Issue No. 2 · September 2026
    iFAMOUSby iFANN

    The monthly record of fame.

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    Issue No. 2 · September 2026

    The Most Famous Authors and Writers in the World

    Top 83 of 83 ranked · September 2026 · See today's live standing →

    Everyone, living or dead, on one scale: 26 of the 83 listed are living.

    First issue under methodology v5.70. Movement begins with the next issue frozen under the same version.

    The Most Famous Authors and Writers in the World is the September 2026 edition of the ranking, frozen and published by iFAMOUS, the monthly journal of the iFANN Global Fame Rankings.

    RankNameScore
    1
    Jesus Christ
    historical figure
    55.7
    230.5
    329.9
    4
    Isaac Newton
    GBcelebrity
    25.0
    5
    Charles III
    GBpoliticianAlive
    23.4
    6
    Stephen King
    UScelebrityAlive
    22.6
    7
    Aristotle
    GRcelebrity
    22.4
    8
    J. K. Rowling
    GBpublic figureAlive
    22.1
    9
    Narendra Modi
    INpoliticianAlive
    22.0
    10
    Cleopatra
    EGcelebrity
    21.7
    11
    Pope Francis
    ARpolitician
    21.6
    12
    Mao Zedong
    CNpolitician
    21.4
    13
    Thomas Edison
    UScelebrity
    21.0
    1420.5
    1520.2
    1620.1
    17
    Mother Teresa
    INcelebrity
    19.8
    1819.5
    19
    Gwyneth Paltrow
    UScelebrityAlive
    18.6
    20
    Anne Frank
    DEcelebrity
    18.5
    2118.5
    22
    Albert Camus
    FRcelebrity
    18.2
    23
    Jane Austen
    GBcelebrity
    18.0
    24
    Al Capone
    UScelebrity
    17.8
    2517.7
    26
    Karl Marx
    DEpolitician
    17.4
    2717.2
    28
    Achilles
    GRcelebrity
    16.4
    29
    Reese Witherspoon
    UScelebrityAlive
    16.3
    30
    Victor Hugo
    FRpolitician
    16.3
    31
    Leonardo da Vinci
    public figure
    16.2
    32
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    public figure
    15.9
    33
    JD Vance
    USpoliticianAlive
    15.6
    34
    Julie Andrews
    GBcelebrityAlive
    15.6
    35
    Woody Allen
    UScelebrityAlive
    15.6
    36
    Malala Yousafzai
    PKpublic figureAlive
    15.4
    37
    Michelle Obama
    USpoliticianAlive
    15.4
    3815.3
    39
    Jean-Paul Sartre
    FRpublic figure
    15.2
    40
    George Soros
    HUpublic figureAlive
    15.2
    4115.1
    42
    Tom Hiddleston
    GBcelebrityAlive
    14.9
    43
    Max Weber
    DEpolitician
    14.8
    4414.7
    45
    Ian McKellen
    GBcelebrityAlive
    14.6
    46
    Donald Sutherland
    CApublic figure
    14.6
    47
    Joseph Goebbels
    DEpolitician
    14.5
    48
    Jules Verne
    FRcelebrity
    14.5
    4914.5
    5014.4
    51
    Leon Trotsky
    MXpolitician
    14.4
    52
    Daniel Day-Lewis
    GBcelebrityAlive
    14.4
    5314.3
    54
    Henry Kissinger
    DEpolitician
    14.3
    55
    Haruki Murakami
    JPcelebrityAlive
    14.3
    5614.3
    5714.2
    58
    Greta Thunberg
    SEpublic figureAlive
    14.1
    59
    Stanley Tucci
    UScelebrityAlive
    14.0
    6014.0
    6113.8
    62
    Julianne Moore
    UScelebrityAlive
    13.6
    63
    Plato
    GRcelebrity
    13.6
    64
    Voltaire
    FRcelebrity
    13.5
    65
    Peter the Great
    RUpolitician
    13.5
    66
    Brooke Shields
    UScelebrityAlive
    13.5
    6713.5
    6813.5
    69
    Marcel Proust
    FRcelebrity
    13.4
    70
    Amal Clooney
    LBpublic figureAlive
    13.4
    71
    Sun Tzu
    CNcelebrity
    13.4
    72
    Jordan Belfort
    UScelebrityAlive
    13.4
    7313.4
    74
    Blaise Pascal
    FRcelebrity
    13.4
    75
    Salman Rushdie
    INcelebrityAlive
    13.4
    76
    Rosa Parks
    USpublic figure
    13.3
    7713.3
    78
    Simone de Beauvoir
    FRpublic figure
    13.3
    79
    Brandon Sanderson
    UScelebrityAlive
    13.2
    80
    Paulo Coelho
    BRcelebrityAlive
    13.2
    81
    Yuval Noah Harari
    ILcelebrityAlive
    13.2
    82
    Richard Feynman
    USpublic figure
    13.2
    8313.2

    About this list

    This list ranks the most famous authors and writers in the world as of September 2026, by overall global fame rather than one month's attention. It is the top 83 of 83 names the rankings measured in this sector, frozen as the permanent record of that edition. This is the standard reading: everyone, living or dead, on one scale. 26 of the 83 listed are living; the Alive reading restricts the same ranking to living people.

    Jesus Christ is No. 1 on this list for September 2026. Behind Jesus Christ come William Shakespeare and Albert Einstein.

    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 Books & Literature

    Books & Literature is one of the sectors the journal ranks every month, alongside every country, origin and region list in this issue. Sector lists use the same rankings and the same scale as The 100, so a name can be compared across sectors and against the world. Authors, publishing, bestsellers and literary fiction.

    Powered by iFANN

    iFAMOUS is published by iFANN and powered by the iFANN Global Fame Rankings v5.70. 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 authors and writers in the world 2026, top authors and writers September 2026, authors and writers fame ranking, most famous authors and writers alive.

    Cite as
    "Jesus Christ, No. 1 on The Most Famous Authors and Writers in the World", iFAMOUS No. 2 (September 2026), ifamous.org

    This scope in the journal

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