← Fame through time1900-1999
The 20th century
Whose names filled the books of the 20th century - anyone at all, however long dead - counted as mentions per million words printed, so a period that simply published more does not inflate anyone.
Talked about then
Whose names appeared most in Chinese books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Mao Zedong275 - 2
Lu Xun60 - 3
Liu Shaoqi58 - 4
Zhou Enlai55 - 5
Lin Biao40 - 6
Deng Xiaoping34 - 7
Sun Yat-sen31 - 8
Jiang Zemin13 - 9
Confucius12 - 10
Jiang Qing10 - 11
Zhu De9.6 - 12
Cao Xueqin5.9 - 13
Li Peng5.4 - 14
Lee Teng-hui5.2 - 15
Yuan Shikai5.0 - 16
Laozi4.7 - 17
Lin Yutang4.6 - 18
Soong Ching-ling4.4 - 19Gao Ming3.4
- 20
Zhuang Zhou2.8 - 21
Li Bai2.3 - 22
Kang Youwei2.3 - 23
Li Hongzhang2.0 - 24Wang Chong1.9
- 25
Wang Anshi1.7
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Michael Jackson5 decades - 2
Elvis Presley7 decades - 3
Bob Dylan6 decades - 4
Madonnanot measured- - 5
Freddie Mercury3 decades - 6
John Lennon6 decades - 7
Paul McCartney6 decades - 8
David Bowie5 decades - 9
Tupac Shakur3 decades - 10
Bob Marley5 decades - 11
Dolly Parton5 decades - 12
Whitney Houston4 decades - 13
Frank Sinatra8 decades - 14
Kurt Cobain3 decades - 15
Chernot measured- - 16
George Harrisonnot measured- - 17
Mother Teresa9 decades - 18
Elton John5 decades - 19
Ozzy Osbourne3 decades - 20
Johnny Cash6 decades - 21
Jimi Hendrix5 decades - 22
Selenanot measured- - 23
Jim Morrison5 decades - 24
Ringo Starr5 decades - 25
Bruce Springsteen5 decades - 26
Tina Turner5 decades - 27
Barbra Streisand6 decades - 28
George Michaelnot measured- - 29
Aretha Franklin6 decades - 30
Joan Baez6 decades - 31
Eric Clapton5 decades - 32
Mick Jagger5 decades - 33
Phil Collins4 decades - 34
Stevie Wonder5 decades - 35
Frank Zappa5 decades - 36
Édith Piaf6 decades - 37
Leonard Cohen5 decades - 38
Janis Joplin5 decades - 39
Louis Armstrong9 decades - 40
Bing Crosby9 decades - 41
Hans Zimmer3 decades - 42
Alla Pugacheva5 decades - 43
Maria Callas1 decades - 44
Enya3 decades - 45
Andrea Bocelli3 decades - 46
"Weird Al" Yankovicnot measured- - 47
Ray Charles7 decades - 48
Diana Ross5 decades - 49
James Brownnot measured- - 50
Brian May3 decades - 51
Miles Davis7 decades - 52
Charles Aznavour8 decades - 53
Vladimir Vysotsky5 decades - 54
Courtney Love3 decades - 55
Pete Seeger7 decades - 56
Neil Young5 decades - 57
Julio Iglesias8 decades - 58
Bryan Adams3 decades - 59
Rod Stewart5 decades - 60
James Hetfield1 decades - 61
Bononot measured- - 62
Keith Richards4 decades - 63
Dean Martin10 decades - 64
Luciano Pavarotti5 decades - 65
Alice Cooper5 decades - 66
Jon Bon Jovi3 decades - 67
Marvin Gaye5 decades - 68
Chuck Berry6 decades - 69
Olivia Newton-John5 decades - 70
John Williamsnot measured- - 71
Jimmy Page3 decades - 72
Viktor Tsoi3 decades - 73
Bonnie Tyler0 decades - 74
Quincy Jones7 decades - 75
Lenny Kravitz2 decades - 76
Robert Plant4 decades - 77
Agnetha Fältskog0 decades - 78
The Notorious B.I.G.0 decades - 79
Patti Smith4 decades - 80
Kate Bush3 decades - 81
Cyndi Lauper4 decades - 82
Joni Mitchell5 decades - 83
Billy Joel4 decades - 84
Josephine Baker11 decades - 85
Paul Simon8 decades - 86
Roger Waters3 decades - 87
Billie Holiday8 decades - 88
Joe Cocker5 decades - 89
Buddy Holly5 decades - 90
Lionel Richie4 decades - 91
Dmitri Shostakovich8 decades - 92
Syd Barrett2 decades - 93
Iggy Pop3 decades - 94
Sergei Rachmaninoffnot measured- - 95
Lou Reed5 decades - 96
David Gilmour4 decades - 97
Nina Simone5 decades - 98
Willie Nelson5 decades - 99
Kenny Rogers5 decades - 100
Donna Summer5 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.