← Fame through time1984
1984
Whose working lives fell in 1984. 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 1984, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Benjamin Netanyahu4 decades - 2
Meryl Streep4 decades - 3
Pablo Escobar4 decades - 4
Sigourney Weaver4 decades - 5
Bruce Springsteen5 decades - 6
Haruki Murakami2 decades - 7
Alla Pugacheva5 decades - 8
Valery Leontiev4 decades - 9
António Guterres0 decades - 10
Richard Gere4 decades - 11
Thomas Sankara4 decades - 12
Jeff Bridges5 decades - 13
Jessica Lange4 decades - 14
Arsène Wenger2 decades - 15
Pedro Almodóvar4 decades - 16
Shelley Duvall3 decades - 17
Niki Lauda5 decades - 18
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum0 decades - 19
Bernard Arnault4 decades - 20
George Foreman5 decades - 21
Billy Joel4 decades - 22
Lionel Richie4 decades - 23
Ivana Trump0 decades - 24
Slavoj Žižek1 decades - 25
Sissy Spacek4 decades - 26
Roger Taylor4 decades - 27
Tom Waits4 decades - 28
Abdullah Öcalan1 decades - 29
Caitlyn Jenner1 decades - 30
Jeremy Corbyn4 decades - 31
Mark Knopfler3 decades - 32
Ashraf Ghani1 decades - 33
Anna Wintour2 decades - 34
Jim Varney0 decades - 35
Michael Richards3 decades - 36
Don Johnson7 decades - 37
Jim Broadbent1 decades - 38
Bill Nighy0 decades - 39
Linda Lovelace4 decades - 40
Elizabeth Warren3 decades - 41
Christopher Hitchens4 decades - 42
Peter Shilton0 decades - 43
Robin Gibb0 decades - 44
Gene Simmons3 decades - 45
Lech Kaczyński0 decades - 46
Jarosław Kaczyński0 decades - 47
Ken Follett4 decades - 48
Dominique Strauss-Kahn4 decades - 49
Tom Berenger2 decades - 50
Twiggy6 decades - 51
Garry Shandling1 decades - 52
Tanya Robertsnot measured- - 53
Carlos the Jackalnot measured- - 54
Valentina Matviyenko3 decades - 55
André Rieunot measured- - 56
Pam Griernot measured- - 57
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono2 decades - 58
Maurice Gibbnot measured- - 59
Andy Kaufmannot measured- - 60
Bobby Farrellnot measured- - 61
David Fosternot measured- - 62
David Strathairnnot measured- - 63
Om Puri0 decades - 64
Bonnie Raittnot measured- - 65
Victor Garbernot measured- - 66
Ric Flairnot measured- - 67
Bo Xilainot measured- - 68
Brent Spinernot measured- - 69
Bruno Kirbynot measured- - 70
Armand Assantenot measured- - 71
Vera Wangnot measured- - 72
Annie Leibovitz3 decades - 73
Keith Carradinenot measured- - 74
Fanny Ardant4 decades - 75
Alan Menkennot measured- - 76
Sebastián Piñera4 decades - 77
Phil Lynottnot measured- - 78
Lindsay Wagnernot measured- - 79
José Ramos-Horta0 decades - 80
Martin Amis4 decades - 81
Shelley Longnot measured- - 82
Vicky Leandrosnot measured- - 83
Irina Rodninanot measured- - 84
Alice Waltonnot measured- - 85
Gary Ridgwaynot measured- - 86
Eric Carmennot measured- - 87
Veronica Cartwrightnot measured- - 88
Paul Rodgersnot measured- - 89
Fernando Collor de Mello2 decades - 90
Patrick Duffynot measured- - 91
Alan García5 decades - 92
Judith Resnik3 decades - 93Patrick Süskind4 decades
- 94
Geezer Butlernot measured- - 95
Zoë Wanamakernot measured- - 96
Amin Maalouf0 decades - 97
Teófilo Cubillasnot measured- - 98
Bill O'Reillynot measured- - 99
Billy Gibbonsnot measured- - 100
Mick Taylornot 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.