← 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.
- 1Taylor Swift1 decades
- 2
Shakira3 decades - 3
Lady Gaga1 decades - 4Ariana Grande1 decades
- 5
Katy Perry1 decades - 6
Selena Gomez1 decades - 7
Billie Eilish0 decades - 8
Eminem2 decades - 9
Justin Bieber1 decades - 10
Rihanna2 decades - 11
Dua Lipa0 decades - 12
Miley Cyrus1 decades - 13
Jennifer Lopez3 decades - 14
Kanye West2 decades - 15
Beyoncé2 decades - 16
Bruno Mars1 decades - 17
Amy Winehouse1 decades - 18
Britney Spears2 decades - 19
Celine Dion1 decades - 20
Mariah Carey3 decades - 21
Nicki Minaj1 decades - 22
Sabrina Carpenter0 decades - 23
Lana Del Rey0 decades - 24
Chester Bennington0 decades - 25
Robbie Williams2 decades - 26
Avicii0 decades - 27
Olivia Rodrigonot measured- - 28
Drakenot measured- - 29
Ed Sheeran1 decades - 30
Kylie Minogue3 decades - 31
Janet Jackson4 decades - 32
Snoop Dogg2 decades - 33
Avril Lavigne2 decades - 34
50 Centnot measured- - 35
Cardi B0 decades - 36
Harry Styles0 decades - 37
Kendrick Lamar1 decades - 38
Sean Combs1 decades - 39
Justin Timberlake2 decades - 40
Marilyn Manson3 decades - 41
Adelenot measured- - 42
Rosénot measured- - 43
Demi Lovato0 decades - 44
Sinéad O'Connor0 decades - 45
XXXTentacion0 decades - 46
Chris Martin3 decades - 47
Jay-Z2 decades - 48
Nicole Scherzinger0 decades - 49
R. Kellynot measured- - 50
Bad Bunnynot measured- - 51
Charli XCX0 decades - 52
Björknot measured- - 53
Pinknot measured- - 54
Lily Allen1 decades - 55
The Weeknd0 decades - 56
Christina Aguilera2 decades - 57
Dolores O'Riordan0 decades - 58
Aaliyah2 decades - 59
Liam Paynenot measured- - 60
Alanis Morissette3 decades - 61
Gwen Stefani2 decades - 62
Kelly Clarkson2 decades - 63
Enrique Iglesiasnot measured- - 64
Ice Cube3 decades - 65
Zara Larsson0 decades - 66
Jennienot measured- - 67
Chris Brownnot measured- - 68
Nick Jonas0 decades - 69
Ricky Martin3 decades - 70
Dr. Dre3 decades - 71
Zayn Malik0 decades - 72
Lil Wayne1 decades - 73
Dave Grohl2 decades - 74
Alicia Keys2 decades - 75
Rita Ora0 decades - 76
Lisa Marie Presley0 decades - 77
Shania Twain3 decades - 78
Vanessa Paradis4 decades - 79
Fergie5 decades - 80
Hayley Williams0 decades - 81
Sianot measured- - 82
Lordenot measured- - 83
Doja Catnot measured- - 84
Post Malone0 decades - 85
Travis Scottnot measured- - 86
Nelly Furtado0 decades - 87
Kesha3 decades - 88
Akon2 decades - 89
Jisoo0 decades - 90
Queen Latifah3 decades - 91
Slashnot measured- - 92
Camila Cabellonot measured- - 93
Billie Joe Armstrong0 decades - 94
Jessica Simpson2 decades - 95
Adam Levine0 decades - 96
Rosalíanot measured- - 97
Jennifer Hudson1 decades - 98
Halseynot measured- - 99
Pitbullnot measured- - 100
Ushernot 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.