Tony Blair joins Miley Cyrus on Time's Top 100 list

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and tween idol Miley Cyrus have joined Time magazine's "100 most influential people" list alongside other world leaders, celebrities and sports stars.

U.S. television talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey again featured on the fifth annual list that was published online on Thursday and hits newsstands on Friday -- the only person listed every year the list has been published.

All three U.S. presidential candidates -- Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain -- were included in the 2008 list alongside Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, the head of India's ruling Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and media magnate Rupert Murdoch were also named.

Blair's exclusion from the list previously raised eyebrows but it appears his influence has grown since he retired as prime minister. He won a slot under "heroes and pioneers," one of five categories, for his work as a Middle East envoy.

Britain's current prime minister, Gordon Brown, did not get a mention in the list of nominees from 23 countries.

"Tony listened to my advice graciously but ignored it completely by immediately accepting a new job as Middle East envoy for the Quartet (of peace negotiators)," former U.S. President Bill Clinton wrote in a piece for the magazine.

Cyrus, 15, who plays secret rock star "Hannah Montana" in the Disney Channel TV show of that name, became the youngest person to be included, under the category "artists and entertainers."

"As an idol to tweens the world over, singer-actress Miley Cyrus, 15, is riding a huge tidal wave at the pinnacle of her career," wrote former child star Donny Osmond.