Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Mark Rylance Among TIME's '100 Most Influential People in the World'

Today, TIME revealed the 2016 TIME 100, its annual list of THE 100 most influential people in the world. Not surprisingly, Lin-Manuel Miranda made this year's list. The playwright, composer, and performer recently won the 2015 MacArthur Foundation Fellows Genius Award and on Monday, his hip-hop musical HAMILTON was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. And oh yeah, one other small thing, his musical was most likely the driving force behind the U.S. Treasury Department's decision to keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, scrapping plans to replace him with another historical figure.

In the annual issue of TIME, J.J. Abrams, who collaborated with Miranda on the score for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, had this to say about the creative genius: "Like Alexander Hamilton, Miranda is a powerful reminder that greatness comes from unlikely places. His Puerto Rican parents' collection of Broadway-musical records was as strong an influence during his New York City upbringing as the hip-hop he would come to love. There is no recipe for genius, but one can see the disparate elements that Miranda has miraculously seized and synthesized, embraced and celebrated, to create something profoundly moving and wholly original. He has redefined the musical and made us see anew the origins of the remarkable experiment called democracy." Read the article in full here!

Also making this year's list is pop star Ariana Grande, who made her Broadway debut in Jason Robert Brown's musical '13'. Brown, a Tony Award winning composer, had this to share about Grande in TIME's upcoming issue: "you know that no matter how much you are underestimated-by your peers, by casting directors, by your label, by the media, by your 39 million Twitter followers-you are going to open your mouth and that unbelievable sound is going to come out. That extraordinary, versatile, limitless instrument that allows you to shut down every objection and every obstacle. That voice-powered by nothing but your remarkable empathy, your ravenous intelligence, your cool discipline and your voracious ambition. They're going to underestimate you, and you, my beautiful friend, are going to make music." Read the article in full here

Three-time Tony Award winner and recent Oscar winner Mark Rylance also made this year's list. Steven Spielberg, who directed Rylance in Bridge of Spies and the upcoming film The BFG, had this to say in the issue: "Legions of young thespians look to Mark as their muse and inspiration. From Boeing-Boeing to Jerusalem to Twelfth Night, the impact he's had on classical and contemporary theater is the stuff of legend. A winner of three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and now an Oscar, Mark glimpses these honors with gratitude and humility, but his heart belongs to a good story. His soul is pure. He just loves to act." Read the article in full here.

TIME's thirteenth annual special issue also includes: Jennifer Lawrence on Adele, Bill and Melinda Gates onMark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, John Kerry on Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Bloomberg on Eli Broad, Lena Dunham on Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Diane von Furstenberg on Karlie Kloss, Misty Copeland onStephen Curry, J.J. Abrams on Lin-Manuel Miranda, Scott Kelly on Lester Holt, Samantha Power on Angela Merkel, Bob Iger on Tim Cook, Lorne Michaels on Justin Trudeau, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Ryan Coogler, Rita Moreno on Gina Rodriguez, President Barack Obama on Aung San Suu Kyi, Joe Biden on Pope Francis, Ridley Scott on Palmer Luckey, Alfonso Cuarón on Gael García Bernal, Bono on John Kerry, Janet Yellenon Christine Lagarde, Tina Fey on Ronda Rousey, Mitt Romney on Paul Ryan, Donatella Versace onRiccardo Tisci, Elton John on Darren Walker and many more.

See the 2016 TIME 100 full list, tributes, videos and photos: http://ti.me/1qEONX8

See all six covers, featuring portraits by photographer Ben Hassett for TIME: http://bit.ly/1SRg6E5.

Cover image courtesy of Time

Ariana Grande photo: Kevin Thomas Garcia

Lin-Manuel Miranda photo: Walter McBride