Time Person of the Year Odds 2025: Trump Remains the Favorite, Musk Still Close Behind

Donald Trump still leads the 2025 Time Person of the Year odds – but AI, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Elon Musk are in hot pursuit.
President-elect Donald J. Trump speaks in front of thousands of spectators at Aero Center Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C. Photo By: Ken Blevins / USA TODAY Network via Imagn.

Donald Trump was named Person of the Year by Time magazine for 2024 back in December, on the heels of his election as U.S. President for the second time.

And in January when top sports betting sites started posting their odds to win the award for 2025, Trump was listed as the early favorite at FanDuel Canada.

A win in 2025 would make Trump a three-time recipient of Time magazine’s Person of the Year award, as he was also designated as such after his election victory over Hillary Clinton back in 2016. And even after a tumultuous start to his second term as president the updated odds board at FanDuel continues to have Trump listed as the betting favorite to win the award, albeit at odds that have slipped a bit since January.

So will Trump win Person of the Year again in 2025? And if not, then who else is a strong wager for the award?

🕰️ Time Person of the Year 2025 Odds

Candidate Odds Implied Probability Profit on $10 Bet
Donald Trump +210 32.26% $21
Elon Musk +340 22.73% $34
Xi Jinping +650 13.33% $65
Pope Francis +750 11.76% $75
Volodymyr Zelenskyy +750 11.76% $75
Artificial intelligence (AI)* +850 10.53% $85
Kate Middleton +1000 9.09% $100
JD Vance +1100 8.33% $110
Jerome Powell +1300 7.14% $130
Mark Carney +1400 6.67% $140
Yulia Navalnaya +1600 5.88% $160
King Charles III +1600 5.88% $160
Taylor Swift +1600 5.88% $160
Jeff Bezos +1700 5.56% $170
Justin Trudeau +1700 5.56% $170
Mark Zuckerberg +1900 5.00% $190
Gavin Newsom +1900 5.00% $190
Mr Beast +2100 4.55% $210
David Attenborough +2300 4.17% $230
Marina Silva +2300 4.17% $230
Joe Rogan +2400 4.00% $240
Oasis +2500 3.85% $250
Mark Cuban +2500 3.85% $250
Lisa Su +2900 3.33% $290
William Ruto +2900 3.33% $290
Kim Kardashian +3200 3.03% $320
Li Qiang +3200 3.03% $320
Bob Iger +3400 2.86% $340
Travis Kelce +3400 2.86% $340
Jane Goodall +4000 2.44% $400
Selena Gomez +4000 2.44% $400
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson +4400 2.22% $440
Beyonce +4400 2.22% $440
James Cameron +4900 2.00% $490
Beth Ford +4900 2.00% $490
Lionel Messi +5000 1.96% $500
Robert Downey Jr +5000 1.96% $500
Jake Paul +5500 1.79% $550
Logan Paul +5500 1.79% $550
LeBron James +6000 1.64% $600
Ryan Reynolds +6000 1.64% $600
Zendaya +6000 1.64% $600
Elton John +7500 1.32% $750
Frank Mugisha +7500 1.32% $750
Caitlin Clark +9500 1.04% $950
Justin Bieber +10000 0.99% $1,000
Tim Naki +10000 0.99% $1,000
Nedd Brockmann +10000 0.99% $1,000

*Includes ChatGPT

🔥 Time Person of the Year 2025 Favorites

Donald Trump (+210)

Trump sat at -125 on these betting lines back in January, but is now just the +210 favorite on the board as the United States (and the world at large) grapples with his actions on immigration and deportation, trade and tariffs, and the war in Ukraine. There’s absolutely no doubt Trump will again be the most discussed person of 2025, but whether Time would give him back-to-back covers remains to be seen.

Elon Musk (+340)

Musk was also the second-favorite on this board back in January at +250, and like Trump he’s slipped a bit as well. Musk was previously named Time magazine’s 2021 Person of the Year but back then he was primarily known for his work with SpaceX and Tesla, and not for his current position running DOGE in the Trump administration. Can taking a chainsaw to the federal government make you Person of the Year?

