← 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.
- 1Taylor Swift1 decades
- 2
Lady Gaga1 decades - 3Ariana Grande1 decades
- 4
Katy Perry1 decades - 5
Selena Gomez1 decades - 6
Billie Eilish0 decades - 7
Eminem2 decades - 8
Miley Cyrus1 decades - 9
Jennifer Lopez3 decades - 10
Kanye West2 decades - 11
Beyoncé2 decades - 12
Bruno Mars1 decades - 13
Britney Spears2 decades - 14
Mariah Carey3 decades - 15
Sabrina Carpenter0 decades - 16
Lana Del Rey0 decades - 17
Chester Bennington0 decades - 18
Olivia Rodrigonot measured- - 19
Janet Jackson4 decades - 20
Snoop Dogg2 decades - 21
50 Centnot measured- - 22
Cardi B0 decades - 23
Kendrick Lamar1 decades - 24
Sean Combs1 decades - 25
Justin Timberlake2 decades - 26
Marilyn Manson3 decades - 27
Demi Lovato0 decades - 28
XXXTentacion0 decades - 29
Jay-Z2 decades - 30
Nicole Scherzinger0 decades - 31
R. Kellynot measured- - 32
Bad Bunnynot measured- - 33
Pinknot measured- - 34
Christina Aguilera2 decades - 35
Aaliyah2 decades - 36
Gwen Stefani2 decades - 37
Kelly Clarkson2 decades - 38
Ice Cube3 decades - 39
Chris Brownnot measured- - 40
Nick Jonas0 decades - 41
Ricky Martin3 decades - 42
Dr. Dre3 decades - 43
Lil Wayne1 decades - 44
Dave Grohl2 decades - 45
Alicia Keys2 decades - 46
Lisa Marie Presley0 decades - 47
Fergie5 decades - 48
Hayley Williams0 decades - 49
Doja Catnot measured- - 50
Post Malone0 decades - 51
Travis Scottnot measured- - 52
Kesha3 decades - 53
Akon2 decades - 54
Queen Latifah3 decades - 55
Billie Joe Armstrong0 decades - 56
Jessica Simpson2 decades - 57
Adam Levine0 decades - 58
Jennifer Hudson1 decades - 59
Halseynot measured- - 60
Pitbullnot measured- - 61
Ushernot measured- - 62
George Floydnot measured- - 63
Pharrell Williams1 decades - 64
Carrie Underwood1 decades - 65
Chappell Roannot measured- - 66
Tyler, the Creator0 decades - 67
Madison Beer0 decades - 68
Norah Jones2 decades - 69
Joe Jonas0 decades - 70
Lauryn Hill3 decades - 71
Amy Leenot measured- - 72
Charlie Puth0 decades - 73
Mike Shinoda0 decades - 74
Jaden Smith0 decades - 75
John Mayernot measured- - 76
Gracie Abramsnot measured- - 77
Sofia Carsonnot measured- - 78
Megan Thee Stallionnot measured- - 79
ASAP Rocky0 decades - 80
DMX4 decades - 81
Marc Anthony2 decades - 82
Jack Whitenot measured- - 83
Serj Tankian0 decades - 84
Meghan Trainor0 decades - 85
Adam Lambert1 decades - 86
SZAnot measured- - 87
Faith Hill2 decades - 88
Juice Wrldnot measured- - 89
Frank Ocean0 decades - 90
Christina Grimmie0 decades - 91
Nasnot measured- - 92
Wiz Khalifa0 decades - 93
Brandy Norwood0 decades - 94
Debby Ryan0 decades - 95
Mac Millernot measured- - 96
John Legend1 decades - 97
Travis Barker0 decades - 98
Mobynot measured- - 99
Ashlee Simpson0 decades - 100
Kelly Rowland0 decades
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.