NEW YORK CITY — The 2026 TIME100 Gala took place Thursday evening at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, gathering the world’s 100 most influential people into one room to confirm, in person and in formal attire, that they are in fact influential.
The evening followed Wednesday’s TIME100 Summit — a separate event for the same 100 influential people, but with panels — and featured performances, interviews, and a series of photographs of notable individuals standing next to other notable individuals, making it the most efficient concentration of cultural capital per square foot since the last one.
Among the 2026 honorees were Hilary Duff, Victoria Beckham, Kate Hudson, and Maria Sharapova, who arrived at Wednesday’s summit to be recognized for their influence and were, by all accounts, recognized. Jonathan Groff performed. Gayle King interviewed someone. Wyclef Jean was there.
“It’s such an honor to be considered one of the 100 most influential people on the planet,” said one attendee, who requested anonymity to avoid appearing too eager about being named publicly as influential. “I’m just trying to make a difference. Also this dress is extraordinary. Also I have a new project coming out in May, which I’m not going to mention, but which I’m going to make very easy for you to find.”
The event comes just one day before the highly anticipated premiere of Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic starring Colman Domingo, which has been generating conversation since its announcement, through its production, into its marketing campaign, and now into its release weekend — ensuring that no one will be able to avoid having an opinion about it by Saturday, including people who have not seen it.
In other Ticketmaster news — and there is always Ticketmaster news — the platform announced Wednesday that it caught scalpers hoarding “thousands of illegal tickets” to a major star’s residency at Madison Square Garden, and said those tickets would be returned to fans at face value, a statement that prompted widespread gratitude, measured skepticism, and at least three investigative pieces already in progress.
“We take scalping very seriously,” said a Ticketmaster spokesperson, standing in front of a wall of service fee disclosure slides. “We caught them. We stopped them. We returned the tickets. We also want to remind you that our convenience fee this quarter was $17.50, which is totally normal and not related to this situation at all.”
The TIME100 list itself remains available on TIME’s website, though sources confirm that at least fourteen of the honorees have not yet read it, having been too busy exercising their influence in the field to admire a list of it on a screen.
Globe News Daily was not invited to the TIME100 Gala but has been influential in other ways, primarily in the niche arena of covering galas we were not invited to, which we do with great dedication.
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