Hans Christian Andersen

About Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) remains a monumental figure in world literature, securing the #105 rank on MIT's Historical Popularity Index. As a Danish author, his lasting global cultural impact stems primarily from his fairy tales, which reimagined traditional folklore with deep psychological and philosophical undertones. Stories such as "The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Snow Queen" have transcended language barriers and continue to be retold and adapted across centuries.

Despite this profound historical importance, Andersen's contemporary internet attention appears relatively modest. In 2025, his Wikipedia pages garnered 837K views, resulting in an Attention Gap of approximately 1x, suggesting his online presence is roughly proportional to his documented historical weight. This stands in contrast to many contemporary writers, such as Ernest Hemingway (#425 importance), who drew 2.8M views in the same year. Similarly, compared to the figure Louis XIV of France (HPI #42), Andersen's readership dwarfs the monarch's 213K views, highlighting a potential divergence between historical political influence and modern digital interest.

The year-over-year trend for Andersen shows a slight decline of -0.2%, indicating stable but not rapidly growing interest, though his Q1 2025 momentum was positive at +7% when compared to Q3 of that year.