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RESEARCH · Published April 4, 2026 · Updated November 8, 2026

Celebrity Index 2.0: LeBron James Tops a Close Field

LeBron James tops a close field: 64/288 (22.2%; 95% interval 17.8–27.4%). 8 others are within its margin (Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Rihanna, Lionel Messi, Zendaya, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwayne Johnson and George Clooney), so no sole leader is established.

288

AI answers analyzed across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity

22.2%

of answers named LeBron James, the most-named (64 of 288)

48

tracked people named at least once (of 50)

97.1%

of Google searches showed an AI Overview (34 of 35)

Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published May 22, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.

What the data shows

01

LeBron James

LeBron James tops a close field: 64/288 (22.2%; 95% interval 17.8–27.4%). 8 others are within its margin (Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Rihanna, Lionel Messi, Zendaya, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwayne Johnson and George Clooney), so no sole leader is established.
02

22/288 (7.6%)

Gwyneth Paltrow was the first tracked person named in 22 of 288 answers, more than any other tracked person. Her average first position was 2.9. LeBron James was named first in 20 of 288.
03

25/72 (34.7%)

ChatGPT named Rihanna in 25 of 72 answers. The other engines named Rihanna in 6 to 9 of 72.
04

2/284 (0.7%)

Snoop Dogg's own domains were cited in 2 of 284 grounded answers, more than any other tracked person. LeBron James followed at 1 of 284. 19 of 50 tracked people had 0 of 284, and 29 had no tracked own site.
05

34/35 (97.1%)

Google AI Overviews appeared on 34 of 35 searches (CI 85.5–99.5%). On the other search, no overview was shown.
06

6/34 (17.6%)

In AI Overviews, four people tied at 6 of 34 (17.6%): Gwyneth Paltrow, Dwayne Johnson, Beyoncé and Kendall Jenner. In the four-engine set, Gwyneth Paltrow was named in 53 of 288 answers (18.4%).
07

71/284 (25%)

en.wikipedia.org was cited in 71 of 284 grounded four-engine answers, with 109 of 2,589 citations (4.2%). forbes.com came second with 60 citations in 54 answers (19%).

Appearance rate across 288 four-engine answers. The bar is the 95% confidence interval; overlapping bars cannot be told apart at this sample size.

Which celebrities AI engines name

LeBron James
22.2%
Gwyneth Paltrow
18.4%
Serena Williams
17.7%
Rihanna
17.0%
Lionel Messi
15.6%
Zendaya
15.6%
Cristiano Ronaldo
14.6%
Dwayne Johnson
14.6%
George Clooney
14.2%
Kim Kardashian
12.5%
Ryan Reynolds
11.8%
Beyoncé
11.5%
David Beckham
11.5%
Selena Gomez
10.8%
MrBeast
10.4%
#NameNamed inAppearance rate95% interval
1LeBron James64/28822.2%17.8–27.4%
2Gwyneth Paltrow53/28818.4%14.4–23.3%
3Serena Williams51/28817.7%13.7–22.5%
4Rihanna49/28817.0%13.1–21.8%
5Lionel Messi45/28815.6%11.9–20.3%
6Zendaya45/28815.6%11.9–20.3%
7Cristiano Ronaldo42/28814.6%11.0–19.1%
8Dwayne Johnson42/28814.6%11.0–19.1%
9George Clooney41/28814.2%10.7–18.7%
10Kim Kardashian36/28812.5%9.2–16.8%
11Ryan Reynolds34/28811.8%8.6–16.0%
12Beyoncé33/28811.5%8.3–15.7%
13David Beckham33/28811.5%8.3–15.7%
14Selena Gomez31/28810.8%7.7–14.9%
15MrBeast30/28810.4%7.4–14.5%

The full list

Own-domain citation is the share of 284 grounded answers that cited the tracked name's own domains (subdomains included). Citation share is of all 2,589 citations. None means no personal website is tracked for that person.

