Issue No. 2 · September 2026
    iFAMOUSby iFANN

    The monthly record of fame.

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    Issue No. 2 · September 2026

    The Most Famous J-Drama Stars in the World

    Top 44 of 44 ranked · September 2026 · See today's live standing →

    Everyone, living or dead, on one scale: 39 of the 44 listed are living.

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

    The Most Famous J-Drama Stars 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
    Ken Watanabe
    JPcelebrityAlive
    9.0
    2
    Mackenyu
    UScelebrityAlive
    7.2
    3
    Chiaki Kuriyama
    JPcelebrityAlive
    6.5
    4
    Tomohisa Yamashita
    JPcelebrityAlive
    6.2
    5
    Date Masamune
    JPcelebrity
    5.3
    6
    Minami Hamabe
    JPcelebrityAlive
    4.6
    7
    Shun Oguri
    JPcelebrityAlive
    4.4
    84.4
    9
    Ryūnosuke Kamiki
    JPcelebrityAlive
    4.3
    10
    Takeru Satō
    JPcelebrityAlive
    3.9
    11
    Yu Aoi
    JPcelebrityAlive
    3.8
    12
    Kentaro Sakaguchi
    JPcelebrityAlive
    3.6
    13
    Mana Ashida
    JPcelebrityAlive
    3.5
    143.1
    15
    Kento Yamazaki
    JPcelebrityAlive
    2.9
    16
    Kōji Yakusho
    JPcelebrityAlive
    2.8
    17
    Nana Komatsu
    JPcelebrityAlive
    2.4
    18
    Takayuki Yamada
    JPcelebrityAlive
    2.2
    19
    Ryo Yoshizawa
    celebrityAlive
    1.7
    20
    Ryūsei Yokohama
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.6
    21
    Yugo Kanno
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.6
    22
    Moeka Hoshi
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.4
    23
    Aju Makita
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.3
    24
    Reiko Yoshida
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.2
    25
    Satoshi Tsumabuki
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.2
    26
    Mariya Ise
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.2
    27
    Kento Kaku
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.1
    28
    Kimiko Yo
    TWcelebrityAlive
    1.1
    291.1
    30
    Natsuki Deguchi
    TWcelebrityAlive
    1.1
    31
    Taishi Nakagawa
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.0
    32
    Ryo Ryusei
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.0
    33
    Mikako Ichikawa
    JPcelebrityAlive
    1.0
    34
    Ankokuji Ekei
    JPcelebrity
    0.8
    35
    Mutsuo Yoshioka
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.8
    36
    Kurumi Inagaki
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.8
    37
    Rokka Okada
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.8
    38
    Gakuryū Ishii
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.7
    39
    Ruka Matsuda
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.5
    40
    Emi Sakura
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.5
    41
    Kazuma Kamachi
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.3
    42
    Kaito Sakurai
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.2
    43
    Riko Fukumoto
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.1
    44
    Tomoko Yamashita
    JPcelebrityAlive
    0.1

    About this list

    This list ranks the most famous j-drama stars in the world as of September 2026, by overall global fame rather than one month's attention. It is the top 44 of 44 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. 39 of the 44 listed are living; the Alive reading restricts the same ranking to living people.

    Ken Watanabe is No. 1 on this list for September 2026. Behind Ken Watanabe come Mackenyu and Chiaki Kuriyama.

    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 J-Drama

    J-Drama 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. Japanese live-action TV drama, romance, thrillers and dorama hits.

    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 j-drama stars in the world 2026, top j-drama stars September 2026, j-drama stars fame ranking, most famous j-drama stars alive.

    Cite as
    "Ken Watanabe, No. 1 on The Most Famous J-Drama Stars in the World", iFAMOUS No. 2 (September 2026), ifamous.org

    This scope in the journal

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