← 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 Italian books during the 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Caravaggio5.9 - 2
Giotto3.6 - 3
Benedetto Croce2.8 - 4
Silvio Berlusconi2.7 - 5
Leonardo da Vinci2.6 - 6
Antonio da Correggio2.5 - 7
Giordano Bruno2.2 - 8
Dante Alighieri2.2 - 9
Aldo Moro1.9 - 10
Donatello1.9 - 11
Donato Bramante1.7 - 12
Francis of Assisi1.7 - 13
Leon Battista Alberti1.6 - 14
Charles Borromeo1.5 - 15
Giacomo Leopardi1.5 - 16
Italo Calvino1.4 - 17
Pier Paolo Pasolini1.4 - 18
Giuseppe Verdi1.3 - 19
Benito Mussolini1.3 - 20
Pietro Perugino1.3 - 21
Primo Levi1.2 - 22
Marco Polo1.2 - 23
Tintoretto1.2 - 24
Piero della Francesca1.2 - 25
Umberto Eco1.2
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 - 10
Adolf 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
Kylian Mbappé1 decades - 2
Emmanuel Macronnot measured- - 3
Zinedine Zidane3 decades - 4
Thierry Henry2 decades - 5
Timothée Chalamet0 decades - 6
Ousmane Dembélénot measured- - 7
Antoine Griezmann1 decades - 8
Karim Benzema1 decades - 9
Paul Pogba1 decades - 10
Eva Green2 decades - 11
Olivier Giroud0 decades - 12
Marion Cotillard2 decades - 13
Marine Le Pen2 decades - 14
Didier Deschamps3 decades - 15
Vanessa Paradis4 decades - 16
N'Golo Kanté0 decades - 17
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangnot measured- - 18
Léa Seydoux1 decades - 19
Eric Cantona2 decades - 20
David Guetta1 decades - 21
Sophie Marceau4 decades - 22
Vincent Cassel3 decades - 23
Franck Ribéry2 decades - 24
Nicolas Anelka2 decades - 25
Gabriel Attal0 decades - 26
Adil Rami0 decades - 27
Sébastien Lecornu0 decades - 28
Marjane Satrapi2 decades - 29
Patrick Vieira2 decades - 30
Rayan Cherkinot measured- - 31
Adrien Rabiot0 decades - 32
Édouard Philippe1 decades - 33
Tony Parker2 decades - 34
Lilian Thuram2 decades - 35
Lucas Digne0 decades - 36
Omar Sy1 decades - 37
Jean Dujardin3 decades - 38
Mélanie Laurent1 decades - 39
Hugo Lloris1 decades - 40
Aymeric Laportenot measured- - 41
Anthony Martial0 decades - 42
Jules Bianchi0 decades - 43
Gaël Monfils0 decades - 44
Ibrahima Konaténot measured- - 45
Raphaël Varane0 decades - 46
Bradley Barcolanot measured- - 47
Jordan Bardellanot measured- - 48
Audrey Tautou2 decades - 49
Benjamin Pavardnot measured- - 50
Aurélien Tchouaméninot measured- - 51
William Salibanot measured- - 52
Théo Hernandeznot measured- - 53
Julie Delpy4 decades - 54
Patrice Evra0 decades - 55
Jules Koundénot measured- - 56
Lucas Hernandeznot measured- - 57
Samir Nasri1 decades - 58
Kingsley Coman0 decades - 59
Eduardo Camavinganot measured- - 60
Randal Kolo Muaninot measured- - 61
Golshifteh Farahani0 decades - 62
Marcus Thuramnot measured- - 63
Adèle Exarchopoulos0 decades - 64
Samuel Umtiti0 decades - 65
David Trezeguet1 decades - 66
Presnel Kimpembenot measured- - 67
Zaz2 decades - 68
Victor Wembanyamanot measured- - 69
Laurent Blanc3 decades - 70
Fabien Barthez2 decades - 71
Alizée3 decades - 72
Laetitia Casta2 decades - 73
Claude Makelélénot measured- - 74
Dayot Upamecanonot measured- - 75
Gaspard Ulliel1 decades - 76
Emma Mackeynot measured- - 77
Dimitri Payet0 decades - 78
Hugo Ekitikenot measured- - 79
Andry Rajoelina0 decades - 80
Luca Zidanenot measured- - 81
Jeremy Allen Whitenot measured- - 82
Patricia Kaas3 decades - 83
Rachida Dati2 decades - 84
Bixente Lizarazu2 decades - 85
Djibril Cissé2 decades - 86
Pierre Gaslynot measured- - 87
Alexandre Lacazette0 decades - 88
Hatem Ben Arfa0 decades - 89
Marcel Desailly2 decades - 90
Florian Thauvin0 decades - 91
Indila1 decades - 92
Robert Pires0 decades - 93
Esteban Oconnot measured- - 94
Christopher Nkunkunot measured- - 95
André-Pierre Gignac0 decades - 96
Eric Abidal0 decades - 97
Mike Maignannot measured- - 98
Aya Nakamuranot measured- - 99
Bryan Mbeumonot measured- - 100
Jean-Philippe Matetanot 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.