#PersonNamed inAppearance rate95% intervalFirst mentionOwn-domain citationCitation share
1LeBron James64/28822.2%17.8–27.4%2.90.4% (1/284)0%
2Gwyneth Paltrow53/28818.4%14.4–23.3%2.90% (0/284)0%
3Serena Williams51/28817.7%13.7–22.5%3.60% (0/284)0%
4Rihanna49/28817%13.1–21.8%2.50% (0/284)0%
5Lionel Messi45/28815.6%11.9–20.3%3.40% (0/284)0%
6Zendaya45/28815.6%11.9–20.3%2.60% (0/284)0%
7Cristiano Ronaldo42/28814.6%11–19.1%2.60% (0/284)0%
8Dwayne Johnson42/28814.6%11–19.1%3.1NoneNone
9George Clooney41/28814.2%10.7–18.7%2.2NoneNone
10Kim Kardashian36/28812.5%9.2–16.8%3.60% (0/284)0%
11Ryan Reynolds34/28811.8%8.6–16%3.9NoneNone
12Beyoncé33/28811.5%8.3–15.7%2.90% (0/284)0%
13David Beckham33/28811.5%8.3–15.7%3.90% (0/284)0%
14Selena Gomez31/28810.8%7.7–14.9%2.60% (0/284)0%
15MrBeast30/28810.4%7.4–14.5%2.5NoneNone
16Hailey Bieber29/28810.1%7.1–14.1%3NoneNone
17Jay-Z28/2889.7%6.8–13.7%3.2NoneNone
18Roger Federer27/2889.4%6.5–13.3%30% (0/284)0%
19Snoop Dogg26/2889%6.2–12.9%2.60.7% (2/284)0.1%
20Ashton Kutcher23/2888%5.4–11.7%2.3NoneNone
21Jennifer Aniston20/2886.9%4.5–10.5%3.1NoneNone
22Timothée Chalamet18/2886.3%4–9.7%4.4NoneNone
23Kourtney Kardashian17/2885.9%3.7–9.2%2.9NoneNone
24Pharrell Williams16/2885.6%3.4–8.8%3.80% (0/284)0%
25Dua Lipa15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%2.30% (0/284)0%
26Kendall Jenner15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%3.1NoneNone
27Lewis Hamilton15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%5.80% (0/284)0%
28Margot Robbie15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%2NoneNone

The full list (continued)

None means no personal website is tracked for that person.

#PersonNamed inAppearance rate95% intervalFirst mentionOwn-domain citationCitation share
29Kevin Hart14/2884.9%2.9–8%4NoneNone
30Logan Paul14/2884.9%2.9–8%2.6NoneNone
31Mark Wahlberg14/2884.9%2.9–8%4.2NoneNone
32Drake13/2884.5%2.7–7.6%4.20% (0/284)0%
33Jennifer Lopez13/2884.5%2.7–7.6%4.80% (0/284)0%
34will.i.am12/2884.2%2.4–7.1%2.3NoneNone
35Daniel Craig11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%3NoneNone
36Tom Brady11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%4.50% (0/284)0%
37Tracee Ellis Ross11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%3.5NoneNone
38Travis Scott11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%3.9NoneNone
39Marques Brownlee10/2883.5%1.9–6.3%1.20% (0/284)0%
40Charlize Theron9/2883.1%1.7–5.8%4.6NoneNone
41Emma Chamberlain8/2882.8%1.4–5.4%2.4NoneNone
42Shaquille O'Neal8/2882.8%1.4–5.4%5.10% (0/284)0%
43Magic Johnson6/2882.1%1–4.5%2NoneNone
44Bad Bunny5/2881.7%0.7–4%4.4NoneNone
45Robert De Niro5/2881.7%0.7–4%2.4NoneNone
46Eva Longoria4/2881.4%0.5–3.5%4.8NoneNone
47Patrick Mahomes4/2881.4%0.5–3.5%3.3NoneNone
48Robert Downey Jr.3/2881%0.4–3%5.7NoneNone
49Cameron Diaz0/2880%0–1.3%–NoneNone
50Mark Cuban0/2880%0–1.3%–NoneNone

The top eight, side by side

#NameAppearance rateAnswers and intervalOther measures
1LeBron James22.2%64/288 answers · 95% CI 17.8–27.4%first-mention position: 2.9; owned-domain citation (1/284): 0.4%; citation share: 0%
2Gwyneth Paltrow18.4%53/288 answers · 95% CI 14.4–23.3%first-mention position: 2.9; owned-domain citation (0/284): 0%; citation share: 0%
3Serena Williams17.7%51/288 answers · 95% CI 13.7–22.5%first-mention position: 3.6; owned-domain citation (0/284): 0%; citation share: 0%
4Rihanna17.0%49/288 answers · 95% CI 13.1–21.8%first-mention position: 2.5; owned-domain citation (0/284): 0%; citation share: 0%
5Lionel Messi15.6%45/288 answers · 95% CI 11.9–20.3%first-mention position: 3.4; owned-domain citation (0/284): 0%; citation share: 0%
6Zendaya15.6%45/288 answers · 95% CI 11.9–20.3%first-mention position: 2.6; owned-domain citation (0/284): 0%; citation share: 0%
7Cristiano Ronaldo14.6%42/288 answers · 95% CI 11–19.1%first-mention position: 2.6; owned-domain citation (0/284): 0%; citation share: 0%
8Dwayne Johnson14.6%42/288 answers · 95% CI 11–19.1%first-mention position: 3.1

ChatGPT named Rihanna in 25 of 72 answers. The other engines named Rihanna in 6 to 9 of 72.

