The Most Famous People in New Zealand
Top 13 of 13 ranked · August 2026 · See today's live standing →
First issue under methodology v5.62. Movement begins with the next issue frozen under the same version.
Ardern leads a New Zealand list where visitors outnumber the locals
iFAMOUS Editorial Desk · 1 min read
Three New Zealand politicians and a filmmaker hold the top and the bottom of the August 2026 table, and seven Americans fill the middle.
Jacinda Ardern is the most famous person connected to New Zealand in August 2026, with a score of 23.6, three years after she left the prime minister's office she held from 2017 to 2023. Taika Waititi, the filmmaker, actor and comedian, is second at 18.1, and Christopher Luxon, the current prime minister since November 2023, third at 16.8. That is the country's own top three, and then the list goes abroad.
Thirteen names were measured, and only four of them are New Zealanders. Seven carry a United States tag and two a United Kingdom tag. Olivia Dean, the English singer-songwriter whose debut album earned a Mercury Prize nomination, is fourth. Katy Perry is sixth, Post Malone seventh, Tom Cruise eighth, Bruce Springsteen ninth, Ian McKellen tenth and Jason Momoa eleventh. Country lists collect the figures a country's public life centres on, so foreign entertainers with a heavy New Zealand audience appear beside the nationals rather than being filtered out.
Two names are recorded as no longer living: Dolly Parton at fifth and Oliver Tree at twelfth. On the standard reading they sit on the same scale as everyone else, and Parton's fifth place, above every living American on the list, shows how much durable recognition can outweigh current output.
David Seymour, the deputy prime minister, closes the table at thirteenth with a score of 3.7. The evidence coverage for the country is rated medium, and the small total means the New Zealand list is a snapshot rather than a census.
| Rank | Name | Score | Live |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jacinda Ardern politicianAlive | 23.6 | iFANN → |
| 2 |  Taika Waititi celebrityAlive | 18.1 | iFANN → |
| 3 |  Christopher Luxon politicianAlive | 16.8 | iFANN → |
| 4 |  Olivia Dean  celebrityAlive | 15.9 | iFANN → |
| 5 |  Dolly Parton  celebrity | 15.3 | iFANN → |
| 6 |  Katy Perry celebrityAlive | 14.5 | iFANN → |
| 7 |  Post Malone celebrityAlive | 13.5 | iFANN → |
| 8 |  Tom Cruise celebrityAlive | 13.3 | iFANN → |
| 9 |  Bruce Springsteen celebrityAlive | 12.3 | iFANN → |
| 10 |  Ian McKellen celebrityAlive | 11.9 | iFANN → |
| 11 |  Jason Momoa celebrityAlive | 11.0 | iFANN → |
| 12 |  Oliver Tree celebrity | 9.6 | iFANN → |
| 13 |  David Seymour politicianAlive | 3.7 | iFANN → |
About this list
This list ranks the most famous people connected to New Zealand as of August 2026, by overall fame rather than one month's attention: the top 13 of 13 names the rankings measured for New Zealand, frozen as the permanent record of that edition. This is the standard reading: everyone, living or dead, on one scale. 11 of the 13 listed are living; the Alive reading restricts the same ranking to living people.
Jacinda Ardern is No. 1 on this list for August 2026. Behind Jacinda Ardern come Taika Waititi and Christopher Luxon. Evidence coverage for this list is medium; positions near the bottom of the table may shift as coverage improves.
What famous means here
Fame, in iFAMOUS, is how widely the world knows a name: how recognisable a person's name, face or work is, and how well people know who they are. It is assessed from extensive historical and current public data, some of it reaching back more than twenty years, and it is not merit, talent, importance or popularity on iFANN. The rankings model real-world global fame, not internet fame; the data is the instrument, not the subject. Activity on iFANN itself is excluded.
The month in the title is the date of this edition, not the period measured. The list is a snapshot of overall fame as it stood when the issue was frozen: a name does not lose its place because one month was quiet, and a trending moment alone does not put a name here. Trending attention is published separately on ifann.net.
How the list was ranked
The iFANN Global Fame Rankings combine worldwide Wikipedia readership across languages, worldwide news coverage and search interest anchored against stable reference names, with search history reaching back to 2004. A twelve-month baseline sits behind the current reading and short-lived surges are capped, so the list reflects durable recognition rather than one week of headlines. Rankings are computed daily on ifann.net and frozen on the second day of the following month as that month's issue; a published issue never changes.
About New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the countries and regions the journal ranks every month. Country lists use the same rankings and the same scale as The 100, so a name can be compared with its neighbours and against the world.
Powered by iFANN
iFAMOUS is published by iFANN and powered by the iFANN Global Fame Rankings v5.62. Today's live standing for this list is on ifann.net; the journal freezes it once a month so it can be cited permanently.
Related searches: most famous people in New Zealand 2026, top celebrities in New Zealand August 2026, New Zealand fame ranking, most famous person in New Zealand.
"Jacinda Ardern, No. 1 on The Most Famous People in New Zealand", iFAMOUS No. 1 (August 2026), ifamous.org