TIME Person of the Year Predictions 2026

It's that TIME of year again.

Every December, TIME names the person who, for better or for worse, has done the most to shape the previous 12 months.

That "for better or for worse" bit matters. It's a measure of influence, not a popularity contest.

The recent honour roll shows how wide the net is. Taylor Swift got the nod in 2023, Donald Trump in 2024 (his second title after 2016), and last year TIME went with a group, the "Architects of AI", eight tech leaders including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Anthropic's Dario Amodei.

This year's market has a New York mayor, a Canadian prime minister, a pope, two astronauts, a comedian-turned-documentary-maker and a Grammy Album of the Year winner.

So, who is going on the cover?

For the latest contenders, analysis and odds, check out our TIME Person of the Year 2026 predictions below.

TIME Person of the Year 2026 Predictions

The Favourites

Zohran Mamdani

Mamdani was sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor just after midnight on January 1, 2026, in a decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall.

At 34, he became the city's first Muslim mayor, its first of South Asian descent and its first born in Africa, having moved to the US from Uganda as a child.

A first year running America's biggest city is plenty of story on its own.

The question for punters is whether a mayor can outrank presidents, prime ministers and popes on a global stage. The market clearly thinks he can.

Mark Carney

Canada's Prime Minister had his headline moment early, at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 20, 2026.

He argued the world was going through a rupture rather than a transition and called on middle powers to band together.

The speech drew a public response from Donald Trump and was one of the most talked-about moments of the Davos week.

Can a speech in January carry a candidate all the way to December? That's what you're backing at this price.

Pope Leo XIV

2026 is Leo XIV's first full calendar year as pope, following his election in May 2025.

In May he published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which centres on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.

TIME made AI the story of 2025. A pope devoting his first major teaching document to the same subject gives him a neat link to last year's theme, with a very different angle on it.

Donald Trump

Trump has already won it twice, in 2016 and 2024, and is in his second term as US President.

2026 is also a midterm year, with every seat in the House of Representatives and around a third of the Senate on the ballot.

He's never far from the news cycle, but the market has him fourth in line this time.

Under the Radar Options

Dario Amodei

Amodei was one of the eight Architects of AI on last year's cover.

In February 2026, Anthropic, the company he leads, declined a Pentagon request to remove safeguards on its AI relating to mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon then designated the company a supply chain risk.

Would TIME put an AI figure on the cover two years running? It would be a big call, but he'd be going it alone this time rather than sharing a beam with seven others.

Nathan Fielder

The comedian behind The Rehearsal co-directed You Can See Everything with Lance Oppenheim, a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes.

It had a secret screening at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival before A24 released it in US cinemas on October 16.

Nobody in this market has spent more time rehearsing for a big moment.

Jeremy Hansen and Victor Glover

Both flew on Artemis II, which launched on April 1, 2026, as the first crewed flight around the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Glover was the mission's pilot, while Hansen, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, flew as a mission specialist alongside commander Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch.

The 10-day mission ended with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego on April 10.

At the time of writing, they’re both neck and neck in the market, so we’ve put them together. 

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny won Album of the Year at the Grammys on February 1 for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, the first Spanish-language album to take the top prize.

A week later, on February 8, he headlined the Super Bowl LX halftime show at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

TIME went with a music star as recently as 2023, so don't rule out another one.

*Odds are subject to change.