Putin top influential: Time poll

Russian President Vladimir Putin ranked top in the most influential people in the world according to Time Magazine’s readers’ poll.

United States President Barack Obama lagged behind and was dropped out from the top 10 by the voters – half of whom were from inside the US.

Putin edged out rapper-singer CL (of the South Korean girl-group 2NE1) to claim the number one spot with 6.95% of the votes, Time says.

Pop stars Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Taylor Swift rounded out the top five with 2.6%, 1.9% and 1.8% of the votes, respectively.

Other than Putin, the non-entertainers in the list are Dalai Lama (1.7%), Malala Yousafzai (1.6%) and Pope Francis (1.5%)

The TIME 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, spanning politics, entertainment, business, technology, science, religion and other fields.

Chosen by the editors of TIME, this year’s list will be unveiled April 16.