← 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 Chinese books during the 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Mao Zedong114 - 2
Deng Xiaoping61 - 3
Lu Xun36 - 4
Jiang Zemin36 - 5
Hu Jintao30 - 6
Zhou Enlai26 - 7
Confucius19 - 8
Sun Yat-sen18 - 9
Chen Shui-bian13 - 10
Liu Shaoqi13 - 11
Xi Jinping12 - 12
Laozi11 - 13
Lee Teng-hui10.0 - 14
Lee Kuan Yew8.8 - 15
Ma Ying-jeou8.5 - 16
Wen Jiabao8.1 - 17
Lin Biao5.7 - 18
Zhu De4.9 - 19
Yuan Shikai4.6 - 20
Jiang Qing4.0 - 21
Zhuang Zhou3.9 - 22Gao Ming3.6
- 23
Kang Youwei3.6 - 24
Chiang Ching-kuo2.9 - 25
Yan Fu2.8
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
Christopher Nolan2 decades - 2
Guy Ritchie2 decades - 3
J. J. Abrams1 decades - 4
Sofia Coppola2 decades - 5
Paul Thomas Anderson2 decades - 6
M. Night Shyamalan2 decades - 7
Wes Anderson2 decades - 8
Denis Villeneuve0 decades - 9
Sam Mendes3 decades - 10
Darren Aronofsky1 decades - 11
Chloé Zhaonot measured- - 12
Taika Waititi0 decades - 13
Michael Bay2 decades - 14
Zack Snyder1 decades - 15
James Wan0 decades - 16
Bong Joon-ho0 decades - 17
Robert Rodriguez3 decades - 18
Kevin Smithnot measured- - 19
Shonda Rhimes1 decades - 20
Alex Jones1 decades - 21
Yorgos Lanthimos0 decades - 22
Ryan Coogler0 decades - 23
Stormy Daniels0 decades - 24
Spike Jonze2 decades - 25
Bryan Singer2 decades - 26
Karan Johar0 decades - 27
Princess Eugenie of Yorknot measured- - 28
Paolo Sorrentino2 decades - 29
Martin McDonagh2 decades - 30
Damien Chazelle0 decades - 31
Emma Thomasnot measured- - 32
Brett Ratnernot measured- - 33
Luca Guadagnino2 decades - 34
Eli Roth0 decades - 35
Jonathan Nolan0 decades - 36
Mathieu Kassovitz3 decades - 37
Kevin Feige0 decades - 38
Sean Bakernot measured- - 39
Farah Khan0 decades - 40
Adam McKay0 decades - 41
Makoto Shinkai0 decades - 42
Emerald Fennellnot measured- - 43
Farhan Akhtar0 decades - 44
Rian Johnson0 decades - 45
Xavier Dolan1 decades - 46
Todd Phillips0 decades - 47
Brady Corbetnot measured- - 48
Dan Schneidernot measured- - 49
Noah Baumbachnot measured- - 50
Edgar Wrightnot measured- - 51
Paul W. S. Andersonnot measured- - 52
Matthew Vaughn0 decades - 53
Uwe Bollnot measured- - 54
Joachim Triernot measured- - 55
Antoine Fuquanot measured- - 56
Genndy Tartakovsky0 decades - 57
Bam Margeranot measured- - 58
François Ozon3 decades - 59
Robert Eggersnot measured- - 60
Andrew Stanton1 decades - 61
Mark Selbynot measured- - 62
Fyodor Bondarchuk2 decades - 63
S. S. Rajamoulinot measured- - 64
Francis Lawrencenot measured- - 65
Joe Wrightnot measured- - 66
Nicolas Winding Refnnot measured- - 67
Alejandro Amenábar3 decades - 68
Neill Blomkampnot measured- - 69
Duncan Jonesnot measured- - 70
Cary Joji Fukunaganot measured- - 71
Ari Asternot measured- - 72
Prabhu Devanot measured- - 73
Jason Reitmannot measured- - 74
Marc Webbnot measured- - 75
John Singletonnot measured- - 76
Tigran Keosayannot measured- - 77
Ruben Östlund0 decades - 78
Cristian Mungiu1 decades - 79
Tom Tykwer3 decades - 80
Marc Forster1 decades - 81
Scooter Braunnot measured- - 82
Andrii Yermaknot measured- - 83
Jennifer Leenot measured- - 84
Jon Wattsnot measured- - 85
David Ayernot measured- - 86
Sam Taylor-Johnsonnot measured- - 87
Jonathan Glazernot measured- - 88
Mike Flanagannot measured- - 89
Céline Sciammanot measured- - 90
Destin Daniel Crettonnot measured- - 91
Leigh Whannellnot measured- - 92
Mamoru Hosodanot measured- - 93
J. A. Bayonanot measured- - 94
Aditya Chopranot measured- - 95
F. Gary Graynot measured- - 96
Louis Leterriernot measured- - 97
Jenny Erpenbecknot measured- - 98
Morgan Spurlocknot measured- - 99
Nia DaCostanot measured- - 100
Kane Parsonsnot 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.