Legacy

Historical figures

Durable public attention across generations.

Most enduring

The dead who refuse to be forgotten — historical figures ranked by the attention they still command today, sometimes centuries on.

Historical figuresUpdated dailyHow fame is measured

🏛️ Historical legends ranked by modern attention

United StatesMusicians

United KingdomComedians

Theoretical physicist, theory of relativity

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Writers

Full ranking

#	Δ	Person	Country	Category	Fame	Momentum
#1	—	Michael Jackson	United States	Musicians	99.2	10.5
#2	—	Charlie Chaplin	United Kingdom	Comedians	96.6	10.4
#3	—	Ludwig van Beethoven	Germany	Musicians	96.0	10.0
#4	—	Jesus	—	Religious Figures	94.5	10.1
#5	—	Adolf Hitler	Austria	Politicians	94.3	10.0
#6	—	Albert Einstein Theoretical physicist, theory of relativity	Germany	Scientists	94.2	21.0
#7	—	Pope Francis	Argentina	Writers	94.2	30.8
#8	—	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Austria	Musicians	93.6	2.2
#9	2	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	—	Writers	93.9	6.5
#10	1	Karl Marx	Germany	Academics	93.8	13.2
#11	1	Aristotle	—	Academics	93.8	10.0
#12	—	Napoleon	France	Historical Figures	93.4	10.4
#13	—	Muhammad	—	Politicians	93.4	18.0
#14	1	Elizabeth II	United Kingdom	Historical Figures	93.2	4.0
#15	1	William Shakespeare	United Kingdom	Writers	93.1	3.4
#16	—	Johann Sebastian Bach	Germany	Musicians	93.0	2.1
#17	—	Socrates	Brazil	Academics	92.9	10.0
#18	—	Gautama Buddha	—	Academics	92.8	10.0
#19	—	Winston Churchill	United Kingdom	Politicians	92.6	10.9
#20	—	Michelangelo	Italy	Artists	92.5	10.0
#21	—	John F. Kennedy	United States	Politicians	92.5	10.0
#22	—	Friedrich Nietzsche	Germany	Academics	92.4	12.5
#23	—	Martin Luther	Germany	Religious Figures	92.4	11.4
#24	12	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk	Turkey	Politicians	92.2	7.8
#25	1	Galileo Galilei	Italy	Scientists	92.0	4.7
#26	1	Franklin D. Roosevelt	United States	Politicians	91.9	12.7
#27	—	Salvador Dalí	Spain	Artists	91.8	10.0
#28	2	Martin Luther King Jr.	United States	Writers	91.8	17.7
#29	1	Miguel de Cervantes	Spain	Writers	91.7	10.0
#30	1	Plato	—	Academics	91.5	2.2
#31	—	Marilyn Monroe	United States	Actors	91.4	25.9
#32	—	Rabindranath Tagore	India	Writers	91.3	10.0
#33	—	Hans Christian Andersen	—	Writers	91.3	10.0
#34	—	Mahatma Gandhi	India	Activists	91.2	2.2
#35	—	Elvis Presley	United States	Musicians	91.2	2.6
#36	6	Isaac Newton	United Kingdom	Academics	90.9	1.2
#37	—	Immanuel Kant	—	Academics	90.8	3.1
#38	—	Leonardo da Vinci Renaissance polymath	Italy	Artists	90.7	0.8
#39	—	Vincent van Gogh	Netherlands	Artists	89.3	0.0
#40	—	Christopher Columbus	Italy	Historical Figures	90.4	3.6
#41	—	Mao Zedong	China	Politicians	90.4	10.9
#42	—	Fyodor Dostoevsky	—	Writers	90.4	2.1
