When I read on Facebook that Stephen Colbert was selected as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2025, I was pleased. I love Colbert. However, when I went to the Time website to read what was said about him, I didn’t find him listed. The Facebook post wasn’t true.
I was surprised when I looked through the list that I didn’t know many of the people. For some of those that I know, such as Demi Moore, Serena Williams, and Ed Sheeran, I wondered why they were chosen this year.
I decided I’d make a list and see how many of the 100 I recognized.
I recognized 29 percent. How many do you recognize?
Here’s the list.
| Name | Job or title | Did I recognize the person |
| Artists | ||
| Ed Sheeran | Singer and songwriter | Yes |
| Scarlett Johansson | Actor | Yes |
| Kristen Bell | Actor | No |
| Adam Scott | Actor | No |
| Rashida Jones | Actor | No |
| Daniel Dae Kim | Actor | No |
| Diego Luna | Actor | No |
| Nicole Scherzinger | Actor | No |
| Kristen Wig | Comedian | Yes |
| Willy Chavarria | Fashion designer | No |
| Hozier | Singer | No |
| Miranda July | Author | No |
| Branden Jacobs-Jenkins | Playwright | No |
| Mohammad Rasoulof | Filmmaker | No |
| Annabelle Selldorf | Architect | No |
| Yoshitomo Nara | Artist | No |
| Innovators | ||
| Snoop Dogg | Artist and entrepreneur | Yes |
| Nikki Glaser | Comedian | Yes |
| Ma Yansong | Architect | No |
| Larry Fink | CEO of BlackRock, world’s largest asset management company | No |
| Kwame Onwuachi | Chef | No |
| Sandra Diaz | Professor of ecology | No |
| Mickalene Thomas | Artist | No |
| Jon M. Chu | Filmmaker | Yes |
| Wendy Freedman | Cosmologist | No |
| Josh Koskoff | Attorney | No |
| Chautatip “Nok” Suntaranon | Chef | No |
| Christian Happi | Nigerian scientist | No |
| Ismahane Elouafi | Head of CGIAR, an agricultural research organization | No |
| Skye Perryman | President of Democracy Forward | No |
| Tim Cadogan | CEO of GoFundMe | No |
| Richard Thompson | Marine biologist | No |
| Titans | ||
| Serena Williams | Former tennis player and entrepreneur | Yes |
| Ed Bastian | Delta Airlines CEO | No |
| Blake Lively | Actor | Yes |
| Lorne Michaels | TV producer | Yes |
| Simone Biles | Gymnast | Yes |
| Doug McMillon | CEO of Walmart | No |
| Miuccia Prada | Fashion designer | No |
| Percival Everett | Author | No |
| Ted Sarandos | CEO of Netflix | No |
| Joe Rogan | Podcaster | Yes |
| Lisa Su | CEO of AMD | No |
| Mark Zuckerberg | CEO of Meta | Yes |
| Bonnie Y Chan | CEO of HKEX | No |
| Alex Karp | Chief executive of Palantir | No |
| Jonathan Greenblatt | CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League | No |
| Stephan J. Squeri | Chairman and CEO of American Express | No |
| Icons | ||
| Demi Moore | Actor and producer | Yes |
| Adrien Brody | Actor | Yes |
| Gisele Pelicot | Sexual assault survivor | Yes |
| Hiroyuki Sanada | Actor | No |
| Angeline Murimirwa | CEO of CAMFED | No |
| David Muir | TV anchor | No |
| Raquel Willis | Author, journalist, and activist | No |
| Bobbi Brown | Makeup artist, author, and entrepreneur | No |
| Anthony D. Romero | Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union | No |
| Yoshiki | Musician | No |
| Amy Griffin | Venture capitalist and author | Yes |
| Leon Marchand | Swimmer | No |
| Fatou Baldeh | Activist | No |
| Leaders | ||
| Keir Starmer | Prime minister of the United Kingdom | Yes |
| Claudia Sheinbaum | President of Mexico | Yes |
| Donald Trump | President of the United States | Yes |
| Maria Corina Machado | Opposition leader in Venezuela | Yes |
| Elon Musk | Businessman and entrepreneur | Yes |
| Muhammad Yunus | Chief adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government | No |
| Howard Lutick | Secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department | Yes |
| Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus | Director general of the World Health Organization | No |
| J.D. Vance | Vice president of the United States | Yes |
| Reshma Kewalramani | CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals | No |
| Friedrich Merz | Chancellor of Germany | Yes |
| Megyn Kelly | Podcaster | Yes |
| Lee Jae-myung | Opposition leader in South Korea | Yes |
| Teresa Ribera | Executive vice president for the European Commission | No |
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | Yes |
| Andrea Vidauree | Co-founder of the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice | No |
| Duma Boko | President of Botswana | No |
| Russell Vought | Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget | Yes |
| Javier Milei | President of Argentina | Yes |
| Noa Argamani | Israeli hostage | No |
| Mo Abudu | Actor | No |
| Ahmed al-Sharaa | Interim president of Syria | Yes |
| Pioneers | ||
| Demis Hassabis | Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind | No |
| Rose | Singer | No |
| Andrew Forrest | Founder of Fortescue Metals Group | No |
| Robert Montgomery | Surgeon | No |
| Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier | Founders of Unrivaled | No |
| Robin Wall Kimmerer | Scientist, naturalist, and Indigenous elder | No |
| Dario Amodei | CEO of Anthropic | No |
| Myles Smith | Singer | No |
| Cordelia Bahr | Attorney | No |
| Julie Burkhart | Leader in reproductive freedom | |
| Liang Wenfeng | Founder of DeepSeek | No |
| Allison Sesso | President and CEO of Undue Medical Debt | No |
| Thomas Cihlar and Wesley Sundquist | HIV medication researchers | No |
| Total 100 | 29 yes and 71 no |
I found the Time’s list to be heavy on business leaders. For me, influential people are the ones advocating for the interest of consumers such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, U.S. senators. Also the leaders of consumer advocacy organizations such as the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Reports, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, the Environmental Working Group, and more.
It looks like Time magazine releases its list of 100 most influential people in April. I wonder who will be on the 2026 list.
I love Robin Wall Kimmerers book, braiding sweetgrass. She is my hero! That is great that she is on the list. I will have to check out what they said about her.
Oh yeah. And i only knew 19! I recognized a few more faces but i didnt count those.
I recognize a few more of the names now. They’ve been in the news and on the Late Night TV shows.