US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been jointly named by Time magazine as its 2020 Person of the Year.

Mr Biden and Ms Harris were selected from a shortlist that included outgoing President Donald Trump, frontline healthcare workers including Anthoney Fauci, and the movement for racial justice.

Highlighting the president of the US on the cover of Time isn’t new but this is the first time a vice-president has been named person of the year. Mr Biden, who will take over as president on January 20, was VP to Barack Obama.

Tweet from @TIME

“The Biden-Harris ticket represents something historic,” Time‘s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said.

“Person of the Year is not just about the year that was but about where we’re headed.

“The next four years is going to be an enormous test of them, and all of us, to see whether they can bring about the unity they promised.”

Announced by Bruce Springsteen, the reveal was presented via an NBC broadcast.

Time also named LeBron James athlete of the year and Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old scientist and inventor, as the first kid of the year.

Guardians of the year included frontline health workers, as well as Porche Bennett-Bey, racial-justice organisers and Dr Fauci.

-AAP