US President-elect Donald Trump, whose election to the post was one of the biggest surprises of the year, was on Wednesday declared the TIME 2016 Person of the Year.
Time magazine every year chooses one person “who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year.”
"It's a great honor. It means a lot," Trump said in a telephone interview on NBC's "Today" show.
The magazine's managing editor, Nancy Gibbs, said on the programme that Democrat Hillary Clinton was the No. 2 finalist. Gibbs said the choice of Trump this year was "straightforward."
The magazine also released a cover page with Trump's photo with the caption "Donald Trump- the President of the divided states of America".
Hillary Clinton, hackers, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) pioneers and Beyonce were other contenders.
The final selection was made by the editors of TIME magazine.
The Manhattan real estate magnate went from fiery underdog in the race for the GOP presidential nomination to president-elect when he defeated Clinton in the Nov. 8 election.
Trump won 306 electoral votes, easily enough to make him president when the electors meet on Dec. 19. Clinton won the popular vote.
Trump has begun the process of preparing for his presidency and filling Cabinet posts.
While TIME’s editors make the final decision about who is the Person of the Year, the magazine also invites readers to weigh in on who they think has earned the title.
This year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged winner in the online reader’s poll for TIME Person of the Year.
