TIME has released the 2020 list of its annual TIME 100: The Most Influential People.
The list recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. This year’s list is segmented into five categories, Pioneers, Leaders, Icons, Artists, and Titans, each highlighting several Nigerians and Africans: Nigerian-American novelist Tomi Adeyemi, Gambian lawyer Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, actor Michaela Coel, African economist Tony Elumelu, Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho, Professional Basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo, Congolese microbiologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, and Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.
The list also includes Meghan Stallion, Michael B. Jordan, Tyler Perry, Naomi Osaka, Billy Porter, Kamala Harris, JoJo Siwa, Jennifer Hudson, Dwayne Wade, Gabrielle Union, The Weeknd and several more.
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 several 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.
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 concerning the coronavirus and afterwards 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.
See the complete 2020 TIME100 list: time.com/time100