Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been named Time's Person of the Year for 2021, the magazine’s YouTube channel announced on Monday during its broadcast.
"Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth too," Time Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal wrote. He also added that no one personifies this year’s current issues better than Elon Musk, and that includes the climate crisis, along with a slew of headline issues.
This tradition from Time began in 1927 as "Man of the Year" and has since changed to not only recognize an individual but also to consider the impact of a group, movement or idea that "for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year". For this event, the selected individual’s photo is posted on the magazine’s cover.
The Person of the Year is chosen by the editorial board after a preliminary selection of candidates and discussions during which the magazine staff expresses their opinions. As mentioned earlier, the title was previously dubbed Man of the Year, several times, the magazine announced Woman of the Year. However, in 1999, this title changed to Person of the Year.
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