How We Chose the 2024 TIME100

Where do you find influence in 2024? You can start with the offices of the Anti-Corruption Foundation in Vilnius, Lithuania, where TIME met with Yulia Navalnaya earlier this spring. There, the activist is working with 60 supporters—whose anti-Kremlin activities include tracking down the villas, yachts, and bank accounts of the Russian political elites—inside three fully operational production studios and a high-tech control room. Navalnaya spoke with TIME’s Simon Shuster less than two months after the death of her husband Alexei Navalny, who many called Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, in a Russian prison camp. In 2022, Shuster profiled Navalny for the cover of TIME, calling him “the man Putin fears.” Now, it is Navalnaya’s turn. She says she and her husband did not discuss what she would do in the case of his death. But following the news on Feb. 16, she felt she had only one choice: to step up in his role as the head of the anti-Putin protest movement. She says she wants to give Navalny’s followers a belief in Russia’s future, as well as a sense of hope: “Most of all I wanted to give them some relief, to comfort them.”

She joins the TIME100, our annual list of the most influential people in the world. The cover subjects in addition to Navalnaya: actor Taraji P. Henson, who is fighting for equality in Hollywood; National Football League star Patrick Mahomes, who has led his Kansas City Chiefs to four Super Bowl appearances in his young career; and entertainer Dua Lipa, who Patti Smith describes as redefining “the pop-genre cosmos.” Later in April, we’ll gather together with the newest members of the TIME100 community for a day of conversation at the TIME100 Summit and for our annual TIME100 Gala. For the fifth year in a row, the gala will be broadcast in the U.S. on ABC, on May 12, and stream on Hulu.

We spend months discussing who belongs on the TIME100, the people who we believe most changed the stories that define the past year. This year’s TIME100 team was led by Dan Macsai and Cate Matthews and included Merrill Fabry, Lucy Feldman, Ayesha Javed, Sanya Mansoor, and Erin McMullen, with design by Katie Kalupson and photo editing by Dilys Ng and Kim Bubello, all of whom worked for months to bring the list to life. 

Influence, we know, is complex: it can be for better and for worse, it can span generations, categories, and perspectives. There are 12  climate and sustainability leaders on this year’s TIME100, including Brazilian government Minister Marina Silva, Chinese automaker Wang Chuanfu, and researcher Suzanne Simard. In a year of change in medicine, we recognize health care executive Dave Ricks and scientists Dan Drucker, Joel Habener, and Svetlana Mojsov. The Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza have transformed the region and the lives of millions. The TIME100 includes negotiators William Burns and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza, and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of an Israeli hostage. Each of their stories has shifted our world.

Now in our 101st year, TIME continues to evolve. Today, we convene our TIME100 community across the globe, with events spanning 12 cities and four continents. We’ve also launched new lists, such as TIME100 AI and TIME100 Climate, to recognize even more extraordinary leaders. In May, we will announce and gather the TIME100 Health community for the very first time. TIME100 is an unparalleled way for us to tell essential stories about the people and ideas that shape and improve the world.

See the full list

Order your copy of the 2024 TIME100 issue here