← 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 English books during the 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus102 - 2
Aristotle13 - 3
Plato11 - 4
Socrates6.5 - 5
Homer5.4 - 6
Cicero4.2 - 7
Augustus4.1 - 8
Johns Hopkins4.0 - 9
Virgil3.3 - 10
George Washington3.0 - 11
George W. Bush2.2 - 12
Ovid2.2 - 13
Plutarch1.9 - 14
Thomas Jefferson1.9 - 15
Cleopatra1.9 - 16
Abraham Lincoln1.9 - 17
Galen1.8 - 18
Saddam Hussein1.7 - 19
Ronald Reagan1.7 - 20
Herodotus1.6 - 21
Origen1.5 - 22
John the Baptist1.5 - 23
Bill Clinton1.5 - 24
Adam Smith1.4 - 25
Mark Twain1.4
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 - 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
A. R. Rahman0 decades - 2
Shreya Ghoshal0 decades - 3
Zubeen Gargnot measured- - 4
Sonu Nigam0 decades - 5
Tara Sutarianot measured- - 6
Arijit Singhnot measured- - 7
Daler Mehndinot measured- - 8
Atif Aslamnot measured- - 9
Neha Kakkarnot measured- - 10
KKnot measured- - 11
Armaan Maliknot measured- - 12
Monali Thakurnot measured- - 13
Alka Yagnik0 decades - 14
Yo Yo Honey Singhnot measured- - 15
Pritam Chakrabortynot measured- - 16
Palak Muchhalnot measured- - 17
Himesh Reshammiyanot measured- - 18
Badshahnot measured- - 19
Anirudh Ravichandernot measured- - 20
Adnan Saminot measured- - 21
Maithili Thakurnot measured- - 22
Sidhu Moose Walanot measured- - 23
Shaannot measured- - 24
Shilpa Raonot measured- - 25
Tulsi Kumarnot measured- - 26
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhnot measured- - 27
Shankar Mahadevannot measured- - 28
Neeti Mohannot measured- - 29
Jasmine Sandlasnot measured- - 30
Kanika Kapoornot measured- - 31
Guru Randhawanot measured- - 32
Mika Singhnot measured- - 33
Sukhwinder Singhnot measured- - 34
Sadhana Sargamnot measured- - 35
Sonu Kakkarnot measured- - 36
Yuvan Shankar Rajanot measured- - 37
Chinmayi Sripadanot measured- - 38
Shalmali Kholgadenot measured- - 39
Amaal Malliknot measured- - 40
Kailash Khernot measured- - 41
Anushka Manchandanot measured- - 42
Angaraag Mahantanot measured- - 43
Kunal Ganjawalanot measured- - 44
Dhvani Bhanushalinot measured- - 45
Amit Trivedinot measured- - 46
Aadesh Shrivastavanot measured- - 47
Kalpana Patowarynot measured- - 48
Chitra Singhnot measured- - 49
Neha Bhasinnot measured- - 50
White Townnot measured- - 51
Aastha Gillnot measured- - 52
Harris Jayarajnot measured- - 53
Tia Bajpainot measured- - 54
Prasoon Joshinot measured- - 55
Manjari Babunot measured- - 56
Satinder Sartaajnot measured- - 57
Kaushiki Chakrabartynot measured- - 58
Malini Awasthinot measured- - 59
Vishal Taklaninot measured- - 60
Hanumankindnot measured- - 61
Sona Mohapatranot measured- - 62
Javed Alinot measured- - 63
Shweta Panditnot measured- - 64
Shweta Mohannot measured- - 65
Jubin Nautiyalnot measured- - 66
Devi Sri Prasadnot measured- - 67
Harshdeep Kaurnot measured- - 68
Anuradha Sriramnot measured- - 69
Ankit Tiwarinot measured- - 70
U. Srinivasnot measured- - 71
Benny Dayalnot measured- - 72
Jeet Gangulynot measured- - 73
Roop Kumar Rathodnot measured- - 74Swarnalathanot measured-
- 75
Neeraj Pandeynot measured- - 76
Shantanu Moitranot measured- - 77
Sithara Krishnakumarnot measured- - 78
Vijay Yeshudasnot measured- - 79
Sanchita Bhattacharyanot measured- - 80
Irshad Kamilnot measured- - 81
Amitabh Bhattacharyanot measured- - 82
Ammy Virknot measured- - 83
Shekhar Ravjianinot measured- - 84
Shakthisree Gopalannot measured- - 85
Raja Kumarinot measured- - 86
S. Thamannot measured- - 87
Kavita Sethnot measured- - 88
Leena Yadavnot measured- - 89
Anuja Chauhannot measured- - 90
Sapna Mukherjeenot measured- - 91Bhavatharininot measured-
- 92
Amrutha Sureshnot measured- - 93
Rahul Vaidyanot measured- - 94Shweta Shettynot measured-
- 95
Jasleen Royalnot measured- - 96
Prakriti Kakarnot measured- - 97
Swanand Kirkirenot measured- - 98
AP Dhillonnot measured- - 99
Mamta Sharmanot measured- - 100
Jaspinder Narulanot 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.