Kanye West beats Kim Kardashian, Cristiano Ronaldo and James Corden to be crowned most influential person on the internet

Kanye West has beaten a string of famous faces to be crowned the most influential person on the internet.

TIME released its annual round-up and honoured the US rapper with the title after he “perfected the art of the Twitter spree”.

West, 38 – who recently used the social network to hit out at Whiz Khalifa and announce his alleged $53 million debt – was praised for offering “constructive criticism of the fashion and music industries”.

He was also dubbed revolutionary for the way he used the internet to “shake up the idea of an album as we know it, treating his latest LP, The Life of Pablo, like a work in progress by refusing to sell it (it’s only available on the streaming service Tidal) and promising alterations to its “final” version”.

Despite having more than 120 million followers across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, West’s wife Kim Kardashian failed to make the top 10 and ranked 24th. She was acknowledged for "posting, and then ardently defending, a series of nude selfies".

James Corden – who was praised for his position as host on The Late Late Show – took third place above fellow Brit J.K. Rowling in eighth.

Donald Trump rounded off the top ten for having more Twitter followers than his rival presidential candidates.

Other names in the top 30 included footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, Canadian singer Drake, digital workout trainer Kayla Itsines, YouTube vlogger Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (PewDiePie) and Vine star Andrew Bachelor.

Follow @StandardShowbiz for more entertainment news.