← 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
Scarlett Johansson2 decades - 2
Leonardo DiCaprio3 decades - 3
Tom Hollandnot measured- - 4
Angelina Jolie2 decades - 5
Nicole Kidman3 decades - 6
Charlize Theron2 decades - 7
Zendaya0 decades - 8
Jennifer Lawrence1 decades - 9
Matt Damon3 decades - 10
Natalie Portman2 decades - 11Dwayne Johnson1 decades
- 12
Chris Pratt0 decades - 13
Emma Watson1 decades - 14
Jennifer Aniston2 decades - 15
Heath Ledger2 decades - 16
Pamela Anderson3 decades - 17
Ben Affleck2 decades - 18
Bradley Cooper1 decades - 19
Julia Roberts3 decades - 20
Emma Stone1 decades - 21
Kim Kardashian1 decades - 22
Cameron Diaz3 decades - 23
John Cena1 decades - 24
Kate Winslet3 decades - 25
Andrew Garfield0 decades - 26
Gwyneth Paltrow3 decades - 27
Will Smith3 decades - 28
Jason Statham0 decades - 29
Emily Blunt0 decades - 30
Priyanka Chopra0 decades - 31
Ryan Gosling1 decades - 32
Jessica Alba2 decades - 33
Keira Knightley2 decades - 34
Winona Ryder3 decades - 35
Adam Sandler2 decades - 36
Ryan Reynolds1 decades - 37
Mark Wahlberg2 decades - 38
Matthew McConaughey2 decades - 39
Megan Fox1 decades - 40
Robert Pattinson1 decades - 41
Uma Thurman3 decades - 42
Hugh Jackman2 decades - 43
Robert Downey Jr.2 decades - 44
Jason Bateman0 decades - 45
Reese Witherspoon2 decades - 46
Daniel Craig2 decades - 47
Timothée Chalamet0 decades - 48
Mila Kunis0 decades - 49
Kirsten Dunst2 decades - 50
Sydney Sweeneynot measured- - 51
Margot Robbie0 decades - 52
Penélope Cruz3 decades - 53
Tom Hardy1 decades - 54
Kate Hudson2 decades - 55
Cillian Murphy0 decades - 56
Rachel McAdams0 decades - 57
Mia Khalifanot measured- - 58
Shah Rukh Khan2 decades - 59
Charlie Sheen3 decades - 60
Shia LaBeouf0 decades - 61
Daniel Radcliffe1 decades - 62
Chris Hemsworth1 decades - 63
Halle Berry3 decades - 64
Christian Bale2 decades - 65
Drew Barrymore3 decades - 66
Cate Blanchett2 decades - 67
Catherine Zeta-Jones2 decades - 68
Millie Bobby Brown0 decades - 69
Zoe Saldañanot measured- - 70
Orlando Bloom2 decades - 71
Emilia Clarke0 decades - 72
Chris Evansnot measured- - 73
Dakota Johnsonnot measured- - 74
Gillian Anderson3 decades - 75
Elliot Pagenot measured- - 76
Hilary Duff1 decades - 77
Macaulay Culkinnot measured- - 78
Kristen Stewart1 decades - 79
Amanda Seyfried0 decades - 80
Salma Hayek2 decades - 81
Dakota Fanningnot measured- - 82
Naomi Watts2 decades - 83
Lindsay Lohan2 decades - 84
Renée Zellweger0 decades - 85
Philip Seymour Hoffman2 decades - 86
Javier Bardem3 decades - 87
Paul Walkernot measured- - 88
Jeremy Renner0 decades - 89
Joaquin Phoenix2 decades - 90
Gal Gadotnot measured- - 91
Henry Cavill0 decades - 92
Jenna Orteganot measured- - 93
Jake Gyllenhaal2 decades - 94
Rachel Weisz1 decades - 95
Blake Lively0 decades - 96
Jennifer Connelly1 decades - 97
Jason Momoa0 decades - 98
Jared Leto0 decades - 99
Ben Stiller3 decades - 100
Ethan Hawke3 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.