Sombr and PinkPantheress Lead TIME's Rising Stars

TIME just dropped its annual list of the people about to run the next decade of culture, and the new edition reads like a Gen Z group chat come to life. The TIME100 Next list, revealed this week, names one hundred emerging leaders across music, film, television, sports, and fashion as the world's most influential rising stars, according to TIME's official announcement.

What separates this roster from a typical awards list is the format. Each honoree gets a personal essay written by an established name who vouches for them, which turns the whole exercise into a passing-of-the-torch ceremony in print. LeBron James wrote about Tyrese Maxey, Natalie Portman wrote about Charles Melton, and Kylie Minogue wrote about Troye Sivan, per the announcement. That star-to-star stamp of approval is exactly why the list lands differently than a magazine ranking. Somebody with nothing to gain is putting their reputation behind tomorrow's rising stars.

The music class everyone is already streaming

Seven rising stars from the music world made the cut this year, and if you have spent any time on TikTok you already know most of them. The music honorees are Raye, Troye Sivan, PinkPantheress, Megan Moroney, Conan Gray, Alex Warren, and Sombr, the bedroom-pop singer whose song "Back to Friends" turned into a streaming phenomenon. The tribute pairings underline how fully the industry has embraced them: Anya Taylor-Joy wrote about Raye, and Kylie Minogue wrote about Troye Sivan, according to the official list.

Sombr is the detail that shows where pop music is actually headed. He built his audience uploading lo-fi songs from his bedroom before playing Coachella this spring. Megan Moroney has become country's most talked-about new voice, while PinkPantheress keeps blurring the line between internet culture and chart success with songs built for the short-form era. TIME's framing treats these rising stars as incumbents in waiting. Their fanbases are not asking radio or awards shows for permission. The list simply caught up with what the numbers already said.

Hollywood's next generation gets the cover treatment

On the acting side, the standout rising star on this year's TIME100 Next list is Ashley Padilla, the Saturday Night Live cast member who landed one of three cover spots. Bob Odenkirk wrote the tribute essay about her, praising the way, in his words, "she creates beautiful, human comedy out of small moments, with precision and joy that somehow always comes from a place of love." Padilla told TIME the SNL gig feels like play rather than work. "I find it so collaborative and fun," she said. "Everyone's just trying to make people laugh, it can't be too serious," she added, according to ABC Audio's coverage of the announcement.

She is in serious company with the other rising stars. The entertainment honorees on the list also include Charles Melton, Joey King, Chase Sui Wonders, Molly Gordon, Cooper Hoffman, Chase Infiniti, Dominic Sessa, Isa Briones, Yerin Ha, Eiza González, Himesh Patel, Sarah Pidgeon, Marisa Abela, Joshua Henry, and Paapa Essiedu, who is set to play Professor Snape in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series. Sketch comedian Druski made the cut too, alongside Katie Dippold, the writer behind Widow's Bay, and Curry Barker, the young director of the supernatural horror film Obsession. For a generation that met most of these faces on a phone screen before a television screen, the lineup confirms the obvious. The next era of stardom will not resemble the last one, and Hollywood's current premieres already hint at that handoff.

The athletes your group chat is already arguing about

Sports fans got their own debate fuel, with seven rising stars from the sports world on the roster. The athlete honorees include Texas quarterback Arch Manning, whose tribute essay came from fellow Texan Matthew McConaughey, alongside basketball players Tyrese Maxey and Olivia Miles, soccer stars Naomi Girma and Folarin Balogun, tennis player Alexandra Eala, and Indian cricket sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the only Indian on the entire roster. Rafael Nadal wrote Eala's tribute, while Alex Morgan handled Girma's, per the official announcement.

Sooryavanshi is the sleeper rising star of this year's roster. TIME described the teenager as "fast becoming one of global sport's most electrifying figures" after his breakout IPL season with the Rajasthan Royals, according to Mint's coverage. His presence proves the roster is genuinely global rather than a Los Angeles popularity contest, a point TIME CEO Jessica Sibley made in the official release. "This year's list-makers are pushing boundaries, creating new possibilities, and advancing their fields and communities around the world," Sibley said.

The music tributes show the same pattern of established stars co-signing the new wave. Charli xcx wrote about model Alex Consani, who also made the fashion and arts group as one of its rising stars. Given how central Charli xcx has been to pop's recent reinvention, her presence as a contributor says as much about the list's taste as any honoree.

Lists like this are easy to dismiss as industry back-patting. The better use is as a watchlist, because these rising stars are the names most likely to be headlining festivals, award shows, and finals a few years from now. The new class leans younger, more online, and more international than nearly any previous edition, which says something honest about where influence lives now. It is not in a boardroom or a broadcast studio. It is on the phone in your pocket, in the hands of a kid uploading songs from a bedroom. Save the list and check back in a few years. The receipts will be worth it.