Who would you say is the famous living person?

A previous debate has been redirected here, so thought I’d throw it open too STW to add their collective wisdom.

I’d previously heard a convincing argument that Queen Elizabeth was the most famous living person, but who are the likely contenders nowadays? We are talking worldwide, not just in the UK.

Vladimir Putin, Xi JinPing, Narendra Modi, King Charles, Donald Trump, the pope I would guess are up there. What do we all think?

What we’re looking for is the name which would be recognised by the greatest proportion of the world’s population. How would even measure it? It would be a hell of a survey

Trump, for all the wrong reasons but Trump.

Macca?

Ronaldo.

Not the pope. Many people will know that there is a pope, but much fewer will know who the current pope is. The last few haven’t lasted very long.

Taylor Swift. No contest.

I suspect it is Narendra Modi. After 10 years in power I would assume that everyone in India and China knows who he is, plus millions more throughout Asia, so the majority of humanity.

I doubt that Trump and Putin are quite that well known.

Xi Jinping.

Tragically it will be some horrible bastard

Taylor Swift. No contest.

There’s a good argument to be made for her, her fanbase is huge, multicultural and global. And also apolitical and cross-generational as well. The fact that she’s the first artist who’s tour has made over a billion dollars – nobody’s ever done that before, and that’s hugely significant and newsworthy.

Taylor Swift. No contest.

By name alone, maybe.  I’d struggle to recognise her if I walked past her in the street, and I expect that’s true for a lot of folk middle aged and upwards.

Lady Gaga

I’d say Trump by a mile.  Unfortunately.

America is the global superpower so most people globally are aware of the country – and Trump has been the most high profile talked about American for a good few years.

Taylor Swift – no. There’s lots of the world where western music just doesn’t register for the general population, they won’t know or care about Taylor Swift, or Lady Gaga, or Madonna, or whatever the next product of the global pop industry will be.

you could interpret the data to suggest that Taylor Swift has the 6th highest selling album in china since 2019.

Only 1.8mil copies, but that represents 25% of the sales of the highest selling artist.

Jesus Christ

Not the pope. Many people will know that there is a pope, but much fewer will know who the current pope is.

I don’t remember the name of the current one.  It is no longer that nazi one is it?

Jesus Christ

Not sure he is alive (or ever was)

In the West I would guess most people are aware of Trump, Taylor Swift etc, but what about outside of the west where rather a lot of people live.  Who would have biggest awareness in China or India for example?

Ronaldo or Messi.

Joe Cocker.

Xi Jinping +1

Donald J Trump, as said previously, for all the wrong reasons 🙄

After a lot of thought, I’d say George Galloway

Probably not Ronnie Pickering. More likely to be Trump.

Louise?

Or Chris Martin

According to Reddit it is Rowan Atkinson or to put it correctly Mr Bean. Airs in 89 countries and I love these two anecdotes:

““Mr. Bean” is seen in 89 countries. “I didn’t think there were 89 countries in the world,” Atkinson says, laughing. He recalls the time a friend of his encountered “Mr. Bean” while making a documentary in a poor African village. “In this village there was one television, and she was wandering around late one night and heard this guffawing in this shack. She went in and there was most of the village gathered around this extremely fuzzy black-and-white television and there was ‘Mr. Bean’ on the screen.”

“In 2006 I crossed the border from Russia to Kazakhstan in a convoy of rusted and broken cars. There were four cars in total, and the border guards were bored and aloof as they checked our passports, visas and vehicle transit papers.

It was only as the last car approached the guard’s hut that they burst into energy. Huge smiles. We had no idea what was going on, and found the whole thing terrifying since none of us understood Russian or Kazakh.

But when one guard pulled out a disposable camera and gestured to the car, we understood what he wanted. He kept blurted out “Meesta Beena Maheena!” over and over, with passion in his voice. He’d recognised the rally car* as being Mr Bean’s Mini, and all the guards wanted their pictures with such a magnificent vehicle.”

Well if we are discussing people that us westerners recognise, a brief non scientific poll of people I work with (predominantly Indian, Pakistani and Far Eastern) Obama, Ronaldo, Messi and Beckham are the most famous .

It would appear that western politics barely registers for the vast majority of people but football does🤷🏻‍♂️

According to Reddit it is Rowan Atkinson or to put it correctly Mr Bean. Airs in 89 countries and

The Premier League airs in 188 countries – and is viewed by 3.2 billion people. So the ‘most famous person’ is much more likely to be a footballer than a politician, musician or movie star.

David Beckham did an interesting documentary riding around Brazil, and there’s a shot in that, like, 8 hours out of Rio, where they stop to buy drinks in some shack alongside the muddy highway. Someone asks the shookeeper if he knows omwho this guy is, shopkeeper shakes his head. Beckham turns to camera and says “that’s the first time in X years that I’ve met someone who doesn’t know who I am”.

I’m very glad I’m not famous.

Joking aside it is probably Ronaldo. I have zero interest in football and even I recognise his sullen, pouty face. You can’t escape football even if you don’t care for it at all. I’d like it to be Mr Bean though. Just because that’s more interesting than football player. Jackie Chan is widely recognised in the West, India, Africa and China. So covers a lot of bases globally. Not sure if younger generations know who he is.

A horrible orange thing or his boss.

Yeah – if you think about Africa where 60% of the population is under 25, it’s not Taylor Swift or the Pope that would be most recognisable. It’ll be Messi or some other footballer.

But you also have to consider all the older folks who don’t follow football or use much social media.

I don’t know the answer to be honest, but I think the methodology will be more interesting than the result anyway.

Actually, Obama might be a good shout if you are thinking famous rather than being very current at this specific moment. First black president, very active on the world stage, very recognisable. Not in the news much these days but his profile has stuck.

Excellent shout, my money is going on Bazza for sure 👍

But you also have to consider all the older folks who don’t follow football or use much social media.

I don’t think football is a particularly age specific interest. And it’s also one of the most widely reported activities in the world on any media, so social media isn’t really relevant. If you pick up a newspaper there are several pages of ‘sports’ (half the paper it seems in some cases) and the majority of that is football. Football somehow manages to generate pages and pages of ‘news’ every day of the week, even during the off season.

Not the pope. Many people will know that there is a pope, but much fewer will know who the current pope is. The last few haven’t lasted very long.

If it’s not the pope, then it must be Dave standing next to him.

Pedro…

I’m older, I don’t follow football at all, and the only SM i use is here and youtube. And I’ve heard of Messi and Ronaldo.
My first thought upon reading the OP was ‘trump’
But having thought a bit more it probably is a footballer, for all the reasons given by previous posters.
Interesting question though.

Jennifer Aniston. Pretty sure I read somewhere that Friends is the most widely viewed TV show ever.

The Premier League airs in 188 countries – and is viewed by 3.2 billion people.
…
Joking aside it is probably Ronaldo. I have zero interest in football and even I recognise his sullen, pouty face. You can’t escape football even if you don’t care for it at all.

See my comment about Taylor Swift. If we discount players from my youth I could probably identify half a dozen players tops.

I don’t think football is a particularly age specific interest.

Anecdotally I’d say it’s absolutely a gender-specific interest though. I know some women who are into it, but they are a considerable minority.