A unique group of people are on the shortlist for Time Magazine’s 2014 Person of the Year title. Singer Taylor Swift, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ferguson protesters are up for the title.
The magazine unveiled the finalists this morning on NBC’s Today Show. Whoever wins will follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis I, who earned the title in 2013.
Time editors picked eight individuals or groups who had a major impact on the world in 2014. The shortlist features:
Ebola caregivers, who are fighting the largest outbreak of Ebola the world has ever seen in West Africa.
Putin, who kept Russia on the world stage with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. He also made several controversial moves in Ukraine, including annexing the Crimean peninsula.
Ferguson protesters have been calling attention to the controversial case of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen who was shot and killed by a white police officer in the Missouri city outside of St. Louis.
Swift has made a significant impact on the music industry with her monster hit album 1989. She also pulled her music from Spotify in a standoff over streaming music royalties.
Cook is the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. During the year, Apple also launched the iPhone 6, Apple Watch and Apply Pay.
Roger Goodell faced a turbulent year as the commissioner of the NFL. His handling of the Ray Rice case was widely criticized, as has his handling of player injuries. Still, he oversees the most popular professional sport in the U.S.
Jack Ma is the founder and CEO of China’s Alibaba Group, which launched with the biggest tech IPO in history.
Masoud Barzani is the Kurdish politician who leads the Iraqi Kurdish Region. Not only are the Kurds facing ISIS, but they are also considering independence from Iraq.
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com