Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Simone Biles top TIME 100 list

Sept. 15 (UPI) — Britain’s Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, gymnast Simone Biles and singer Billie Eilish topped TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2020.

The publication released its annual list highlighting public figures across the globe that its editors consider to be icons, pioneers, titans, artists, leaders and innovators. The list includes political figures, entertainers, philanthropists, athletes, entrepreneurs and artists.

TIME Magazine notes that those on the list are considered influential, whether for the betterment of the world, or not.

The duke and duchess of Sussex topped the magazine’s list of influential icons, a category that also included Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka; Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny; musicians Britney Spears and Dolly Parton; civil rights figure Sherrilyn Ifill; Los Angeles Angels’ player Shohei Ohtani; poet Cathy Park Hong; Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara; Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh; Stop AAPI Hate co-founders Manjusha P. Kulkarni, Russell Jeung and Cynthia Choi; and Palestinian activists Muna El-Kurd and Mohammed El-Kurd.

Spanish chef and philanthropist José Andrés praised Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for their compassion in his writeup of the couple.

“In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know. They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle,” he wrote.

TIME highlighted Eilish at the top of the pioneers category, which also included civil rights figure Ben Crump; Indonesian public health researcher Aldi Utarini; gymnast Sunisa Lee; Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy, authors on restituting African cultural artifacts held in France; Turkish economist Fatih Birol; Canadian fashion designer Aurora James; Indian biotech executive Adar Poonawalla; Kenyan environmental activist Phyllis Omido; Dutch diplomat Frans Timmermans; LGBTQ activists Indyra Mendoza and Claudia Spellmant; Dutch environmental activist; Mexican activist Olimpia Coral Melo Cruz; Hungarian gender studies scholar Dorttya Redai; and Myanmar activists Esther Ze Naw Bamvo and El Thinzar Maung.

In her tribute to Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion — who made last year’s list — wrote that the singer “is a rare spirit who speaks from her heart with no pretenses … a woman who stands up for herself and advocates for women everywhere.”

Among influential figures TIME considers to be titans, Biles topped the list, followed by Apple CEO Tim Cook; TV producer Shonda Rhimes; music producers Timbaland and Swiss Beatz; journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady; actor Youn Yuh-yung; track and field athlete Allyson Felix; musician Angélique Kidjo; executives Kenneth C. Frazier and Kenneth I. Chenault; and Brazilian executive Luiza Trajano.

Tennis ace Serena Williams wrote about Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, calling her “wise beyond her years.”

“By living her truth so loudly and by championing mental health, she is setting new standards of beauty, strength and resilience, breaking down today’s image-obsessed stereotypes and encouraging others to do the same.”

Among artists, British actor Kate Winslet topped the category, which also included actors Jason Sudeikis, Scarlett Johansson, Bowen Yang, Tracee Ellis Ross, Steven Yeun, Omar Sy and Daniel Kaluuya; musicians Bad Bunny, Kane Brown and Lil Nas X; filmmaker Chloé Zhao; cookbook author Jessica B. Harris; visual artists Mark Bradford and Barbara Kruger; and author N.K. Jemisin.

Actor and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh called Winslet “a master of her art,” while comedian Seth Meyers praised Sudeikis as “a good listener and a good hang.”

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was highlighted in the leaders category, which also included U.S. President Joe Biden; U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris; Chinese President Xi Jinping; U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.; Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi; cable pundit Tucker Carlson; Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett; voter rights activist Stacey Abrams; El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele; former U.S. President Donald Trump; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Afghan journalist Mahbouba Seraj; U.S. Sen Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky; West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee; White House chief of staff Ron Klain; Chilean indigenous rights activist Elisa Loncón Antileo; and Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.

The duke and duchess of Sussex praised Okonjo-Iweala for her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As the first African and first woman to lead the World Trade Organization, a 164-member group of nations that oversees trade across the world, Okonjo-Iweala took on the role of director-general this March at a watershed moment for our global health and well-being. Make no mistake, her job affects every person, family and community,” they wrote.

Among innovators, Nvidia Corporation CEO and President Jensen Huang topped the list, followed by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk; Red Table Talk hosts Adrienne Banfield Norris, Willow Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith; Hungarian biochemist Katalin Kariko; General Motors CEO Mary Barra; Cameroonian virologist John Nkengasong; NASA engineer MiMi Aung; Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin; Chinese live streamer Viya; American virologist Barney Graham; European climate change scientists Friederike Otto and Geert Jan van Oldenborgh; Japanese architect Kengo Kuma; Gro Intelligence CEO Sara Menker; and Australian earth science scholar Lidia Morawska.

Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearning.ai and co-founder of Coursera, praised Huang’s work on artificial intelligence.

“He has helped enable a revolution that allows phones to answer questions out loud, farms to spray weeds but not crops, doctors to predict the properties of new drugs, with more wonders to come,” he wrote.

The print edition of the TIME 100 list will be available on newsstands Friday, and a television special about those honored this year will air 10 p.m. EDT Monday on ABC.