MUSICIAN

Buddy Holly

1936 - 1959

Photo of Buddy Holly

Icon of person Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Buddy Holly has received more than 8,832,694 page views. His biography is available in 66 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 62 in 2019). Buddy Holly is the 101st most popular musician (down from 96th in 2019), the 637th most popular biography from United States (down from 553rd in 2019) and the 28th 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

  • 8.8M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 73.22

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 66

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.50

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.89

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Buddy Hollies by language


Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Buddy Holly ranks 101 out of 2,675. Before him are Victor Borge, Gary Moore, Charlie Watts, Hans von Bülow, Mike Oldfield, and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. After him are Gheorghe Zamfir, Paul Mauriat, Glenn Miller, Andrés Segovia, John Bonham, and Alice Cooper.

Most Popular Musicians in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1936, Buddy Holly ranks 35. Before him are Georges Perec, Harald zur Hausen, Albert Finney, Jim Clark, Burt Reynolds, and Zubin Mehta. After him are Roy Orbison, Margaret Hamilton, Virna Lisi, Tariq Aziz, Benedict Anderson, and Steve Reich. Among people deceased in 1959, Buddy Holly ranks 17. Before him are Camilo Cienfuegos, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Billie Holiday, George Grosz, Shirō Ishii, and Adolf Windaus. After him are Ritchie Valens, Bohuslav Martinů, Alfred Schütz, Edward C. Tolman, Arthur Cecil Pigou, and Mike Hawthorn.

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 637 out of 15,968. Before him are Mickey Rooney (1920), F. Murray Abraham (1939), Wendell Meredith Stanley (1904), Alan Arkin (1934), Donna Summer (1948), and Frances Farmer (1913). After him are Ali MacGraw (1939), Roy Orbison (1936), Francis Gary Powers (1929), Charles Taze Russell (1852), Benjamin Thompson (1753), and Robert Mitchum (1917).

Others born in United States

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Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Buddy Holly ranks 28. Before him are Duke Ellington (1899), Cliff Burton (1962), Yehudi Menuhin (1916), Nat King Cole (1919), Lou Reed (1942), and Benny Goodman (1909). After him are Glenn Miller (1904), Alice Cooper (1948), Ritchie Valens (1941), Bill Evans (1929), Don Shirley (1927), and Ray Manzarek (1939).

American born Musicians

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