Trump, Starmer top 'Leaders', Ed Sheeran leads 'Artists' as TIME100 2025 blends power and pop, India misses out

Pop singer Ed Sheeran, Oscar winning actor Adrien Brody, Severance actor Adam Scott, and political figures like US President Donald Trump and UK PM Sir Keir Starmer found themselves on TIME magazine's recently-released 100 Most Influential People in the World list for 2025, also known as TIME100: a project they have religiously pursued for over two decades.

Spread across six categories—'Artists', 'Icons', 'Leaders', 'Titans', 'Pioneers' and 'Innovators'—the magazine released five TIME100 covers with the personalities leading each category.

This year, Ed Sheeran, actor Demi Moore, tennis legend Serena Williams, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Snoop Dogg made the cut, with Sir Keir Starmer leading the 'Leaders' category, but receiving no TIME100 cover to his name.

Inferring the current balance of newsmaker impact from the list, TIME explained that this year's 'Leaders' section featured as many as six members from the Trump administration, the “largest contingent from a political administration since Barack Obama arrived in Washington in 2009”, which goes to show a marked rise in a Trump-led American political influence, given the country's centrality to various geopolitical controversies today, such as the tariff wars with China, nuclear talks with Iran, and talks to resolve conflicts.

This year unfortunately saw no Indians make the list, unlike 2024's list that featured Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, actor Alia Bhatt, wrestler Sakshi Malik and Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel. The 2023 list had Shahrukh Khan and British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, whereas the 2018 list had actor Deepika Padukone and Satya Nadella.

With the digital space, as a whole, having a formidable impact on public discourse worldwide, TIME has also decided to introduce two new TIME100 franchises: one focused on digital creators and the other on philanthropists.

“The stories this project tells change with the headlines, so every May, our research starts anew. The one constant we see each year is that a single person’s hard work, idea, or decision can change the world,” TIME journalists explained.

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