← Fame through time2021
2021
Who the world actually read about in 2021 - readers across every language edition we measure, whoever they were and whenever they lived.
Most read
Who people actually looked up in 2021, across every language edition we measure.
- 1
Elizabeth II28.3M - 2
Elon Musk27.6M - 3
Cristiano Ronaldo23M - 4
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh21.8M - 5
Joe Biden18.7M - 6
Donald Trump17.7M - 7
Lionel Messi17M - 8
Tom Brady13.5M - 9
Kamala Harris11.8M - 10
Diana, Princess of Wales11.8M - 11
Charles IIInot measured11.8M - 12
Dwayne Johnson11.3M - 13
Freddie Mercury11.2M - 14
Richard Ramireznot measured11.1M - 15
Zendaya10.8M - 16
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon10.7M - 17
Keanu Reeves10.5M - 18
Jeff Bezos10.4M - 19
Adolf Hitler10.3M - 20
Scarlett Johansson10.3M - 21
George VI10M - 22
Olivia Rodrigonot measured10M - 23
Michael Jackson9.7M - 24
Britney Spears9.7M - 25
Betty White9.6M - 26
Billie Eilish9.6M - 27
Vladimir Putin9.5M - 28
Ariana Grande9.4M - 29
Queen Victorianot measured9.3M - 30
Leonardo DiCaprio8.9M - 31
Ryan Reynolds8.9M - 32
Clint Eastwood8.8M - 33
Dua Lipa8.7M - 34
Pablo Escobar8.7M - 35
Kim Kardashian8.5M - 36
Barack Obama8.5M - 37
Taylor Swift8.5M - 38
Jennifer Aniston8.5M - 39
Tom Hollandnot measured8.5M - 40
Anya Taylor-Joynot measured8.4M - 41
Meghan, Duchess of Sussexnot measured8.4M - 42
Timothée Chalamet8.3M - 43
Elizabeth Olsennot measured8.3M - 44
Muhammad Ali8.2M - 45
Cleopatra8.2M - 46
Angelina Jolie8.2M - 47
Emma Raducanunot measured8.1M - 48
LeBron James8.1M - 49
Adelenot measured8.1M - 50
Lewis Hamilton8M - 51
Kanye West8M - 52
Michael Jordan8M - 53
Michael Schumacher8M - 54
Edward VIII7.9M - 55
XXXTentacion7.9M - 56
Lady Gaga7.9M - 57
Daniel Craig7.8M - 58
The Weeknd7.8M - 59
Novak Djokovic7.7M - 60
Tom Cruise7.7M - 61
Arnold Schwarzenegger7.6M - 62
Annalena Baerbock7.5M - 63
Winston Churchill7.5M - 64
Elliot Pagenot measured7.4M - 65
Conor McGregor7.4M - 66
Mark Zuckerberg7.4M - 67
Johnny Depp7.3M - 68
Joseph Stalin7.2M - 69
Elvis Presley7.2M - 70
Lil Nas Xnot measured7.2M - 71
Bill Gates7.1M - 72
Aaron Rodgersnot measured7.1M - 73
Jennifer Lopez7.1M - 74
Mahatma Gandhi7.1M - 75
Ben Affleck7.1M - 76
Albert Einstein7.1M - 77
Pete Davidsonnot measured7M - 78
Robin Williams7M - 79
Megan Fox7M - 80
John F. Kennedy6.9M - 81
Anne, Princess Royalnot measured6.9M - 82
Elton John6.9M - 83
Simone Biles6.9M - 84
Naomi Osakanot measured6.8M - 85
Bruce Lee6.8M - 86
Angela Merkel6.8M - 87
Xi Jinping6.8M - 88
Caitlyn Jenner6.7M - 89
Steve Jobs6.7M - 90
Alec Baldwin6.7M - 91
Tyson Fury6.7M - 92
Kylian Mbappé6.7M - 93
Mary, Queen of Scots6.6M - 94
Olivia Wilde6.6M - 95
Heath Ledger6.6M - 96
Helen McCrory6.6M - 97
Ted Bundy6.6M - 98
Eminem6.5M - 99
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussexnot measured6.5M - 100
Boris Johnson6.5M
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in 2021, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1Lady Gaga1 decades
- 2
Rafael Nadal2 decades - 3Megan Fox1 decades
- 4
Robert Pattinson1 decades - 5
Shia LaBeouf0 decades - 6
Drakenot measured- - 7
Emilia Clarke0 decades - 8
Lindsay Lohan2 decades - 9
Emmy Rossum0 decades - 10
MrBeastnot measured- - 11
Sergio Ramos4 decades - 12
Amber Heard0 decades - 13
Alexandra Daddario0 decades - 14
Manuel Neuer1 decades - 15
Usain Bolt1 decades - 16
Olivier Giroud0 decades - 17
Deepika Padukone0 decades - 18
Kit Harington0 decades - 19
Irina Shayk0 decades - 20
Kat Dennings0 decades - 21
Leighton Meester0 decades - 22
Amanda Bynes0 decades - 23
Edin Džeko0 decades - 24
Vincent Kompany0 decades - 25
Gabriel Boric0 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. 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.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.