MUSICIAN

Buddy Holly

1936 - 1959

Photo of Buddy Holly

Icon of person Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas, during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his two siblings. Holly made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the group Buddy and Bob with his friend Bob Montgomery. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Buddy Holly has received more than 15,671,792 page views. His biography is available in 68 different languages on Wikipedia. Buddy Holly is the 135th most popular musician (down from 105th in 2019), the 763rd most popular biography from United States (down from 615th in 2019) and the 36th most popular American Musician.

Buddy Holly is most famous for being the first rock and roll artist to have a number one hit with "That'll Be The Day."

Memorability Metrics

  • 16M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 69.36

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 68

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.34

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 6.12

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Buddy Holly ranks 135 out of 3,175. Before him are Neil Peart, Fritz Kreisler, Pete Best, Ronnie Wood, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and Fernando Sor. After him are Roger Glover, Arnaut Daniel, Cliff Richard, Nikki Sixx, Malcolm Young, and Maria João Pires.

Most Popular Musicians in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1936, Buddy Holly ranks 41. Before him are Tariq Aziz, Robert Woodrow Wilson, Jim Clark, Burt Reynolds, Albert Finney, and Gerhard Ertl. After him are B. J. Habibie, Günter Blobel, Steve Reich, Émile Lahoud, Ghassan Kanafani, and Bill Wyman. Among people deceased in 1959, Buddy Holly ranks 17. Before him are Boris Vian, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Shirō Ishii, Camilo Cienfuegos, Bohuslav Martinů, and George Grosz. After him are Alfred Schütz, Errol Flynn, Arthur Cecil Pigou, Enrico De Nicola, Ritchie Valens, and Alfred Kubin.

Others Born in 1936

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Others Deceased in 1959

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Buddy Holly ranks 763 out of 20,380. Before him are John Huston (1906), Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867), Randy Quaid (1950), Tommy Hilfiger (1951), Terrence Malick (1943), and Rick Rubin (1963). After him are James Woods (1947), Roy Scheider (1932), Jack Vance (1916), William T. G. Morton (1819), Michio Kaku (1947), and Louise Hay (1926).

Others born in United States

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Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Buddy Holly ranks 36. Before him are Ice-T (1958), Glenn Miller (1904), Lionel Richie (1949), Chris Isaak (1956), Cyndi Lauper (1953), and Nat King Cole (1919). After him are Nikki Sixx (1958), Bill Evans (1929), Ray Manzarek (1939), Benny Goodman (1909), Dizzy Gillespie (1917), and James Hetfield (1963).

American born Musicians

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