← 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
Michael Jackson5 decades - 2
Elvis Presley7 decades - 3
Bob Dylan6 decades - 4
Madonnanot measured- - 5
Tupac Shakur3 decades - 6
Dolly Parton5 decades - 7
Whitney Houston4 decades - 8
Frank Sinatra8 decades - 9
Kurt Cobain3 decades - 10
Chernot measured- - 11
Johnny Cash6 decades - 12
Jimi Hendrix5 decades - 13
Selenanot measured- - 14
Jim Morrison5 decades - 15
Bruce Springsteen5 decades - 16
Tina Turner5 decades - 17
Barbra Streisand6 decades - 18
Aretha Franklin6 decades - 19
Joan Baez6 decades - 20
Stevie Wonder5 decades - 21
Frank Zappa5 decades - 22
Janis Joplin5 decades - 23
Louis Armstrong9 decades - 24
Bing Crosby9 decades - 25
Maria Callas1 decades - 26
"Weird Al" Yankovicnot measured- - 27
Ray Charles7 decades - 28
Diana Ross5 decades - 29
James Brownnot measured- - 30
Miles Davis7 decades - 31
Courtney Love3 decades - 32
Pete Seeger7 decades - 33
James Hetfield1 decades - 34
Dean Martin10 decades - 35
Alice Cooper5 decades - 36
Jon Bon Jovi3 decades - 37
Marvin Gaye5 decades - 38
Chuck Berry6 decades - 39
John Williamsnot measured- - 40
Quincy Jones7 decades - 41
Lenny Kravitz2 decades - 42
The Notorious B.I.G.0 decades - 43
Patti Smith4 decades - 44
Cyndi Lauper4 decades - 45
Billy Joel4 decades - 46
Josephine Baker11 decades - 47
Paul Simon8 decades - 48
Billie Holiday8 decades - 49
Buddy Holly5 decades - 50
Lionel Richie4 decades - 51
Iggy Pop3 decades - 52
Sergei Rachmaninoffnot measured- - 53
Lou Reed5 decades - 54
Nina Simone5 decades - 55
Willie Nelson5 decades - 56
Kenny Rogers5 decades - 57
Donna Summer5 decades - 58
Eartha Kitt7 decades - 59
Valery Leontiev4 decades - 60
Brian Wilson5 decades - 61
Kris Kristofferson5 decades - 62
Axl Rose3 decades - 63
Bette Midler5 decades - 64
John Denver5 decades - 65
Woody Guthrie8 decades - 66
Ronnie James Dio0 decades - 67
Steven Tyler2 decades - 68
Ella Fitzgerald8 decades - 69
Chris Cornell0 decades - 70
Roy Orbison4 decades - 71
Neil Diamond5 decades - 72
Reba McEntire3 decades - 73
Princenot measured- - 74
Harry Belafonte7 decades - 75
Tom Waits4 decades - 76
Tracy Chapman3 decades - 77
Anthony Kiedis0 decades - 78
Nat King Cole6 decades - 79
Eddie Van Halen2 decades - 80
Hank Williams7 decades - 81
Leonard Bernstein8 decades - 82
Stevie Nicks3 decades - 83
Jerry Lee Lewis5 decades - 84
Linda Ronstadt5 decades - 85
Little Richard5 decades - 86
Paul Anka6 decades - 87
Meat Loafnot measured- - 88
Dave Mustaine0 decades - 89
Paula Abdul3 decades - 90
Connie Francis5 decades - 91
Danny Elfman2 decades - 92
Debbie Harry3 decades - 93
Duke Ellington9 decades - 94
John Coltrane6 decades - 95
Coolio3 decades - 96
Carole King5 decades - 97
Sheryl Crow3 decades - 98
George Gershwinnot measured- - 99
Eddie Vedder2 decades - 100
Billy Ray Cyrus1 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.