In a year of Adele on the radio, Bridesmaids at the box office, Jay-Z and Kanye on the Throne, and Charlie Sheen on another planet entirely, how the hell do you pick the definitive Entertainer of the Year?

Surprisingly, the folks at Entertainment Weekly say their choice for the top spot was a shoo-in: Daniel Radcliffe. “He’s proven that he’s going to have a career outside Harry Potter,” said executive editor Kristen Baldwin in our Media Beat interview.

Baldwin also discussed the magazine’s editorial process for churning out such lists on a weekly (daily for EW.com) basis. “Well, it’s never come to blows,” she said with a laugh. “I mean, it’s entertainment. Nobody’s really getting worked up about it, but you’re in a room with a lot of smart, funny people. So, it’s sort of like ‘one liner, one liner, one liner’ as people try to make their case and put down other people’s cases.”

So, which pop culture trends will define 2012? Watch the full video for Baldwin’s predictions.

You can also view this video on YouTube.

Part 2: Tomorrow, Baldwin explains why EW didn’t rush into the tablet market.
Part 3: Thursday, we break down exactly how a celebrity makes it onto the A-list.