MUSICIAN

Ravi Shankar

1920 - 2012

Photo of Ravi Shankar

Icon of person Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar (Bengali pronunciation: [ˈrobi ˈʃɔŋkor]; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Indian classical music (in Sitar) in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many musicians in India and throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ravi Shankar has received more than 8,748,061 page views. His biography is available in 89 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 87 in 2019). Ravi Shankar is the 152nd most popular musician (down from 111th in 2019), the 99th most popular biography from India (down from 71st in 2019) and the 4th most popular Indian Musician.

Ravi Shankar is most famous for being a sitar player and composer. He is often credited with popularizing Indian classical music in the west.

Memorability Metrics

  • 8.7M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 63.42

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 89

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.45

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 7.17

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Ravi Shankar ranks 152 out of 3,175. Before him are Benny Goodman, Chris Slade, Tony Iommi, Hans von Bülow, Compay Segundo, and Dizzy Gillespie. After him are Andrés Segovia, James Last, James Hetfield, Don Shirley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Giya Kancheli.

Most Popular Musicians in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1920, Ravi Shankar ranks 38. Before him are Montgomery Clift, Walter Matthau, Douglass North, Sergei Bondarchuk, John Demjanjuk, and Alberto Sordi. After him are Sun Myung Moon, Gunnar Gren, Kaysone Phomvihane, Edmond H. Fischer, Mickey Rooney, and Michèle Morgan. Among people deceased in 2012, Ravi Shankar ranks 32. Before him are Antoni Tàpies, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Sven Hassel, Jean Giraud, John Demjanjuk, and Antonio Tabucchi. After him are Sun Myung Moon, Larry Hagman, Kiro Gligorov, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Benzion Netanyahu, and Lucio Dalla.

Others Born in 1920

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Others Deceased in 2012

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In India

Among people born in India, Ravi Shankar ranks 99 out of 1,861. Before him are Ramanuja (1017), Ronald Ross (1857), Cliff Richard (1940), Ram Nath Kovind (1945), Prithviraj Chauhan (1159), and Mohammed Nadir Shah (1883). After him are Mahavatar Babaji (1900), Sarojini Naidu (1879), Basava (1134), Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I (1671), Kasturba Gandhi (1869), and Kim Philby (1912).

Others born in India

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Among MUSICIANS In India

Among musicians born in India, Ravi Shankar ranks 4. Before him are Amir Khusrow (1253), Pete Best (1941), and Cliff Richard (1940). After him are Ram Narayan (1927), Tansen (1493), Bismillah Khan (1916), Ilaiyaraaja (1943), Barry Hay (1948), Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938), Christian Zacharias (1950), and Trilok Gurtu (1951).

Indian born Musicians

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