Grigori Rasputin

About Grigori Rasputin

Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire through his association with Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, largely due to his perceived ability to treat their hemophiliac son, Alexei. His role as an occultist and political manipulator near the fall of the Romanov dynasty is the primary driver for his high historical ranking at #407 among global figures.

Despite his substantial historical significance, Rasputin's modern digital footprint suggests a notable attention gap. He captures 2.2 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, which, relative to his historical importance, translates to an overattention factor of +6x. This indicates the internet pays significantly more attention to his sensationalized persona than the average figure of his historical weight. For context, he garners substantially more attention than Herodotus (#106 importance) or George Frideric Handel (#156 importance), who both receive under 700K views.

Interestingly, Rasputin’s attention is slightly declining, with a year-over-year view change of -11.9%, though his recent momentum is positive at +5% between Q1 and Q3, suggesting his compelling narrative continues to draw periodic spikes in modern curiosity.