Last updated: October 1997
But Microsoft (alas!) is almost twice as popular as God.
Announcing the Elvis Index, the first scientific technology for comparing the visibility of every person, place, and thing on the Internet.
Warning: The Elvis Index includes obscenities.
The AltaVista search-engine's "Advanced Search" page makes it possible to get an exact count of all pages on the WWWeb containing *any* given word or phrase.
But since the absolute counts are always changing as the WWWeb grows, it's necessary to choose a single reference-point that everything else can be related to. Since 'Elvis' is the highest-ranking name that's neither religious nor soon-out-of-date, his count on any day (eg 230,246 pages on 15 October 1997) must serve as the 100% marker.
Very few celebrities achieve the 10%-of-elvis level that we can call 'superstar', and fewer still the 25% level that qualifies as 'megastar'.
Examples:
Half-elvis (99-50% of Elvis): Madonna, Shakespeare, Star Trek, CIA, MTV, Star Wars, Doom, X-Files, Castro, Satan, Spam, Einstein, Beatles, UFO, Darwin, Oprah, Nixon
Megastar or quarter-elvis (49-25%): Batman, Hercules, Howard Stern, Coke, Nintendo, WebTV, Hitler, Bill Gates, Dilbert, Martin Luther King, Napoleon, Pepsi, Buddha, Spock, Superman
Superstar (24-10%): JFK, Freud, Letterman, Mao, Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, Princess Diana, Mark Twain, Xena, Baywatch, McDonalds, LSD, Pamela Anderson, Gandhi, Alanis, Sinatra, Spice Girls, Ringo, John Lennon, Mickey Mouse, Warhol, Stephen King, Bjork
Lesser strata (with tv stars far below movie stars):
Star: 3-9% (Mick Jagger, Jim Carrey, Marilyn Monroe) TV Superstar: 2-3% (Jerry Seinfeld, Kate Moss, Tim Allen) centi-elvis: 1-2% (Ted Koppel, Kibo, Ann Landers) semi-centi-elvis: 0.5% (net.stars) milli-elvis: 0.10%
A single page may currently be seen as 7.3 micro-elvises (but this figure is always declining as the WWWeb grows).
Almost no personal names achieve the rarified strata above Elvis:
100-300% elvis: Disney, Altavista, Kennedy, Rush (!?), Pentium, Win95, MSN, Clinton, Sony, Lycos, Jesus, Netcom
300-1000%: O J (!?), Apple, Macintosh, Linux, sex, Unix, God, IBM, Java
1000-2000%: Bill, AOL, Netscape, PC, Microsoft, love, Windows, Yahoo
To measure a word or phrase, first get the current figure for 'elvis', then divide that into the figure for your phrase, finally multiply by 100 to get the percentage (100 * phrase / elvis). Use a period between each word of phrases:
bill.gates.is.satan 74 0.032%
100000000 approx AV total pages = 100 million
http: 95656843 41545% elvis, 96% av
www: 77881312 33825%, 78%
html: 67098605 29142%, 67%
gif: 62520301 27154%, 63%
com: 47175784 20489%, 47%
htm: 36900024 16026%, 37%
home: 34591101 15024%, 35%
mailto: 30875222 13410%, 31%
edu: 22039932 9572% elvis, 22% av
1997: 20603914 8949, 21
c: 20082828 8722, 20
images: 18851323 8187, 19
jpg: 16460517 7149, 16
net: 14836523 6444, 15
web: 14170865 6155, 14
internet: 10026855 4355% elvis, 10% av
news: 9807668 4260
university: 9055562 3933
email: 8845537 3842
computer: 7487725 3252
program: 7129702 3097
software: 6808610 2957
image: 6580956 2858
text: 6077110 2639
link: 5996655 2604
uk: 5947786 2583
john: 5175640 2248
american: 5106483 2218
science: 4784851 2078, 5
url: 4361622 1894
