Although the front runner for the title is probably Barack Obama, who would become only the second person to win the title two years in a row (the first was Richard Nixon), Time magazine may want to consider a bolder choice for its 2009 Person of the Year: Michael Jackson.
Jackson would become the first deceased person to take the title, and also the first entertainer (that's excluding Bono, who split the award with Bill and Melinda Gates in 2005 for their campaign against poverty). He's also earned it: His greatest hits compilation, Ones, is the best selling album of 2009, and his upcoming concert film, This is It, is primed to be a major hit. In death, Jackson leaves behind one of the biggest cultural legacies of any performer since Elvis. His reign on the charts likely isn't over, either. A schmaltzy leftover track that debuted on radio this week, "This is It," probably wouldn't light up the request lines, but Jackson left behind a cache of more contemporary material, including possible collaborations with hitmakers Akon and Ne-Yo (it's unclear how much of this material was finalized, but good producers can work wonders around whatever they've got).
And outside of politics, no story this year was more gripping than Jackson's. His tragic death also represented a happy ending of sortsonly in death did Jackson attain the comeback he'd long sought, and it now appears for the first time in a decade that Jackson will be remembered more for his music than his scandals. The court of public opinion has already abruptly exonerated him from alleged crimes that just a year ago most would have bet their life savings that he'd committed.
Jackson's story, cultural influence and posthumous promise could make him a real contender for Person of the Yearthat his selection would also help Time move magazines certainly doesn't hurt, either.
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