← Fame through time1981
1981
Whose working lives fell in 1981. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in 1981, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Donald Trump4 decades - 2
George W. Bush4 decades - 3
Bill Clinton4 decades - 4
Freddie Mercury3 decades - 5
Steven Spielberg5 decades - 6
Sylvester Stallone5 decades - 7
Chernot measured- - 8
Dolly Parton5 decades - 9
David Lynch4 decades - 10
Diane Keaton5 decades - 11
Susan Sarandon4 decades - 12
Liza Minnelli5 decades - 13
Charlotte Rampling3 decades - 14
Alan Rickman3 decades - 15
Sally Field5 decades - 16
Ted Bundy4 decades - 17
Tommy Lee Jones4 decades - 18
Hassanal Bolkiah3 decades - 19
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden0 decades - 20
George Best4 decades - 21
Oliver Stone4 decades - 22
Patti Smith4 decades - 23
Timothy Dalton3 decades - 24
David Gilmour4 decades - 25
Syd Barrett2 decades - 26
Tim Curry4 decades - 27
Marina Abramović1 decades - 28
Jane Birkin0 decades - 29
Vladimir Zhirinovsky3 decades - 30
Laura Bush2 decades - 31
Linda Ronstadt5 decades - 32
Ed O'Neill0 decades - 33
Candice Bergen5 decades - 34
Benny Andersson0 decades - 35
Mireille Mathieu6 decades - 36
Danny Glover4 decades - 37
Gianni Versace4 decades - 38
Sonia Gandhi3 decades - 39
Charles Dance1 decades - 40
Fabio Capello3 decades - 41
Boris Berezovsky3 decades - 42
Demis Roussos0 decades - 43
Talia Shire1 decades - 44
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow5 decades - 45
David Suchet2 decades - 46
Blake Clark1 decades - 47
John Paul Jones8 decades - 48
Marianne Faithfull3 decades - 49
Brian Coxnot measured- - 50
Frank Welkernot measured- - 51
André the Giantnot measured- - 52
Terry Foxnot measured- - 53
Rivellino0 decades - 54
José Carreras8 decades - 55
Barry Gibbnot measured- - 56
Pete Postlethwaitenot measured- - 57
Isaias Afwerki0 decades - 58
Roh Moo-hyun0 decades - 59
Peter Singer4 decades - 60
Barbara Bachnot measured- - 61
John Woonot measured- - 62
Philip Pullman2 decades - 63
Janet Yellen2 decades - 64
John Watersnot measured- - 65
Billy Prestonnot measured- - 66
Guus Hiddink0 decades - 67
Naoto Kan0 decades - 68
Emerson Fittipaldi0 decades - 69
Brenda Blethynnot measured- - 70
Berti Vogts3 decades - 71
Peter Greennot measured- - 72
Robert Frippnot measured- - 73
Jimmy Buffettnot measured- - 74
Gregory Hines3 decades - 75
John Heardnot measured- - 76
Cheech Marinnot measured- - 77
Aruna Iraninot measured- - 78
Joanna Lumleynot measured- - 79
Bobby Sandsnot measured- - 80
Peggy Liptonnot measured- - 81
Howard Shore1 decades - 82
Stephen Reanot measured- - 83
Donovannot measured- - 84
Elfriede Jelinek5 decades - 85
Suzanne Somersnot measured- - 86
Arrigo Sacchinot measured- - 87
Eugene Levynot measured- - 88
Kabir Bedinot measured- - 89
Ivan Reitmannot measured- - 90
Harold Shipmannot measured- - 91
Andrea Dworkin4 decades - 92
Tyne Dalynot measured- - 93
Julian Barnes4 decades - 94
Masoud Barzani0 decades - 95
Hayley Millsnot measured- - 96
Lesley Gorenot measured- - 97
Queen Anne-Marie of Greecenot measured- - 98
Gilda Radnernot measured- - 99
Uri Gellernot measured- - 100
Vinod Khannanot measured-
How to read these rankings
- People sit in their own time. Everyone is placed in the century their working life belongs to, and never in one that came after their death.
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record, read across every language rather than one. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus. Those decades are closed, so each curve is measured once and kept.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, or a name belongs to more than one notable person, we would rather show nothing than guess.