yahoo: 4221298 1833
gov: 4200057 1824
country: 4054575 1761
windows: 3608618 1567
application: 3513423 1526
ftp: 3463676 1504
love: 3343355 1452 (hate: 210%, sex: 609%)
new york: 3280457 1425
basic: 3245807 1410
microsoft: 3224824 1401
president: 3207216 1393
america: 3155115 1370
washington: 3134848 1362
pc: 3049164 1324
netscape: 2985884 1297 (marc andreessen: 3%)
canada: 2844699 1235
aol: 2693229 1170
california: 2681727 1165
james: 2568720 1116 (jim: 680%)
bill: 2422929 1052 (william: 882%)
txt: 2331595 1013, 1
responsible: 2152373 935
java: 2067283 898
william: 2030001 882
browser: 1983828 862
war: 1908494 829
dos: 1848961 803 (english only: 380%)
rock: 1833431 796
2000: 1829695 795
japan: 1829233 794
france: 1739280 755
australia: 1689971 734
king: 1668178 725 (queen: 252%)
england: 1643461 714
ibm: 1799967 702
god: 1573982 684 (devil: 121%, goddess: 53%)
jim: 1565180 680
unix: 1537974 668
tax: 1521351 661 (taxes: 311%)
mac: 1464574 636 (macintosh: 474%)
germany: 1429899 621
sex: 1403320 609
mexico: 1309355 569
linux: 1301319 565
1998: 1279566 556
christian: 1239654 532
columbia: 1219743 530
math: 1211916 526
representative: 1211014 526
hp: 1173449 510 (hewlett packard: 138%)
congress: 1164745 506
macintosh: 1092452 474
apple: 1082132 470
china: 1071960 466
comp: 1055649 458
italy: 1026882 446
asia: 1012241 440
spirit: 1001185 435
peace: 993121 431
dance: 972110 422
politics: 970389 421
africa: 953546 414
cars: 885593 385
gopher: 876952 381
philosophy: 862678 375
alt: 855630 372
religion: 845840 367
mathematics: 820964 357
newsgroups: 810892 352 (newsgroup: 186%)
o j: 789036 343 (o j simpson: 14%)
premier: 772060 335
sci: 760474 330
lord: 736239 320
computer science: 726593 316
india: 725646 315
usenet: 672142 292
netcom: 656071 285
ford: 649162 282
ireland: 647341 281
crime: 647307 281
hell: 643078 279 (heaven: 218%)
fox: 636211 276
bible: 632787 275 (the.bible: 118%)
israel: 626467 272
latin: 621293 270
jesus: 617312 268
classical: 600965 262
rec: 601106 261
psychology: 595099 258
jazz: 592889 258
christ: 586708 255
russia: 580913 252
queen: 580455 252
lycos: 576230 250
abc: 566195 246
sony: 565144 245
dell: 563508 245
intel: 562159 244
clinton: 560380 243
msn: 543753 236
bug: 535252 232
welfare: 524736 228
prince: 516357 224 (princess: 110%)
att: 503001 218
heaven: 501322 218
spiritual: 483914 210 (spirituality: 55%)
hate: 482478 210
lincoln: 478439 208
adobe: 477069 207
hypertext: 474308 206
blues: 467599 203
greek: 462257 201
folk: 454975 198
dogs: 454823 198 (cats: 163%)
win95: 445079 193 (windows95: 110%)
pentium: 444015 193
pride: 442653 192
rush: 437066 190 (rush limbaugh: 10%)
1999: 427025 185
opera: 413572 180
kennedy: 411904 179
postscript: 406869 177
progressive: 399011 173
cnn: 396261 172
columbus: 393895 171
ethics: 388837 169
altavista: 381299 166 (alta vista: 73%)
cats: 376294 163
2001: 374069 162
liberal: 373867 162
new york times: 360555 157 (ny times: 7%)
cbs: 360085 156
gang: 359968 156
href: 359895 156
murder: 344506 150
ass: 342396 149 (arse: 7%)
disney: 332211 144 (walt disney: 38%)
bush: 331179 144
jewish: 324441 141
pot: 307331 133
ada: 305973 133
conservative: 303635 132
las vegas: 301079 131
horses: 299489 130
flame: 292754 127
pascal: 290459 126
republican: 290069 126 (democrat: 63%)
