For 2016, Trump beat out Hilary Clinton, hackers, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the researchers who pioneered CRISPR, and Beyoncé. He was chosen for the “revolution” he’s stirred in the US. As Time explains:

It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption. This real estate baron and casino owner turned reality-TV star and provocateur—never a day spent in public office, never a debt owed to any interest besides his own—now surveys the smoking ruin of a vast political edifice that once housed parties, pundits, donors, pollsters, all those who did not see him coming or take him seriously. Out of this reckoning, Trump is poised to preside, for better or worse.

Trump Time's Person of the Year Cover

On the Today Show, Trump described the win as a “tremendous honor” that “means a lot.” “It’s a very important magazine,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to be on the cover many times.”

The Time cover features Trump’s face alongside the words, “president elect of the divided states of America.” When asked about the text, Trump said, “I didn’t divide them,” adding that he would “put it back together.” Just how well, or terribly, he does that may determine whether he’s on Time’s shortlist again next year.

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.