![Angela Merkel Time Person of the Year Time Magazine Cover](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/poy-cover-final.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
The Choice
“I’m surprised at how faint-hearted we sometimes are, and how quickly we lose courage”
TIME’s 2015 Person of the Year: Angela Merkel
Runner-Up: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Behind TIME’s Person of the Year Cover
The magazine has a long history of asking artists to create cover portraits
The 15-Minutes-of-Famers in 2015
The people and phenomena that rose, briefly, to the top
Doers, diplomats and leaders who ignored our worst instincts
This Was the Year the Adults Gave Up
Quit your job, smoke some dope, grow a beard
Readers Respond To TIME Stories
Similar themes, opposite fates
The most talked-about milestones
News stories amplified by social media
Memorable images of major (and minor) events
The most influential characters in fiction
Inanimate objects that drove the news
Checking up on TIME’s past Persons of the Year
Who’s worthy of the title? Follow your own path to 2015’s most notable figure
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Contact us at letters@time.com