← Fame through time1989
1989
Whose working lives fell in 1989. 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 1989, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Jackie Chan7 decades - 2
Hugo Chávez3 decades - 3
Angela Merkel3 decades - 4
John Travolta5 decades - 5
James Cameron7 decades - 6
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan1 decades - 7
Denzel Washington3 decades - 8
Alexander Lukashenko3 decades - 9
Oprah Winfrey4 decades - 10
François Hollande4 decades - 11
Condoleezza Rice3 decades - 12
Kazuo Ishiguro3 decades - 13
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi0 decades - 14
Masoud Pezeshkiannot measured- - 15
Shinzō Abe0 decades - 16
Catherine O'Hara0 decades - 17
Ron Howard5 decades - 18
Annie Lennox3 decades - 19
Chris Evert5 decades - 20
Dennis Quaid4 decades - 21
Mario Kempes1 decades - 22
Ray Liotta2 decades - 23
Viktor Yushchenko2 decades - 24
Jerry Seinfeld3 decades - 25
Kathleen Turner4 decades - 26
Matt Groening3 decades - 27
Ang Lee3 decades - 28
Stevie Ray Vaughan3 decades - 29
Jim Belushi0 decades - 30
Michael Moore5 decades - 31
Rene Russo0 decades - 32
Jeffrey Sachs4 decades - 33
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.0 decades - 34
Ellen Barkin2 decades - 35
Rekhānot measured- - 36
Elvis Costello4 decades - 37
Emir Kusturica2 decades - 38
Lorraine Bracco0 decades - 39
Stieg Larsson1 decades - 40
Kamal Haasan0 decades - 41
Dieter Bohlen3 decades - 42
Sonia Sotomayor1 decades - 43
László Krasznahorkai0 decades - 44
Katey Sagalnot measured- - 45
Velupillai Prabhakarannot measured- - 46
Bernard Hinaultnot measured- - 47
Howard Sternnot measured- - 48
Anthony Minghella2 decades - 49
Tony Toddnot measured- - 50
Michael Emersonnot measured- - 51
François Fillon4 decades - 52
Chris Nothnot measured- - 53
David Lee Rothnot measured- - 54
Anthony Headnot measured- - 55
Andrej Babiš0 decades - 56
Jermaine Jacksonnot measured- - 57
Alex Salmond3 decades - 58
Ilan Ramon2 decades - 59
Marco Tardellinot measured- - 60
Rafael Orozco Maestrenot measured- - 61
Patty Hearstnot measured- - 62
Steven Pinker3 decades - 63
João Lourenço0 decades - 64
Jane Campion3 decades - 65
Robert Carradinenot measured- - 66
Dennis Haysbertnot measured- - 67
Scott Bakulanot measured- - 68
Lee Childnot measured- - 69
Aleksander Kwaśniewski2 decades - 70
Yanninot measured- - 71
Will Pattonnot measured- - 72
Sid Meiernot measured- - 73
Gianna Nannininot measured- - 74
Iain Banks0 decades - 75
Jorge Jesusnot measured- - 76
Roddy Pipernot measured- - 77
Carlos Ghosnnot measured- - 78
Halimah Yacob0 decades - 79
Parveen Babinot measured- - 80
Christie Brinkleynot measured- - 81
Pat Methenynot measured- - 82
Sam Allardycenot measured- - 83
Margaux Hemingwaynot measured- - 84
Sergej Naryškinnot measured- - 85
Phil Ruddnot measured- - 86
Robert Kocharyan2 decades - 87
Alice Krigenot measured- - 88
Anish Kapoornot measured- - 89
Malcolm Turnbull1 decades - 90
Jean-Claude Juncker3 decades - 91
Al Sharptonnot measured- - 92
Kathleen Quinlannot measured- - 93
Jon Krakauernot measured- - 94
Mohsen Rezaeenot measured- - 95
Shuji Nakamura0 decades - 96
Peter MacNicolnot measured- - 97
Haluk Bilginernot measured- - 98
Han Zhengnot measured- - 99
George Gallowaynot measured- - 100
Sezen Aksu0 decades
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.