wenliang, the Wuhan physician who tried in vain to warn Chinese officials about the coronavirus and later died of it. The issue also includes a memorial to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, including the tribute that fellow Justice Antonin Scalia wrote when she was on the TIME 100 in 2015."
Some highlights from the 2020 TIME100:
There are more doctors, nurses and scientists on this year’s TIME100 list than ever before, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Shi Zhengli, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Zhang Yongzhen, Amy O'Sullivan, Dr. Camilla Rothe, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts and more.
On the 2020 TIME100, there are more than a dozen activists who are fighting for justice and equality, including Angela Davis, Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Nemonte Nenquimo, Ady Barkan and more.
This year’s list features a record 54 women, including Waad Al-Kateab, Selena Gomez, Maya Moore, Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion, Ali Wong, Kristalina Georgieva, Allyson Felix, Cecilia Martinez, Jennifer Hudson, Tomi Adeyemi, Julie K. Brown, Lisa Nishimura, Anaïs Mitchell, Angela Merkel, Michaela Coel, Mary Kay Henry, Shari Redstone, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Gwynne Shotwell, Nemonte Nenquimo, Arussi Unda and others.
The list features U.S. President Donald Trump, and other U.S. political figures including Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, and William Barr.
Other writers include Camila Cabello, Tarana Burke, Melinda Gates, Elton John, Jamie Dimon, Jennifer Garner, Al Gore, Laverne Cox, José Andrés, Missy Elliott, Rev. Al Sharpton, Chrissy Teigen, Cory Booker, Leana Wen, Janet Mock, Bryan Stevenson and more.
Xi Jinping is on the list for the 11th time, more than any other person on the list this year. Other repeats include: Angela Merkel (9), Donald Trump (5), Nancy Pelosi (5), Narendra Modi (4), Joe Biden (3), Tyler Perry (2), Sundar Pichai (2), Kamala Harris (2), Lewis Hamilton (2), William Barr (2), Jair Bolsonaro (2), Jerome Powell (2), John Roberts (2), Tsai Ing-wen (2), and Naomi Osaka (2).
JoJo Siwa, 17, is the youngest person on this year’s list. The oldest person on this year’s list is Zhong Nanshan who is 83-years-old.