gospel: 287824 125
pizza: 287294 125
devil: 279581 121 (satan: 58%)
nbc: 278903 121
senator: 278627 121
angry: 278295 121 (anger: 108%)
compaq: 274359 119
vietnam: 272196 118
ms dos: 270337 117
parliament: 268571 117
fuck: 262539 114
princess: 253282 110
ghost: 250415 109
middle east: 245300 107
cum: 246117 106 (english only: 89%)
crack: 238589 104
visual basic: 238450 104 (vb: 63%)
fortran: 233810 102
elvis: 230246 100.00
motorola: 223860 97.23
madonna: 222089 96.46
shakespeare: 220336 95.70
star trek: 219183 95.20
jesus christ: 215138 93.44
shit: 214436 93.13
cia: 212120 92.13
kirk: 210999 91.64 (captain kirk: 3%)
suicide: 209877 91.15
honda: 205100 89.08
wordperfect: 197604 85.82 (corel: 61%)
rap: 192461 83.59
arab: 190431 82.71
photoshop: 189856 82.45
mtv: 189708 82.39
prime minister: 186287 80.91
irs: 186133 80.84
president clinton: 185042 80.37
porn: 183126 79.53 (porno: 45%)
christianity: 181337 78.76
cult: 180377 78.34
playboy: 177975 77.30
2002: 174717 75.88
rape: 174223 75.67
artificial intelligence: 172303 74.83
ego: 166256 72.21
hebrew: 164220 71.32
star wars: 162115 70.41
bmw: 161390 70.09
doom: 161209 70.02 (quake: 155891 67.71)
usa today: 160575 69.74
mercedes: 159660 69.34
x files: 153983 66.88
iran: 152557 66.26
ambient: 152463 66.22
fucking: 152175 66.09
toyota: 150870 65.53
motorcycles: 147085 63.88
pussy: 145291 63.10
democrat: 144295 62.67
toshiba: 143652 62.39
soviet union: 141258 61.35
bosnia: 140941 61.21
corel: 140374 60.97
vampire: 140076 60.84
lust: 139413 60.55
new age: 139115 60.42
cock: 137527 59.73
castro: 135977 59.06 (fidel: 17.5%, fidel castro: 7%)
islam: 134916 58.60 (islamic: 54%)
satan: 134594 58.46
abortion: 134155 58.27
spam: 132864 57.71
einstein: 132533 57.56 (albert einstein: 18%)
beatles: 130077 56.49
ufo: 129629 56.30
roosevelt: 127353 55.31
washington post: 126164 54.80
idiot: 125648 54.57
darwin: 123807 53.77
oprah: 123342 53.57 (oprah winfrey: 5%)
nixon: 122332 53.13
goddess: 121964 52.97
chrysler: 119659 51.97
hotlist: 118276 51.37
burger: 115729 50.26
reagan: 115615 50.21 (ronald reagan: 15%)
batman: 113928 49.48
nissan: 111369 48.37
lisp: 111329 48.35
powerpc: 110749 48.10
arabic: 110630 48.05
racism: 109665 47.63
hercules: 109472 47.55
nazi: 108360 47.06
tits: 107881 46.85
bill clinton: 106626 46.31
howard stern: 104495 45.38
binaries: 104111 45.22
hiroshima: 103821 45.09 (nagasaki: 18%)
coke: 103079 44.77 (coca cola: 43%, pepsi: 29%)
holocaust: 102999 44.73
volvo: 101612 44.13
u2: 100035 43.45
churchill: 97293 42.26
iraq: 94171 40.90
hamburger: 90930 39.49
caesar: 88970 38.64
new testament: 88697 38.52 (old testament: 29%)
walt disney: 87565 38.03
jaguar: 87166 37.86
emperor: 87043 37.80
nintendo: 86820 37.71
penis: 86496 37.57
webtv: 86023 37.36
cunt: 85418 37.10
hitler: 85179 36.99 (adolf hitler: 7%)
bill gates: 84854 36.85
bicycles: 84611 36.75
astrology: 82702 35.92
hip hop: 82193 35.70 (hiphop: 8.31)
slack: 80616 35.01
nirvana: 80615 35.01
hamlet: 78629 34.15
dilbert: 78558 34.12
country music: 77353 33.60
newt: 77149 33.51 (gingrich: 25%, newt gingrich: 18%)
jerk: 77145 33.51
cadillac: 77013 33.45
cocaine: 76501 33.23
greed: 74333 32.28
rockefeller: 73890 32.09
saab: 73240 31.81
vanity: 72625 31.54
porsche: 71417 31.02
fries: 70486 30.61
bastard: 69812 30.32