Other 2025 Time Person of the Year favorites at FanDuel Canada include the departed Pope Francis (+750), United States Vice President JD Vance (+1100), and the Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell (+1300).

🥈 Time Person of the Year 2025 contenders

Xi Jinping (+650)

The 71-year-old leader of China, in power for over a decade, now finds himself in a political battle with Trump for the second time as the U.S. President’s trade war with his Asian rival has ramped up in the past months. A leader of China has not been selected as Time magazine’s Person of the Year since Deng Xiaoping in both 1978 and 1985, but a successful handling of Trump would get Xi serious consideration.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy (+750)

Zelenskyy was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2022 alongside The Spirit of Ukraine, and the last three years have not been easy for the Ukrainian president as Russia’s invasion continues. A tense oval office meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump in February alarmed Ukraine’s supporters around the world, but the two did have a calmer conversation in the Vatican at Pope Francis’ funeral.

Artificial Intelligence (+850)

The joke has been that Artificial Intelligence is all well and good until it announces plans to build Skynet, which hasn’t happened quite yet. FanDuel’s betting board includes the note that Artificial Intelligence in this situation includes ChatGPT, which has allowed people to unburden themselves of the task of writing their own essays and emails. As AI tech gets smarter, its intrusion into our lives will increase even more.

Other 2025 Time Person of the Year contenders include future British Queen Kate Middleton (+1000), King Charles III (+1600), and Taylor Swift (+1600), who was named the 2023 Time Person of the Year.

🐶 2025 Time Person of the Year underdogs

Mark Carney (+1400)

Carney finds himself on the updated Person of the Year odds after leading Canada’s Liberal Party to a federal election victory in late April, positioning himself during the campaign as the person best suited to take on Trump’s trade tactics. Carney’s resume includes stints as governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and his new job as Canada’s Prime Minister will raise his profile even higher.

Jeff Bezos (+1700)

Bezos has cozied up to Trump since the start of his second term in office, donating to his inauguration fund and having Prime Video reportedly pay millions of dollars for a Melania Trump documentary. The billionaire, through ventures such as Amazon and Blue Origin, is never out of the spotlight, and has a splashy wedding coming up in Venice to a fiancée that he just blasted into space alongside Katy Perry.

Other 2025 Time Person of the Year underdogs include California governor and rumoured 2028 United States presidential contender Gavin Newsom (+1900), Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg (+1900), social media personality and businessman Mr. Beast (+2100), and podcaster Joe Rogan (+2400).

🎯 2025 Time Person of the Year long shots

Beyonce (+4400)

You can never count Beyonce out of anything. The music superstar dazzled in a Christmas Day NFL halftime show in her hometown of Houston, and will be spending 2025 on her Cowboy Carter Tour.

LeBron James (+6000)

Just like Beyonce, you can never count LeBron James out of anything either, as the legendary athlete continues to play at a high level in the NBA at 40 years old. James is one of two basketball players on the FanDuel list, as the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark sits back at +9500 odds to take the Time magazine honor.

Other 2025 Time Person of the Year longshots on the FanDuel list include Kenyan president William Ruto (+2900), Avatar director James Cameron (+4900), and always-retiring music superstar Elton John (+7500).

💰 2025 Time Person of the Year Betting Pick

When this exercise was done back in January the betting pick was Artificial Intelligence, citing the fact that Time magazine had given its Person of the Year award to a group or concept multiple times in the past - The Guardians in 2018 (journalists who faced persecution), The Silence Breakers in 2017 (the #MeToo movement), Ebola Fighters in 2014 (health care workers), and The Protestor in 2011 (various grassroots protestors from around the world) – and the massive strides that AI was making in society.

And Artificial Intelligence will remain the pick here BUT keep an eye on Zelenskyy. If the Ukrainian leader can somehow manage to navigate the whims and egos of both Trump and Vladimir Putin and get peace established in his war-torn country by the end of 2025 he’ll be in line to claim Person of the Year again.

