Mahinda fails to make into TIME editors’ list of 100 most influential but wins 4th slot in people’s

President Mahinda Rajapaksa failed to make into TIME magazine editors’ choice of 100 most influential people released on Thursday, but he finished fourth in the People’s Choice, selected by online votes.

South Korean pop star Rain won The People’s Choice vote for the third straight year.

As per a Reuters report, previously unknown newsmakers from Egypt and Japan joined pop stars and politicians on Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world released on Thursday.

The list includes pop culture giants such as Justin Bieber and Oprah Winfrey plus the lesser known Wael Ghonim, an Egyptian internet activist who helped topple President Hosni Mubarak, and Takeshi Kanno, a Japanese doctor who refused to leave behind victims of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

“We’ve always, always tried to tell stories through people... We discovered it was a fantastic way to get people to think about what’s going on all over the world,” said Time Deputy Managing Editor Michael Elliott.

World leaders such as British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff populate the list for how they have wielded power. “The first time I met David Cameron, I knew we were political soul mates,” actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote in a profile for Time, calling him “a centrist who avoids the gutters of politics”. Others include Gabrielle Giffords, the American Congresswoman who survived a bullet wound to the head during a gunman’s rampage in Arizona, and Michele Bachmann, the Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota who has energised the anti-tax, anti-spending Tea Party movement.

Jailed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was honoured for his “bravery and artistic skill,” Elliott said.

From the world of sport, Argentina soccer phenomenon Lionel Messi was joined by cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose charisma and leadership united an ethnically diverse team that won the World Cup.

Among business leaders were Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji from India but they were placed below Dhoni.

South Korean pop star Rain won The People’s Choice vote for the third straight year. Time editors chose the names on the list except for The People’s Choice, selected by online voters.

People’s TIME 2011 poll

Following is the Top 20 ranking of online 2011 TIME 100 Poll. This table lists the poll results as voted on by Time.com users:

Rank Name                                    Influential          

1 Rain                 492634

2 Jay Chou            274926

3 Susan Boyle             240759

4 Mahinda Rajapaksa         194478

5 Cheng Yen             105222

6 Beyoncé                73604

7 Chris Colfer                54525

8 Christopher Hitchens           41371

9 Bradley Manning             38182

10 Glenn Beck             59498

11 Tawakul Karman             42129

12 Lady Gaga             38597

13 Julian Assange             28680

14 Ron Paul             21859

15 Aamir Khan             20984

16 Fukushima Power Plant Workers 24789

17 Mohamed Bouazizi         18587

18 Han Han             18042

19 Wisconsin’s ‘Fab 14’ State Senators                 21472

20 Rihanna             18837

TIME Magazine’s Top 20

1. Wael Ghonim - Egyptian spokesman

2. Joseph Stiglitz - Economist

3. Reed Hastings - Netflix CEO

4. Amy Poehler - Actress

5. Geoffrey Canada - School Reformer

6. Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook founder

7. Peter Vesterbacka - Game Developer

8. Angela Merkel - German Chancellor

9. Julian Assange - Face of WikiLeaks

10. Ron Bruder - Advocate

11. Lamido Sanusi - Central Banker

12. Colin Firth - Actor

13. Amy Chua - Tough-love mother

14. Joe Biden - Vice President

15. Jennifer Egan - Writer

16. Kim Clijsters - Tennis player

17. Ahmed Shuja Pasha - Intelligent chief

18. Aung San Suu Kyi - Freedom fighter

19. Cory Booker - Mayor

20. Gabrielle Giffords - Congresswoman

See complete list on www.time.com.