Extravagantly outfitted singer Lady Gaga, former US president Bill Clinton and Brazil's leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are the world's most influential people according to Time magazine's annual list.

The US weekly explains its sometimes surprising choices saying that the "Time 100 is not about the influence of power but the power of influence."

Lady Gaga, famous for bizarre costumes and chart-topping dance music, leads the list of most influential artists, leading US late-night TV host Conan O'Brien, Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow and daytime TV queen Oprah Winfrey.

Clinton, who has reinvented himself as a major fund-raiser and anti-poverty activist since leaving the White House, heads the "heroes" section, beating South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-Na and Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

The "leaders" list starts with the Brazilian president, who is praised for his drive to bring social justice and end deep inequality in his huge Latin American country.

J.T. Wang, CEO of the Taiwanese PC maker Acer comes in at number two as a representative of the rise of Asian companies.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, is third, with President Barack Obama only in the fourth slot.

"Some of the people you'll encounter on this list are influential in the traditional sense," Time managing editor Richard Stengel says. "But we also seek out people whose ideas and actions are revolutionizing their fields and transforming lives."

(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

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(Agencies)