Given the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic downturn, and months of civil unrest, it may be tough to find someone who wants to be forever associated with the year 2020.
But Time Magazine has to pick someone to be its "Person of the Year."
On Thursday, Time announced President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its pick for its famed "Person of the Year" profile.
On Thursday morning, the magazine announced that there were four people on its "shortlist": President-elect Joe Biden, President Donald Trump, Dr. Anthony Fauci and "frontline health care workers" and the "movement for racial justice."
Time also named its picks for "Athlete of the Year" and "Entertainer of the Year" on Thursday.
Time selected LeBron James as 2020's Athlete of the Year. James won his fourth NBA championship in 2020 — his first with the Los Angeles Lakers — to conclude the league's pandemic-shortened season, which finished in a "bubble" format. James also continued to publicly speak out against racial injustice and became a political touchstone throughout the year, regularly sharing his political views on social media. He also organized the voter registration of thousands of urban voters ahead of the 2020 election.
Korean pop ban BTS was named by Time as the 2020 Entertainers of the Year. The seven-member band has broken streaming records around the world and helped K-pop go mainstream in the U.S. and around the world.
Time has selected a "Person of the Year" each year since 1927. According to the magazine, the "Person of the Year" is "usually an individual but sometimes multiple people who greatly impacted the country and world during the calendar year."
Biden would appear to have a leg up over other semifinalists. In election years dating back to 1992, the winner of the presidential election has been selected as Time's "Person of the Year." Every president dating back to President Franklin Roosevelt has been named "Person of the Year" at some point in their administration.
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time's "Person of the Year" in 2019 — a decision that irked Trump to the point that he criticized Thunberg on Twitter. Other recent winners include "The Guardians" — journalists who faced persecution for their reporting (2018), "The Silence Breakers" — women who came forward to report sexual assault allegations against powerful men (2017), and Trump (2016).