← 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 English books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus30 - 2
Aristotle7.1 - 3
Plato7.1 - 4
Homer7.1 - 5
Augustus4.9 - 6
Johns Hopkins4.4 - 7
Cicero4.0 - 8
George Washington3.8 - 9
Socrates3.4 - 10
Virgil3.3 - 11
Abraham Lincoln2.0 - 12
Euclid1.9 - 13
Thomas Jefferson1.6 - 14
Ovid1.6 - 15
Mark Twain1.5 - 16
Plutarch1.5 - 17
Cleopatra1.4 - 18
Theodore Roosevelt1.4 - 19
Woodrow Wilson1.4 - 20
William Henry1.3 - 21
Benjamin Franklin1.3 - 22
Herodotus1.3 - 23
Charlemagne1.3 - 24
Rembrandt1.3 - 25
Euripides1.2
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Freddie Mercury3 decades - 2
John Lennon6 decades - 3
Paul McCartney6 decades - 4
David Bowie5 decades - 5
George Harrisonnot measured- - 6
Elton John5 decades - 7
Ozzy Osbourne3 decades - 8
Ringo Starr5 decades - 9
George Michaelnot measured- - 10
Eric Clapton5 decades - 11
Mick Jagger5 decades - 12
Phil Collins4 decades - 13
Brian May3 decades - 14
Rod Stewart5 decades - 15
Keith Richards4 decades - 16
Olivia Newton-John5 decades - 17
Jimmy Page3 decades - 18
Bonnie Tyler0 decades - 19
Robert Plant4 decades - 20
Kate Bush3 decades - 21
Roger Waters3 decades - 22
Joe Cocker5 decades - 23
Syd Barrett2 decades - 24
David Gilmour4 decades - 25
Cat Stevens5 decades - 26
Sid Vicious4 decades - 27
Susan Boyle1 decades - 28
Peter Gabriel4 decades - 29
Annie Lennox3 decades - 30
Lemmy5 decades - 31
Andrew Lloyd Webber5 decades - 32
Chris Rea0 decades - 33
Morrisseynot measured- - 34
Mark Knopfler3 decades - 35
Bruce Dickinson0 decades - 36
Brian Eno4 decades - 37
Jeff Beck4 decades - 38
John Bonham2 decades - 39
John Cale3 decades - 40
Sealnot measured- - 41
John Deaconnot measured- - 42
John Lydon2 decades - 43
Cliff Richard6 decades - 44
Billy Idol3 decades - 45
Brian Jones5 decades - 46
Gary Moore3 decades - 47
Tony Iommi0 decades - 48
Marianne Faithfull3 decades - 49
Pete Townshend4 decades - 50
Van Morrison5 decades - 51
Stingnot measured- - 52
Elvis Costello4 decades - 53
Robert Smithnot measured- - 54
John Paul Jonesnot measured- - 55Ian Curtis2 decades
- 56
Ritchie Blackmore0 decades - 57
Robin Gibb0 decades - 58
Bon Scott1 decades - 59
Boy Georgenot measured- - 60
Shirley Bassey3 decades - 61
Charlie Watts3 decades - 62
Pete Best2 decades - 63
Mike Oldfield1 decades - 64
David Coverdale0 decades - 65
Bryan Ferry2 decades - 66
Nick Mason2 decades - 67
Lulunot measured- - 68
Brian Johnsonnot measured- - 69
Sarah Brightman0 decades - 70
Kim Wilde0 decades - 71
Ian Gillan0 decades - 72
Barry Gibbnot measured- - 73
Engelbert Humperdincknot measured- - 74
Ronnie Woodnot measured- - 75
Petula Clark6 decades - 76
George Martinnot measured- - 77
Dusty Springfieldnot measured- - 78
John Barrynot measured- - 79Nick Drakenot measured-
- 80
Benjamin Britten8 decades - 81
Roger Daltreynot measured- - 82
Rob Halfordnot measured- - 83
Fatboy Slimnot measured- - 84
Christine McVienot measured- - 85
Maurice Gibbnot measured- - 86
Keith Moonnot measured- - 87
Gustav Holst7 decades - 88
Sade0 decades - 89
Jon Lord0 decades - 90
Geezer Butlernot measured- - 91
Julian Lennonnot measured- - 92
Steve Harris3 decades - 93
Joe Strummernot measured- - 94
Peter Greennot measured- - 95
Alan Parsonsnot measured- - 96
Donovannot measured- - 97
Dave Gahannot measured- - 98
Robert Frippnot measured- - 99
Tom Jonesnot measured- - 100
Bill Wymannot measured-
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.