William Shakespeare

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) remains a towering figure in global history, securing the #48 rank in MIT’s Pantheon project for his unparalleled influence on the English language and dramatic arts. As a writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, his canon of approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and several narrative poems established foundational tropes and vocabulary that persist across centuries and cultures. His works, such as *Hamlet* and *Macbeth*, explore universal human themes with a linguistic dexterity that continues to be studied and performed worldwide.

Despite this immense historical weight, Shakespeare’s modern digital footprint suggests a potential gap between his historical importance and current internet consumption. He garners 4.2 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. To provide context, this level of attention is significantly less than contemporary figures like Joe Biden (#329 importance) with 11.0M views, or even Michael Jackson (#416 importance) with 8.4M views. In fact, Shakespeare receives an estimated 5x *less* attention online than would be proportional to his #48 historical ranking, indicating a notable 'overattention' to modern topics relative to foundational cultural giants.

Furthermore, the recent trend data suggests a slight cooling of online interest, with his view count dropping by -14.1% year-over-year, and a -14% dip in momentum between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, signaling that his digital relevance may be subtly declining compared to the previous year.