martin luther king: 69512 30.19
netnews: 68489 29.75
napoleon: 68038 29.55
reggae: 67654 29.38
pepsi: 67290 29.33
the who: 67058 29.12
jew: 66401 28.84
old testament: 65666 28.52
challenger: 65455 28.43
buddha: 65246 28.34
palestine: 62398 27.10
spock: 61599 26.75
superman: 60636 26.34
ecstasy: 58770 25.52
heroin: 58768 25.52
waco: 57580 25.01
asshole: 57743 25.08
jaws: 57432 24.94
greedy: 55562 24.13
picard: 54919 23.85
manson: 54808 23.80
jfk: 54409 23.63
freud: 53937 23.43
letterman: 52446 22.78 (david letterman: 14%, leno: 9.5%)
boobs: 52217 22.68
mohammed: 52177 22.66
mao: 51593 22.41
michael jackson: 49845 21.65
rolling stones: 48937 21.25
mafia: 48874 21.23
masturbation: 48559 21.09 (masterbation: 10%)
princess diana: 47806 20.76
beavis: 47800 20.76 (butthead: 12.94%)
prick: 47765 20.75
torah: 45779 19.88
oldsmobile: 45263 19.66
mark twain: 45134 19.60
xena: 45122 19.60
genocide: 44915 19.51
meme: 44534 19.34
subaru: 44026 19.12
baywatch: 43939 19.08
the eagles: 43880 19.06
titanic: 43801 19.02
REM: 43512 18.90 (all caps only)
mcdonalds: 42958 18.66
lsd: 42546 18.48
pamela anderson: 42536 18.47
vagina: 41945 18.22
albert einstein: 41654 18.09
newt gingrich: 40876 17.75
vietnam war: 40081 17.41
gandhi: 39900 17.33 (ghandi: 3%)
hemp: 39574 17.19
jurassic park: 39433 17.13
grateful dead: 38402 16.68
al gore: 37798 16.42
myst: 37486 16.28
world music: 37196 16.15
stallone: 37100 16.11
queen elizabeth: 36702 15.94
frankenstein: 36322 15.78
stalin: 35706 15.51
incest: 35075 15.23
dracula: 35022 15.21
pearl jam: 34703 15.07
scientology: 34670 15.06
george bush: 34321 14.91
tolkien: 34091 14.81
ronald reagan 34079 14.80
nuke: 33693 14.63
david letterman: 32760 14.23
alanis: 32363 14.06 (alanis morissette: 7.54%)
sinatra: 31997 13.90
satanic: 31859 13.84
o j simpson: 31672 13.76
fascist: 31342 13.61
rolls royce: 31276 13.58
spice girls: 31186 13.54
ringo: 30852 13.40 (ringo starr: 3%)
atf: 30216 13.12
dictator: 29987 13.02
john lennon: 29686 12.89
lenin: 28965 12.58
godfather: 27842 12.09
escher: 27814 12.08
atheism: 27465 11.93
asimov: 27459 11.93
mickey mouse: 27356 11.88 (donald duck: 5%)
demi moore: 26145 11.36 (bruce willis: 7%)
warhol: 26075 11.32
atheist: 26034 11.31
cindy crawford: 25908 11.25
stephen king: 25799 11.20
pharaoh: 24959 10.84 (pharoah: 3%)
worldnet: 24779 10.76
moron: 24731 10.74
anarchist: 23867 10.37
booty: 23828 10.35
bjork: 23719 10.31
pearl harbor: 23327 10.13
d day: 23198 10.08
c span: 23033 10.00 (cspan: 3%)
skeptic: 22874 9.93
rush limbaugh: 22343 9.70 (rush: 190%)
woody allen: 22308 9.69
werewolf: 21997 9.55
leno: 21991 9.55
chomsky: 21776 9.46
snl: 21547 9.36
unabomber: 21496 9.34
maniacs: 21484 9.33
tarantino: 21368 9.28
marilyn monroe: 21352 9.27
90210: 20955 9.10
steven spielberg: 20733 9.00
john wayne: 20667 8.98
tom cruise: 20578 8.94
sloth: 20369 8.85
paul mccartney: 20230 8.79
frank sinatra: 20167 8.76
koran: 19856 8.62
jimmy carter: 19410 8.43
cyc: 19233 8.35
schwarzenegger: 18971 8.24
groucho: 18611 8.08 (harpo: 4.5%)
darth vader: 18321 7.96 (luke skywalker: 5.5%)
harrison ford: 17975 7.81
lbj: 17819 7.74
twin peaks: 17631 7.66
stimpy: 17615 7.65
oscar wilde: 17392 7.55
wintel: 17281 7.51
coppola: 17266 7.50
james joyce: 16926 7.35
bruce willis: 16397 7.12
fbi: 16373 7.11
talmud: 16340 7.10
