AskMen.com has just unveiled their highly anticipated list of Top 49 Most Influential Men 2009 on Oct. 6. Don Draper the fictional character portrayed by Jon Hamm (picture above) of the AMC hit series Mad Men tops the list. Find out all the details here of the list which includes a variety of public figures, in politics, business, sports, film, television, music, fashion, media and more.

The votes of more than half a million readers were entirely responsible for the list, making it particularly revealing of public views and opinions. Ranking at No. 1 last year was President Barack Obama as he was then the Democrat candidate in the historic Presidential election. This year, the President falls in rank to No. 3. He is outranked by a fictional character as well as by the world’s fastest man, three-time Olympian sprinter Usain Bolt.

Ranking No. 1 in 2009 as noted is Mad Men’s Don Draper. The full list is here:
AskMen.com -Top 49 Most Influential Men 2009 with a separate page, photos and biographical details for each of the winners.

Being fictional poses no barriers to influence. An icon is an icon; Sherlock Holmes as a notable example. The program Man Men, recently nominated for 16 Emmy Awards, at the start of its second season, is already on its way to iconic stature. It centers around the Don Draper character, who is creative director of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. The show has even been parodied by Sesame Street in a video that has gone viral (see here on YouTube).

Regarding this year’s No. 1, AskMen.com says of the Mad Men icon.

The man that Don Draper is — value-driven and thoroughly masculine — is the product of a bygone era; without him, there would be no contemporary figure to represent it. Yet, as removed as his persona may be, it is also contemporary and familiar. He’s a postwar archetype, both a brilliant career man and a temptation-swayed philanderer who sincerely wants to be a family man. Like most men, us and our fathers both, Draper is permanently conflicted over how to reconcile his morals and his desires.

Rounding out the Top Five….

2. Usain Bolt, Three-time Olympic gold medalist and the world’s fastest man
3. President Barack Obama
4. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, CEO and president of Facebook
5. Simon Cowell, music mogul, judge on American Idol, X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent

Other notables who made the list include the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, Grammy Award winning rapper and mogul Jay-Z, legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Oscar winning Hollywood director James Cameron, Grammy Award winnning Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and NBA superstar Kobe Bryant.

As noted the full list, with photos and bios are on AskMen.com -Top 49 Most Influential Men 2009 for readers to see where their favorite influential men rank on the list.

See a video of the most influential of them all, Mad Men’s Don Draper in action below.

Video Link

AskMen.com Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2009: Mad Men’s Don Draper Tops the List