First "Time Person of the Year" (multiple recipients)

Leader of the Republic of China, General Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), and his wife, First Lady Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003, both China) were the first people to be jointly awarded "Person of the Year" by Time magazine, receiving the accolade in 1937. They both appeared on the cover of the 1937 end-of-year issue, dated 3 January 1938.

The "Person of the Year" is a special annual issue of the US news magazine Time that celebrates a person, group of people or even object that "for better or for worse... has done the most to influence the events of the year". The award was originally split into "Man of the Year" and "Woman of the Year", before being changed to the single "Person of the Year" in 1999.

The first individual to be named "Man of the Year" (later "Person of the Year") by Time was US aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1927, in recognition of him becoming the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo on 20–21 May 1927. The accolade debuted in a special edition of Time on 2 January 1928. The first female individual to be named "Woman of the Year" was socialite and future wife of King Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson (USA), taking the title in 1936, as featured in the 4 January 1937 issue.

Over the decades, Time magazine has also recognized conceptual groups of unnamed people as recipients of its award, the first such of which was "The American Fighting-Man", which received the title in 1950 (cover date 1 January 1951).