#43	—	Steve Jobs	United States	Founders	90.3	21.8
#44	—	Leo Tolstoy	—	Writers	90.3	1.2
#45	—	Thomas Edison	United States	Scientists	90.2	2.0
#46	—	Ronald Reagan	United States	Politicians	90.5	0.6
#47	2	Confucius	China	Academics	90.0	0.0
#48	—	Vladimir Lenin	—	Politicians	90.1	0.3
#49	1	Joseph Stalin	—	Politicians	90.0	0.4
#50	1	Abraham Lincoln	United States	Politicians	90.0	0.2
#51	1	Augustine of Hippo	—	Academics	89.9	19.9
#52	1	Julius Caesar	Italy	Politicians	89.9	0.3
#53	1	Anton Chekhov	—	Writers	89.9	3.8
#54	7	Nelson Mandela	South Africa	Politicians	89.9	0.1
#55	—	Edgar Allan Poe	United States	Writers	89.9	12.5
#56	—	Alexander the Great	—	Historical Figures	89.6	0.5
#57	—	Homer	—	Writers	89.6	0.0
#58	1	Victor Hugo	France	Writers	89.6	0.8
#59	1	Charles Darwin	United Kingdom	Scientists	89.5	0.2
#60	2	Franz Kafka	—	Writers	89.6	0.5
#61	—	Thomas Jefferson	United States	Politicians	89.5	10.9
#62	—	George Washington	United States	Politicians	89.5	0.0
#63	—	Pablo Picasso	Spain	Artists	89.5	0.5
#64	—	John Lennon	United Kingdom	Musicians	89.3	10.3
#65	—	Oscar Wilde	United Kingdom	Writers	89.3	10.0
#66	—	Dante Alighieri	—	Writers	89.2	0.0
#67	2	Neil Armstrong	United States	Academics	89.0	9.1
#68	1	Sigmund Freud	Austria	Writers	89.0	0.3
#69	1	Benjamin Franklin	United States	Politicians	89.0	15.0
#70	—	Voltaire	France	Writers	88.8	0.0
#71	—	Mark Twain	United States	Writers	88.8	0.0
#72	2	Alexander Pushkin	—	Writers	88.6	0.7
#73	—	René Descartes	France	Academics	88.7	0.0
#74	1	Augustus	Italy	Politicians	88.6	0.0
#75	3	Marie Curie Physicist & chemist, two-time Nobel laureate	—	Scientists	88.5	0.0
#76	—	Charles Dickens	United Kingdom	Writers	88.4	0.0
#77	—	Archimedes	—	Academics	88.2	0.0
#78	1	Adam Smith	United Kingdom	Academics	88.2	4.1
#79	1	Virgil	Italy	Writers	88.1	0.0
#80	—	Louis Pasteur	France	Scientists	88.1	10.0
#81	—	Fidel Castro	—	Politicians	88.0	12.6
#82	—	Dolly Parton	United States	Musicians	87.8	51.1
#83	—	Frédéric Chopin	France	Musicians	87.8	1.1
#84	—	J. R. R. Tolkien	United Kingdom	Writers	87.7	14.0
#85	—	John Locke	United Kingdom	Academics	87.7	10.0
#86	1	Stephen Hawking	United Kingdom	Scientists	87.7	1.9
#87	1	Benito Mussolini	Italy	Politicians	87.6	11.1
#88	—	Jane Austen	United Kingdom	Writers	87.5	29.5
#89	—	Whitney Houston	United States	Musicians	87.5	30.2
#90	—	Jules Verne	France	Writers	87.5	13.2
#91	—	Mother Teresa	—	Musicians	87.2	7.5
#92	—	Frida Kahlo	Mexico	Artists	87.1	10.0
#93	—	Che Guevara	Argentina	Activists	87.1	0.0
#94	1	Jean-Jacques Rousseau	Switzerland	Academics	87.0	0.0
#95	1	Jimmy Carter	United States	Politicians	87.0	5.7
#96	1	Le Corbusier	Switzerland	Architects	86.9	11.3
#97	1	Matsuo Bashō	Japan	Writers	86.9	15.0
#98	1	Shinzō Abe	Japan	Politicians	86.9	10.0
#99	1	Agatha Christie	United Kingdom	Writers	86.9	11.6
#100	1	Richard Wagner	Germany	Musicians	86.9	3.8