← Fame through time2000-2099
The 21st century
Whose names filled the books of the 21st 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 German books during the 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Thomas Mann8.5 - 2
Max Weber4.4 - 3
Novalis3.9 - 4
Karl Marx3.2 - 5
Jean Paul2.9 - 6
Martin Luther2.7 - 7
Adolf Hitler2.6 - 8
Richard Wagner2.1 - 9
Sigmund Freud2.0 - 10
Heinrich Heine1.9 - 11
Willy Brandt1.9 - 12
Walter Benjamin1.9 - 13
Paracelsus1.9 - 14
Friedrich Nietzsche1.9 - 15
Helmut Kohl1.8 - 16
Gerhard Schröder1.8 - 17
Hannah Arendt1.7 - 18
Immanuel Kant1.7 - 19
Jürgen Habermas1.7 - 20
Maria Theresa1.6 - 21
Heinrich Mann1.6 - 22
Carl Schmitt1.5 - 23
Bertolt Brecht1.5 - 24
Angela Merkel1.5 - 25
Franz Kafka1.4
Most read
Who people actually looked up in the 21st century, across every language edition we measure (2015-2026 only - readership is measured from July 2015).
- 1
Donald Trump336.3M - 2
Elizabeth II223.3M - 3
Cristiano Ronaldo211.6M - 4
Elon Musk207.7M - 5
Lionel Messi178.6M - 6
Vladimir Putin136.2M - 7
Joe Biden124M - 8
Freddie Mercury122.9M - 9
Jeffrey Dahmer120.3M - 10Adolf Hitler118.7M
- 11
Taylor Swift117.8M - 12
Barack Obama115.9M - 13
Michael Jackson114.4M - 14
Pablo Escobar114.4M - 15
Kamala Harris113.6M - 16
Dwayne Johnson111M - 17
Queen Victorianot measured105.6M - 18
Keanu Reeves103.4M - 19
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh102.1M - 20
Elvis Presley99.6M - 21
Tom Cruise99.4M - 22
LeBron James99.2M - 23
Jeffrey Epstein98.7M - 24
Michael Jordan98.4M - 25
Ariana Grande98M
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 21st century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Tom Hollandnot measured- - 2
Dua Lipa0 decades - 3
Lewis Hamilton1 decades - 4
David Beckham2 decades - 5
Christopher Nolan2 decades - 6
Emma Watson1 decades - 7
Harry Kanenot measured- - 8
Amy Winehouse1 decades - 9
Kate Winslet3 decades - 10
Andrew Garfield0 decades - 11
Jason Statham0 decades - 12
Emily Blunt0 decades - 13
Keira Knightley2 decades - 14
Robert Pattinson1 decades - 15
J. K. Rowling2 decades - 16
Andy Burnhamnot measured- - 17
Daniel Craig2 decades - 18
Tom Hardy1 decades - 19
Daniel Radcliffe1 decades - 20
Robbie Williams2 decades - 21
Christian Bale2 decades - 22
Catherine Zeta-Jones2 decades - 23
Millie Bobby Brown0 decades - 24
Ed Sheeran1 decades - 25
Orlando Bloom2 decades - 26
Emilia Clarke0 decades - 27
Jude Bellinghamnot measured- - 28
Naomi Watts2 decades - 29
Henry Cavill0 decades - 30
Rishi Sunak0 decades - 31
Rachel Weisz1 decades - 32
Harry Styles0 decades - 33
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussexnot measured- - 34
Helena Bonham Carter3 decades - 35
Idris Elba1 decades - 36
Adelenot measured- - 37
Jude Law2 decades - 38
Marcus Rashford0 decades - 39
Kate Beckinsale1 decades - 40
Sacha Baron Cohen1 decades - 41
Lily Collins0 decades - 42
Wayne Rooney2 decades - 43
Rosamund Pike0 decades - 44
Nicholas Hoult0 decades - 45
Victoria Beckham2 decades - 46
Taron Egerton0 decades - 47
Chris Martin3 decades - 48
Tom Hiddleston0 decades - 49
Charli XCX0 decades - 50
Benedict Cumberbatch1 decades - 51
Lily Allen1 decades - 52
Alia Bhatt0 decades - 53
Liam Paynenot measured- - 54
Gerard Butler0 decades - 55
Anya Taylor-Joynot measured- - 56
Sophie Turner0 decades - 57
Liz Truss0 decades - 58
Florence Pugh0 decades - 59
Kiefer Sutherland3 decades - 60
Banksy2 decades - 61
Olivia Colman0 decades - 62
Carey Mulligan0 decades - 63
Zayn Malik0 decades - 64
Kit Harington0 decades - 65
Lando Norrisnot measured- - 66
Frank Lampard1 decades - 67
Jamie Vardy0 decades - 68
Michael Olisenot measured- - 69
Guy Ritchie2 decades - 70
Andy Murray1 decades - 71
Eddie Redmayne0 decades - 72
Rita Ora0 decades - 73
Katrina Kaif0 decades - 74
Gareth Balenot measured- - 75
Simon Pegg0 decades - 76
Bukayo Sakanot measured- - 77
Prince George of Wales0 decades - 78
Raheem Sterling0 decades - 79
James McAvoy0 decades - 80
Steven Gerrard1 decades - 81
Lena Headey0 decades - 82
Michael Carrick0 decades - 83
Rupert Grint0 decades - 84
Michael Owennot measured- - 85
Vanessa Kirby0 decades - 86
Chiwetel Ejiofor0 decades - 87
David Cameron4 decades - 88
Karen Gillan0 decades - 89
Felicity Jonesnot measured- - 90
David Tennant1 decades - 91
Declan Ricenot measured- - 92
Slashnot measured- - 93
Gordon Ramsay2 decades - 94
Paul Bettany0 decades - 95
Lily James0 decades - 96
Elizabeth Hurley1 decades - 97
Emma Raducanunot measured- - 98
Daisy Ridley0 decades - 99
Hayley Atwell0 decades - 100
Cole Palmernot 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.