Mikhail Gorbachev

About Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) holds the #218 rank in historical importance according to the Pantheon project, primarily for his role as the final leader of the Soviet Union. His policies of *glasnost* (openness) and *perestroika* (restructuring) are credited with fundamentally altering the geopolitical landscape, culminating in the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the USSR. These epoch-making contributions solidified his influence across the 20th century and beyond.

Despite this high historical standing, Gorbachev's 2025 annualized Wikipedia traffic is measured at 2.3 million views, resulting in a significant $+5x$ overattention gap relative to his historical importance. This suggests that while he is still highly visible online, his attention level is disproportionately high when compared to other, more pivotal historical figures like Thales of Miletus (#152 importance, only 354K views). His immediate political peers in the modern era also command greater current interest, such as Joe Biden (#329 importance) attracting 11.0M views in the same period.

Furthermore, the data indicates a cooling interest in his legacy, as evidenced by a $-3.4\%$ year-over-year decrease in views and a $-16\%$ drop in momentum between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggesting his direct influence on current online discourse is slowly waning.