It’s that time of the year once again, when TIME 100 magazine features “The Most Influential People of the Year” . Our very dear Sanjaya Malakar makes it to the list. He truly deserves a slot on the list. He took America by storm this year when he joined the most famous reality singing competition, American Idol.

Believe it or not, Sanjy is virtually side by side the big names like J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series), Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios), and Bono (U2). He is currently swinging on the top 10 spot (already garnering over 35,000 votes). He even outnumbered the votes of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, John Mayer, George Clooney, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, among others.

Here’s Sanjaya’s profile on Time.com:

AGE: 17
OCCUPATION: Former American Idol contestant
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0

PRO: Millions voted him into the top 7 finalists of American Idol. His clever performances, creative hair styles and happy-go-lucky attitude gave America ’something to talk about’ and generated mass appeal.

CON: Some argue that his advancement on Idol was fuelled by Howard Stern’s votefortheworst.com campaign. Widely considered to be a horrible singer.