Rain, a South Korean actor and singer, has been voted the most influential person in the world in an online poll.
In a poll conducted by TIME magazine, Rain ranked first in the voting for this year’s most influential people.
The 2011 TIME 100 poll closed on April 14 with Rain in the lead. Taiwan’s Jay Chou and Britain’s Susan Boyle took second and third place.
Rain received the highest number of votes out of the 204 candidates with 439,251 people voting for him. Jay Chou, a Taiwanese director-singer-songwriter, received 229,442 votes and Susan Boyle, a Scottish singer, received 167,711 votes.
Rain has been making onto the TIME 100 online list for six straight years since 2006.
Rain has outranked some of the most well-known figures in the world. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook and The Person of the Year for 2010 selected by TIME magazine, was ranked 28. Michelle Obama, the first lady of the U.S., ranked 32, outpacing Barack Obama, her husband, who was placed 46th. Oprah Winfrey, a famous TV show host, was ranked 84.
By Yun Suh-young (syun@heraldcorp.com)
Intern Reporter