← 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.
- 1Lionel Messi1 decades
- 2Cristiano Ronaldo2 decades
- 3
Kylian Mbappé1 decades - 4
Neymar1 decades - 5
Zinedine Zidane3 decades - 6
David Beckham2 decades - 7
Lamine Yamalnot measured- - 8
Erling Haalandnot measured- - 9
Zlatan Ibrahimović0 decades - 10
Harry Kanenot measured- - 11
Ronaldinho3 decades - 12
Mohamed Salahnot measured- - 13
Thierry Henry2 decades - 14
Ousmane Dembélénot measured- - 15
Luka Modrić0 decades - 16
Pep Guardiola1 decades - 17
Robert Lewandowski0 decades - 18
Jude Bellinghamnot measured- - 19
Xabi Alonso1 decades - 20
Gianni Infantinonot measured- - 21
Antoine Griezmann1 decades - 22
Karim Benzema1 decades - 23
Gerard Piqué1 decades - 24
Marcus Rashford0 decades - 25
Jürgen Klopp2 decades - 26
Romelu Lukakunot measured- - 27
Sergio Ramos4 decades - 28
Diogo Jotanot measured- - 29
Wayne Rooney2 decades - 30
Vinícius Júniornot measured- - 31
Paul Pogba1 decades - 32
James Rodríguez1 decades - 33
Thomas Müllernot measured- - 34
Kevin De Bruyne0 decades - 35
Manuel Neuer1 decades - 36
Olivier Giroud0 decades - 37
Luis Enriquenot measured- - 38
Son Heung-min0 decades - 39
Sadio Manénot measured- - 40
Achraf Hakiminot measured- - 41
Didier Deschamps3 decades - 42
Mario Balotelli1 decades - 43
Ferran Torresnot measured- - 44
Mikel Artetanot measured- - 45
Rodrinot measured- - 46
Frank Lampard1 decades - 47
Jamie Vardy0 decades - 48
Thibaut Courtois0 decades - 49
Michael Olisenot measured- - 50
Eden Hazard0 decades - 51
Gareth Balenot measured- - 52
Ángel Di María0 decades - 53
Gianluigi Buffon2 decades - 54
Kaká1 decades - 55
Bukayo Sakanot measured- - 56
N'Golo Kanté0 decades - 57
Didier Drogba2 decades - 58
Raheem Sterling0 decades - 59
Virgil van Dijk0 decades - 60
Steven Gerrard1 decades - 61
Michael Carrick0 decades - 62
Roberto Baggio3 decades - 63
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangnot measured- - 64
Paolo Maldini3 decades - 65
Samuel Eto'o2 decades - 66
Mesut Özil1 decades - 67
Emiliano Martíneznot measured- - 68
Gianluigi Donnarummanot measured- - 69
Michael Owennot measured- - 70
Miroslav Klose2 decades - 71
Raphinhanot measured- - 72
Cesc Fàbregas1 decades - 73
Declan Ricenot measured- - 74
Fernando Torresnot measured- - 75
Mauricio Pochettino0 decades - 76
Bruno Fernandes0 decades - 77
Xavi Hernández1 decades - 78
Viktor Gyökeresnot measured- - 79
Álvaro Arbeloa0 decades - 80
Khvicha Kvaratskhelianot measured- - 81
Désiré Douénot measured- - 82
Eric Cantona2 decades - 83
Christian Pulisic0 decades - 84
Diego Simeone0 decades - 85
Alexis Sánchez1 decades - 86
Enzo Fernándeznot measured- - 87
Alexander Isaknot measured- - 88
Antonio Conte5 decades - 89
Andrea Pirlo1 decades - 90
Cole Palmernot measured- - 91
Jordan Henderson0 decades - 92
Francesco Totti2 decades - 93
Sergio Agüero1 decades - 94
Javier Hernándenot measured- - 95
Andrés Iniesta1 decades - 96
Edin Džeko0 decades - 97
Casemironot measured- - 98
Riyad Mahreznot measured- - 99
João Félixnot measured- - 100
Álvaro Moratanot 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.