Adele and Taylor Swift among Reader's Choice finalists for Time Magazine's Person of the Year

Adele, Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj are among the famous faces in the running for Time Magazine's Reader's Choice Person of the Year honor.

Editors select the cover star of their annual Person of the Year issue internally, but the general public has been given the chance to vote for their top honoree in the Reader's Choice category.

Finalists include top politicians like President Barack Obama, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but fans have also put forward pop stars like Adele and Taylor, rappers Nicki and Drake, and pregnant reality TV beauty Kim Kardashian. Actresses Viola Davis and Jennifer Lawrence, her comedienne pal Amy Schumer, and transgender former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner have also garnered votes from the public.

As WENN went to press, presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders led the votes with 12.8 per cent, ahead of Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai at 4.9 per cent, and Pope Francis at 3.7 per cent.

The current top five is rounded out by Barack Obama with 3.5 per cent and comedian and The Late Show host Stephen Colbert with 3.4 per cent.

The 2014 Time Magazine Person of the Year title went to the Ebola fighters helping to battle a deadly outbreak of the disease in West Africa, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed the Reader's Choice honor with 16 per cent of the near-five million votes cast.