Avril Lavigne among most-famous Canadians on MIT list
Posted March 18, 2014 9:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Forget local sports heroes like Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby — the most famous Canadians made their name in the international world of entertainment.
Top-tier university MIT has named Napanee, Ont., singer Avril Lavigne the world’s most famous Canadian. She’s followed by actor Jim Carrey and singers Justin Bieber and Celine Dion.
The study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was published on the interactive website Pantheon.
To be eligible, candidates must have Wikipedia pages in a minimum of 25 different languages, indicating a truly global presence.
While Lavigne came in at No. 1, MIT noted that “her score is statistically indistinguishable from that of Leonard Cohen.” (Cohen came in at No. 6.)
Keeping the close stats in mind, Lavigne is also the most famous person born in 1984 and the sixth-most famous singer of all time.
However, she is not yet on Canada’s Walk of Fame. And while she has been nominated eight times for a Grammy award, she has never taken home the trophy.
Still, it didn’t hurt her ranking.
Check out the full list below and let us know who you’d choose in the comments.
Top 10 most-famous Canadians
1. Avril Lavigne
2. Jim Carrey
3. Justin Bieber
4. Celine Dion
5. Pamela Anderson
6. Leonard Cohen
7. Michael J. Fox
8. Bryan Adams
9. Frank Gehry
10. Nelly Furtado
