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TIME has been recognizing people, groups, or concepts that have had a significant impact on news, whether positively or negatively, since 1927 with its annual Person of the Year award. The previous choices include Pope Francis, Martin Luther King Jr., German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and activist Greta Thunberg.
TIME named Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, and the “spirit of Ukraine” as its Person of the Year for 2022.
The 2023 Time Person of the Year announcement has been scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Nine contenders are vying for TIME’s annual pick; their identities were made public on Monday morning during NBC’s Today program. Here is the list of candidates who have been included in the final list.
9 Finalists of Time’s Person of the Year 2023
Hollywood strikers
A rare demonstration of the strength of labor and the entertainment industry, the Hollywood screenwriters’ and actors’ strike lasted the entire year, delaying the development and production of new and current television series and films. While SAG has a tentative agreement and has not yet ratified its new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)-AFTRA have both begun work.
Xi Jinping
A few months into his extraordinary third term, Chinese President Xi Jinping established himself as one of the country’s most formidable modern leaders as 2023 got underway. Xi has been listed more than ten times on the TIME100 list, which recognizes the 100 most significant people in the world. In addition, he came in second place to TIME for Person of the Year 2017.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift, a Grammy Award winner, has had a fantastic year, re-releasing her albums with record-breaking stream numbers and creating one of the most popular concert films ever. Swift’s Eras tour has the potential to break all previous records for global tour earnings.
Sam Altman
Sam Altman has garnered significant media attention in the last few weeks alone due to his abrupt resignation from and quick return to his role as CEO of OpenAI. This firm created the ground-breaking ChatGPT that has revolutionized the AI industry. He was previously listed on the 2023 TIME100 and the first TIME100 AI lists.
Trump Prosecutors
After being charged with more than 90 counts in four different cases, Donald Trump became the first American president to be indicted in the history of the country. Prosecutors in Florida, Georgia, New York, and Washington, D.C. have filed felonies for fabricating business records, illegally holding onto classified documents, and interfering with elections.
Barbie
The most eagerly awaited movie of the year, the first live-action Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, brought fans—particularly women and girls—to the theaters. Greta Gerwig’s third motion picture became the highest-grossing movie of 2023, taking home $1.4 billion while sparking a global trend of pink clothing, accessories, and other products. The movie demonstrated that there is still a chance for theatrical success in the age of streaming.
Vladimir Putin
It is now the second year since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has served as both the country’s president and prime minister since 1999, is still at war there. Putin was briefly threatened in 2023 by the Wagner insurrection, but in the end, mercenary forces withdrew when Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, reached an agreement. The Wagner group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, subsequently perished in a plane accident. Putin was named TIME’s Person of the Year in 2007 and has appeared on the TIME100 list several times, most recently in 2022.
King Charles III
In May this year, King Charles III became the head monarch of the United Kingdom and other regions, after a long and arduous reign. He represented the strength of tradition at a time when the monarchy was undergoing transition. When she took the throne in 1952, his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was awarded Person of the Year.
Jerome Powell
Since taking office in February 2018, Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has been instrumental in controlling the country’s high inflation rate. He has worked to create a strategy known as the “soft landing,” which aims to lower inflation by raising interest rates without throwing the world’s economies into recession. In both 2019 and 2020, he was listed as one of TIME 100.
