Goodluck Jonathan, Barack Obama, Lionel Messi, & more make TIME Magazine’s ’100 Most Influential People in the World’ list

TIME Magazine, a US Weekly News magazine today released its annual list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ for the year 2012.

Making this list is Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan.

According to TIME,“they are the people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world.”

The citation on Jonathan was written by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia:

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan exemplifies the African political renaissance at a time when the people of the continent are starting to reap the fruit of their resources and their hard work. President Jonathan, 54, possesses the qualities needed at this moment of great challenges, having come to power at a crucial moment in the history of Nigeria. The country has grown out of its past of corruption, mismanagement and brutality, but the foundation of good governance is still fragile.

In two short years, President Jonathan has shown the same dexterity he demonstrated as governor of Bayelsa, the same ability to find the remedies to the many complexities of running a nascent democracy. He has spearheaded the fight against corruption and turned Nigeria into an example of good governance. He has also made a significant impact on consolidating peace and security in West Africa. From the onset of our own crisis, Liberia has benefitted from the support of Nigeria. President Jonathan not only upheld the trend but added to it. With leaders like President Jonathan, Africa is sure to move toward prosperity, freedom and dignity for all of its people.

The list also contains names like United States of America President Barack Obama; U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, American Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and American billionaire Warren Buffett. Singers Adele and Rihanna, footballer Lionel Messi and the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire and founder of Spanx, Sara Blakely also made the list.

There are 38 women on the 2012 list, more than any other year. The list was chosen by through voting by TIME readers from around the world.

Here’s a look at the names that feature in the TIME 100 list:

Jeremy Lin- Basketball Player, America

Christian Marclay- Visual artist and composer, Swiss-America

Viola Davis- Actress, America

Salman Khan- Educator, America

Tim Tebow- Football quarterback, American

EL James- Author, America

Louis CK- Comedian, Mexican-American

Rihanna- Recording artist, actress, US

Marco Rubio- United States Senator from Florida

Ali Ferzat- Cartoonist, Syria

René Redzepi- chef, Denmark

Kristen Wiig- Television actress, comedian, America

Anthony Kennedy- Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court

Novak Djokovic- Tennis player, Serbia and Montenegro

Ben Rattray- Founder, Change.org, US

Jessica Chastain- Actress, America

Yani Tseng- Golfer- Republic of China (Taiwan)

Raphael Saadiq- Singer- America

Elinor Ostrom- Economist, US

Samira Ibrahim- Plaintiff, Egypt

Jose Andres- Chef, Spanish

Ann Patchett- Writer, America

Dulce Matuz- President, Arizona Dream Act Coalition

Henrik Scharfe- Professor, Director, Centre for Computer-mediated Epistemology, Denmark

Freeman Hrabowski- Educator, America

Maryam Durani- Member, Kandahar Provincial Council, Afghanistan

Manal al-Sharif- Women’s rights activist and computer security consultant, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia

Anjali Gopalan- Advocate, India

Rached Ghannouchi- Tunisian Islamist politician and co-founder, The Ennahda Movement

Barbara Van Dahlen- Founder and President, Give an Hour, US

Ron Fouchier- Scientist, Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands

Donald Sadoway- John F Elliott Professor, Materials Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US

Hans Rosling- Statistician, Sweden

Asghar Farhadi- Filmmaker, Iran

Sarah Burton- Fashion Designer, UK

Anonymous- Self described hacktivist group, Voluntary association, Global

Pete Cashmore- Social News Guru,Scotland

Cami Anderson- Superintendent,Newark schools

Ali Babacan and Ahmet Davutoglu- Neo-Ottomans

Ai-jen Poo- Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance, US

Marc Andreessen- Kingmaker, America

Preet Bharara- Prosecutor, America

Robert Grant- AIDS Researcher, San Francisco

Andrew Lo- Harris & Harris Group Professor Director, MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy- Pakistani-Canadian journalist, documentary filmmaker

Alexei Navalny- Russian lawyer, politician, and political and financial activist

Ray Dalio- American businessman and founder of Bridgewater Associates

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani- Prime Minister of Qatar

Chelsea Handler- American stand-up comedian, actress, best-selling author, and producer

Harvey Weinstein- American film producer and movie studio chairman

Chen Lihua- Chairperson, Fu Wah International, China

Warren Buffett- Chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Alice Walton- Heiress, Walton family fortune

Harold Hamm- CEO, Continental Resources

Sheryl Sandberg- COO, Facebook

Sara Blakely- Founder of Spanx, and world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, US

Eike Batista- President, EBX Group, Brazil

Tim Cook- CEO, Apple, US

Daniel Ek- CEO and Founder, Spotify, Sweden

Virginia Rometty- CEO, IBM, US

Barack Obama- President, USA

Goodluck Jonathan- President of Nigeria

Xi Jinping- First Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China

Fatou Bensouda- Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Gambia

Christine Lagarde- MD, IMF, France

Mario Draghi- President, European Central Bank, Italy

U Thein Sein- President of Burma

Ayatullah Ali Khamenei- Supreme Leader of Iran

Mitt Romney- Candidate, 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination

Juan Manuel Santos- President of Colombia

Timothy Dolan- American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

Portia Simpson Miller- Prime Minister of Jamaica

Mario Monti- Prime Minister of Italy

Wang Yang- Secretary, Guangdong Committee of the Communist Party of China

Maria das Gracas Silva Foster- CEO of Petrobras, Brazil

Andrew Cuomo- Governor of New York, US

Iftikhar Chaudhry- Chief Justice of Pakistan

Mamata Banerjee- Chief Minister Of Indian state of West Bengal

Walter Isaacson- President and CEO, Aspen Institute, US

Ron Paul- Member of the US House of Representatives

Benjamin Netanyahu- Prime Minister of Israel

Dilma Rousseff- President of Brazil

Erik Martin- Founder and editor, Muschelhaufen

Cecile Richards- Democratic Party activist, President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Angela Merkel- Chancellor of Germany

Lionel Messi- Footballer and Captain of Argentinian national team

Tilda Swinton- British actress

Hillary Clinton- United States Secretary of State

Catherine- Duchess of Cambridge, and Pippa Middleton, her sister

Adele- Recording artist and songwriter, UK

Matt Lauer, TV journalist, Host, NBC’s The Today Show

Oscar Pistorius- sprint runner, South Africa

Claire Danes- American television, stage and film actress

Stephen Colbert- American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, actor; Host, Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report

Rogues

Kim Jong Un- Supreme leader of North Korea

Mullah Mohammed Omar- Spiritual leader, Taliban, Afghanistan

Sheik Moktar Ali Zubeyr- Emir, Harakat Al-Shabab Mujahideen, Somalia

Bashar Assad- President of Syria

Source: www.time.com