robin williams: 15920 6.91
elvis costello: 15862 6.89
anti semitism: 15767 6.85
l ron hubbard: 15276 6.63
janet reno: 15214 6.61
george lucas: 15188 6.60
jim carrey: 14610 6.35
douglas adams: 14348 6.23
christopher columbus: 14202 6.17
william gibson: 14001 6.08
berners lee: 13947 6.06
jay leno: 13572 5.89
stevie wonder: 13522 5.87
jerry garcia: 13316 5.78
kurt cobain: 13312 5.78
easy listening: 13208 5.74
steve jobs: 13111 5.69
carl sagan: 12834 5.57
canter: 12797 5.56
jenny mccarthy: 12770 5.55
oliver stone: 12679 5.51
luke skywalker: 12568 5.46
claudia schiffer: 12278 5.33
datsun: 12141 5.27
kubrick: 11829 5.14
minsky: 11590 5.03
subgenius: 11492 4.99
fellini: 11289 4.90
elizabeth taylor: 11048 4.80 (liz taylor: 1.17%)
donald duck: 10970 4.76
drew barrymore: 10952 4.76
jesse jackson: 10739 4.66
nukes: 10722 4.66
george harrison: 10689 4.64
scorsese: 10444 4.54
harpo: 10359 4.50
andrew lloyd webber:10195 4.43
ralph nader: 10122 4.40
ted turner: 9995 4.34
bob hope: 9972 4.33
satanism: 9871 4.29
kate bush: 9598 4.17
kevin costner: 9567 4.16
mick jagger: 9530 4.14
courtney love: 9471 4.11
timothy mcveigh: 9249 4.02
revisionism: 9224 4.01
rupert murdoch: 9048 3.93
ronald mcdonald: 9034 3.92
diet coke: 9005 3.91
martha stewart: 8891 3.86
nightline: 8824 3.83
johnny depp: 8771 3.81
whoopi goldberg: 8635 3.75
terry pratchett: 8429 3.66
evil.empire: 8230 3.57
william shatner: 7913 3.44
scott adams: 7825 3.40
hotel california: 7719 3.35
spafford: 7480 3.25 (spaf: 1.6%)
che guevara: 7470 3.24
interactive fiction: 7381 3.21
batf: 7255 3.15
deniro: 7166 3.11
marc andreessen: 7109 3.09
godel: 7044 3.06 (goedel: 1.5%)
ringo starr: 7037 3.06
captain kirk: 6989 3.04
roger ebert: 6967 3.03 (gene siskel: 1.3%)
blue velvet: 6896 3.00
tim allen: 6850 2.98
nabokov: 6615 2.87
barry manilow: 6567 2.85
bart simpson: 6528 2.84
salman rushdie: 6432 2.79
stephen hawking: 6389 2.77
neil armstrong: 6315 2.74
pynchon: 6212 2.70
howard rheingold: 6025 2.62
j edgar hoover: 5461 2.37
wanker: 5374 2.33
kate moss: 5103 2.22
mike wallace: 5099 2.21
david siegel: 5089 2.21
natalie merchant: 5072 2.20
jerry seinfeld: 5020 2.18
walter cronkite: 4980 2.16
john perry barlow: 4878 2.12
michael stipe: 4798 2.08
deneuve: 4792 2.08
mr spock: 4788 2.08
dan rather: 4707 2.04
burning man: 4440 1.93
tom brokaw: 4419 1.92
ann landers: 4266 1.85
peter jennings: 4257 1.85
david lawrence: 4145 1.80
velociraptor: 3647 1.58
dear abby: 3956 1.72
kibo: 3919 1.70
david koresh: 3918 1.70
bumgarner: 3268 1.42
gene siskel: 3094 1.34
sctv: 3060 1.33
mclibel: 3008 1.31
camille paglia: 2948 1.28
ted koppel: 2816 1.22
vince foster: 2804 1.22
john candy: 2674 1.16
douglas hofstadter: 1969 0.86
mad tv: 1821 0.79
drudge report: 1816 0.79
kibology: 1709 0.74
john winston: 1696 0.74
bob dobbs: 1616 0.70
rainbow family: 1360 0.59
kato kaelin: 1341 0.58
bob greene: 1116 0.48
neutopia: 1086 0.47
jennicam: 813 0.35
boursy: 798 0.35
matt drudge: 767 0.33
jorn barger: 714 0.31
rainbow gathering: 677 0.29
weemba: 541 0.23
doctress: 508 0.22
leopold bloom: 479 0.21
ted frank: 367 0.16
doctress neutopia: 364 0.16
doug lenat: 361 0.16
robot wisdom: 329 0.14
kia mennie:: 236 0.10
ana voog: 41 0.02
100% elvis = 230246 pages on 15 oct 1997
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