My Pick: Artificial Intelligence (+850)

📜 Time Person of the Year History

Year Choice
1927 Charles Lindbergh
1928 Walter Chrysler
1929 Owen D. Young
1930 Mahatma Gandhi
1931 Pierre Laval
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1933 Hugh S. Johnson
1934 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1935 Haile Selassie
1936 Wallis Simpson
1937 (co-winner) Chiang Kai-shek
1937 (co-winner) Soong Mei-ling
1938 Adolf Hitler
1939 Joseph Stalin
1940 Winston Churchill
1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1942 Joseph Stalin
1943 George C. Marshall
1944 Dwight D. Eisenhower
1945 Harry S. Truman
1946 James F. Byrnes
1947 George C. Marshall
1948 Harry S. Truman
1949 Winston Churchill
1950 The American fighting-man
1951 Mohammad Mossadegh
1952 Elizabeth II
1953 Konrad Adenauer
1954 John Foster Dulles
1955 Harlow Curtice
1956 The Hungarian freedom fighter
1957 Nikita Khrushchev
1958 Charles de Gaulle
1959 Dwight D. Eisenhower
1960 U.S. Scientists
1961 John F. Kennedy
1962 John XXIII
1963 Martin Luther King Jr.
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson
1965 William Westmoreland
1966 The Inheritor
1967 Lyndon B. Johnson
1968 The Apollo 8 astronauts
1969 The Middle Americans
1970 Willy Brandt
1971 Richard Nixon
1972 (co-winner) Richard Nixon
1972 (co-winner) Henry Kissinger
1973 John Sirica
1974 Faisal
1975 American women
1976 Jimmy Carter
1977 Anwar Sadat
1978 Deng Xiaoping
1979 Ruhollah Khomeini
1980 Ronald Reagan
1981 Lech Wałęsa
1982 The Computer
1983 (co-winner) Ronald Reagan
1983 (co-winner) Yuri Andropov
1984 Peter Ueberroth
1985 Deng Xiaoping
1986 Corazon Aquino
1987 Mikhail Gorbachev
1988 The Endangered Earth
1989 Mikhail Gorbachev
1990 George H. W. Bush
1991 Ted Turner
1992 Bill Clinton
1993 The Peacemakers
1994 John Paul II
1995 Newt Gingrich
1996 David Ho
1997 Andrew Grove
1998 (co-winner) Bill Clinton
1998 (co-winner) Ken Starr
1999 Jeff Bezos
2000 George W. Bush
2001 Rudy Giuliani
2002 The Whistleblowers
2003 The American soldier
2004 George W. Bush
2005 The Good Samaritans
2006 You[76]
2007 Vladimir Putin
2008 Barack Obama
2009 Ben Bernanke
2010 Mark Zuckerberg
2011 The Protester
2012 Barack Obama
2013 Francis
2014 Ebola fighters
2015 Angela Merkel
2016 Donald Trump
2017 The Silence Breakers
2018 The Guardians
2019 Greta Thunberg
2020 (co-winner) Joe Biden
2020 (co-winner) Kamala Harris
2021 Elon Musk
2022 (co-winner) Volodymyr Zelenskyy
2022 (co-winner) The Spirit of Ukraine
2023 Taylor Swift
2024 Donald Trump

📝 Time Person of the Year FAQs

When will the Time Person of the Year be chosen?

The Time Person of the Year is traditionally announced annually in early-to-mid December.

Who was named Time Person of the Year in 2024?

Incoming U.S. president Donald Trump was selected as Time Person of the Year for 2024, marking the second time he has earned the honor.

Who is the betting favorite for 2025 Time Person of the Year?

The first odds for 2025 have 2024 cover figure Donald Trump installed as the +210 favorite, good for an implied probability of 32.26%.

Has there ever been more than one Time Person of the Year selected in a given year?

Time has given out multiple Person of the Year honors six times in its history – most recently in 2022, when Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and "The Spirit of Ukraine" were jointly recognized.

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