The President-elect was declared the latest winner of the annual honor on Today Wednesday morning, beating out finalists including Hillary Clinton, Beyonce and Vladmir Putin.
This was the second year in a row that Trump had been a finalist of the accolade.
Hillary Clinton came in second and Hackers came in third.
‘Well it’s a great honor, it means a lot especially me growing up reading Time,’ said Trump.
‘I consider this a very, very great honor.’
Time editor Nancy Gibbs said it was the easiest decision the magazine has ever made for the honor.
When asked if he saw the honor as a condemnation given how divided the country has become Trump said that it was not him who divided the country, adding: ‘There’s a lot of division. We’re going to put it back together.’
Trump also spoke
Time revealed on Monday that Prime Minister Modi was the winner of the online reader’s poll for the ‘Person of the Year’ honor.
He won 18 percent of the vote, finishing well ahead of the other finalists.
There was a three-way tie for second place, with Trump, President Barack Obama and Julian Assange all finished with 7 percent of the vote.
Trump was beat out last year by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He responded to the magazine’s decision at the time by writing on on Twitter:
‘I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite. They picked person who is ruining Germany.’
The 2015 finalists included Caitlyn Jenner, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the Black Lives Matter protest movement and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
Trump finished in third behind Merkel and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was the runner-up for the 2015 honor.
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