HOW IT WORKS
WHAT IS THE FAME INDEX?
A weekly ranking of public figures by measurable fame signals. It does not measure quality, talent, or moral worth — only how much the world is paying attention to someone right now.
THE SCORE
Every person gets a single headline number from 0 to 100.
| 90+ | Global phenomenon (household name worldwide) |
| 70–89 | Major celebrity (widely recognised) |
| 50–69 | Notable figure (known within their field) |
| 30–49 | Rising/fading (gaining or losing attention) |
| 0–29 | Niche (known only to dedicated followers) |
FIVE DIMENSIONS
The headline score is built from five measurable dimensions. Each scores 0–100 independently.
1. SEARCH INTEREST
How often people actively look someone up. When you're curious about a person, you search for them or visit their Wikipedia page.
Sources: Wikipedia pageviews, Google Trends
2. NEWS PRESENCE
How much journalists are writing about someone. Measures mainstream media penetration — are proper news outlets covering this person?
Sources: GDELT global news index, Google News
3. SOCIAL BUZZ
How much people are discussing someone online. Not follower counts (which are static) but active conversation volume.
Sources: Reddit discussion volume, Wikipedia edit activity, YouTube content
4. CULTURAL OUTPUT
Are they producing things people consume? Music, films, books. This dimension only applies to people with active creative output.
Sources: Spotify artist popularity, TMDB film/TV popularity
5. INSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION
Has the establishment acknowledged them? Awards, nominations, and formal recognition. The slowest-moving dimension — accumulated credibility rather than current buzz.
Sources: Wikidata structured award/nomination data
HOW DIMENSIONS COMBINE
The five dimension scores are combined using a weighted formula to produce the headline number.
The weights are not publicly disclosed. This prevents gaming. If you knew that news coverage was weighted at exactly X%, you could manufacture news coverage to boost a score. The opacity is intentional.
What we will say: all five dimensions contribute. No single dimension can produce a score above ~60 on its own. Genuine fame shows up across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
MOMENTUM
The momentum score tracks week-on-week change in the headline number. A person can have a moderate fame score but extreme momentum — a previously unknown person going viral, for example.
Positive momentum = climbing. Negative = fading.
SENTIMENT & CONTROVERSY
Sentiment measures whether attention is positive, negative, or neutral. It does not affect the fame score — fame is fame regardless of polarity.
The controversy index identifies when someone is famous primarily because of controversy: high attention combined with polarised opinion. A high controversy score doesn't mean someone is bad. It means they are divisive.
WHAT THE INDEX DOES NOT MEASURE
- Quality or talent — a terrible person can be extremely famous
- Net worth — wealth and fame are different things
- Follower counts — static numbers don't reflect current attention
- Moral worth — the index is descriptive, not prescriptive