DONALD Trump has been named TIME’s Person of the Year with the President-elect teasing the news on Twitter.

Mr Trump beat out 10 other finalists, including former rival Hillary Clinton, to claim the honour, after pulling off one of the most stunning political victories in history.

“So which is it this year: Better or worse? The challenge for Donald Trump is how profoundly the country disagrees about the answer,” TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs wrote. “For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year.”

Mr Trump used the opportunity to again lash out at Saturday Night Live, saying he believed the show, now in its 42nd year on television, would be cancelled soon.

“I don’t think it’s good,” Mr Trump said when asked about Alec Baldwin’s portrayal of him. “I like him as an actor, but I don’t think his imitation gets me at all, and it’s meant to be very mean-spirited ... and I don’t like it.”

“Frankly, the way the show is going now ... who knows how long that show is going to be on?” he added. “It’s a terrible show.”

Mr Trump says he is not offended by TIME calling him the “President of the Divided States of America” on its cover.

“I’m not President yet. I didn’t do anything to divide,” he said. “We’re going to put it back together and we’re going to have a country that’s very well healed. We’re going to do a lot of great things. It’s going to be something very special.”

Mr Trump has attacked TIME on a number of occasions, comparing it to a “free handout at a parking lot” and declaring the magazine would “never pick me as person of the year.”

The Time Magazine list of the 100 Most Influential People is a joke and stunt of a magazine that will, like Newsweek,soon be dead. Bad list! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2013

Just took a look at Time Magazine-looks really flimsy like a free handout at a parking lot! The sad end is coming-just like Newsweek! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2013

I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite They picked person who is ruining Germany — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2015

Thank you @oreillyfactor for your wonderful editorial as to why I should have been @TIME Magazine's Person of the Year. You should run Time! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2015

I knew last year that @TIME Magazine lost all credibility when they didn't include me in their Top 100... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2012

The other finalists for this year’s Person of the Year included such names as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Beyonce, Russian president Vladimir Putin, the whistleblowers of Flint, Michigan, and US gymnast Simone Biles.

Mr Trump follows past winners including German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2015), the ebola fighters (2014) and Pope Francis (2013).

Aviator Charles Lindbergh was the first recipient of the award in 1927, when it was called Man of the Year. The title was amended in 1999.

TIME has selected a range of both famous and infamous people over the years, including Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Joseph Stalin in 1939 and 1942.

I will be interviewed on the @TODAYshow at 7:30. Enjoy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2016

Before it was announced, Mr Trump flagged that the announcement was coming via his Twitter account.

He later told the Today show in the US that it was a “great honour” that “meant a lot” to him.