Time magazine on Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its person of the year for 2015, hailing her leadership during debt and refugee…

Time magazine on Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its person of the year for 2015, hailing her leadership during debt and refugee crises that threatened to tear the European Union apart

In power for a decade at the helm of Europe's biggest economy, the world's most powerful woman beat runners-up, the leader of the Islamic State extremist group and Donald Trump as Time's dominant personality of the year

"For asking more of her country than most politicians would dare, for standing firm against tyranny as well as expedience and for providing steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply, Angela Merkel is Time's Person of the Year," wrote editor Nancy Gibbs

The person of the year accolade acknowledges what the magazine considers to be the world's biggest newsmaker, or influential mover

Time magazine lauded Merkel as the indispensable player in managing the prospect of Greek bankruptcy, and the migrant and refugee crisis

Since the tradition began in 1927, Merkel is only the fourth woman to win. Last year, healthcare workers treating the Ebola epidemic were honored. In 2013, it was Pope Francis. US President Barack Obama has won twice

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the IS extremist group, US Republican presidential candidate Trump, America's Black Lives Matter activists and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were named by Time as runners up