ChatGPT

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Same questions, different answers

Rihanna
34.7%
Serena Williams
25.0%
LeBron James
22.2%
Beyoncé
22.2%
Dwayne Johnson
15.3%
George Clooney
15.3%

Claude

72 asked · 72 returned · 68 grounded

LeBron James
26.4%
Zendaya
26.4%
Gwyneth Paltrow
23.6%
Dwayne Johnson
20.8%
Kim Kardashian
19.4%
Lionel Messi
18.1%

Gemini

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Serena Williams
25.0%
Gwyneth Paltrow
23.6%
Lionel Messi
23.6%
LeBron James
22.2%
Cristiano Ronaldo
16.7%
Ryan Reynolds
15.3%

Perplexity

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Zendaya
20.8%
David Beckham
20.8%
LeBron James
18.1%
Cristiano Ronaldo
16.7%
Gwyneth Paltrow
12.5%
Rihanna
12.5%

Google AI Overviews were captured through 35 U.S. desktop searches and scored only where an overview appeared, so five-engine figures use 288 + 34 = 322 answers.

The fifth engine

97%

Trigger rate: 34 of 35 searches

Google AI Overviews appeared on 34 of 35 searches (97.1%, CI 85.5–99.5%). The other search showed no overview. Within the 34 overviews, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dwayne Johnson, Beyoncé and Kendall Jenner were each named in 6 (17.6%). instagram.com was the most-cited source, with 10 citations and an appearance in 8 of 34 overviews.

Five-engine rankNameFive-engine rateFour-engine rank
1LeBron James20.5%1
2Gwyneth Paltrow18.3%2
3Serena Williams16.8%3
4Rihanna16.5%4
5Zendaya15.5%6
6Dwayne Johnson14.9%8
7Lionel Messi14.6%5
8Cristiano Ronaldo14.3%7
9George Clooney13.4%9
10Kim Kardashian12.7%10

Who each question surfaces first

Six questions from the set. Each tile uses that question's own four-engine answers as the denominator.

QuestionLeaderNextAI Overview
Q01 · 12 answersHailey Bieber 75.0%Dua Lipa 50.0%; Rihanna 50.0%AI Overview shown on 1 of 1 searches
Q02 · 12 answersDwayne Johnson 100.0%George Clooney 100.0%; Kendall Jenner 100.0%AI Overview shown on 1 of 1 searches
Q03 · 12 answersCristiano Ronaldo 100.0%LeBron James 100.0%; Lionel Messi 91.7%AI Overview shown on 1 of 1 searches
Q04 · 12 answersGeorge Clooney 100.0%Roger Federer 100.0%; LeBron James 75.0%AI Overview lookup not available for this question
Q05 · 12 answersGeorge Clooney 41.7%Zendaya 41.7%; Dwayne Johnson 41.7%AI Overview shown on 1 of 1 searches
Q06 · 12 answersGwyneth Paltrow 100.0%Kourtney Kardashian 91.7%; Kim Kardashian 41.7%AI Overview shown on 1 of 1 searches

The four engines produced 2,589 citations in total. en.wikipedia.org was cited most often, with 109 citations (4.2%) across 71 answers. Next came forbes.com (60), prnewswire.com (51), scmp.com (30), vogue.com (28), youtube.com (26).

Four AI engines · share of 284 grounded answers

Most-cited domains

en.wikipedia.org
25.0%
forbes.com
19.0%
prnewswire.com
13.7%
scmp.com
9.5%
youtube.com
9.2%
thespiritsbusiness.com
7.4%
vogue.com
6.7%
yahoo.com
6.7%
thepeakmagazine.com.sg
6.3%
businessinsider.com
5.6%

Google AI Overviews · share of 34 overviews

instagram.com
23.5%
facebook.com
17.6%
youtube.com
14.7%
grazia.sg
8.8%
harpersbazaar.com.sg
8.8%
travel.yahoo.com
8.8%
apparelnbags.com
5.9%
brandvm.com
5.9%
esquiresg.com
5.9%
fashionbi.com
5.9%

Citation share by source type

Share of all citations by the type of site cited.

Source typeFour AI engines (of 2,589 citations)Google AI Overviews (of 81 citations)
Other / unclassified1,315 (50.8%)29 (35.8%)
General news / business press571 (22.1%)12 (14.8%)
Trade / specialist press191 (7.4%)3 (3.7%)
Company / brand sites178 (6.9%)7 (8.6%)
Reference126 (4.9%)0 (0%)
Community / social99 (3.8%)26 (32.1%)
Research / data providers34 (1.3%)3 (3.7%)
General news / sports media31 (1.2%)1 (1.2%)
Official / government15 (0.6%)0 (0%)
Institutions / trade bodies13 (0.5%)0 (0%)
Directories / rankings10 (0.4%)0 (0%)
Review / comparison publishers6 (0.2%)0 (0%)

How can brands improve their AI visibility?

These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.

StepWhat this study measured
Put your facts on your own domain.LeBron James' own domains were cited in 0.4% of grounded answers.
Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite.The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were en.wikipedia.org (in 25.0% of grounded answers), forbes.com (19.0%), prnewswire.com (13.7%), scmp.com (9.5%) and youtube.com (9.2%). General news and business press supplied 22.1% of citations and trade and specialist press 7.4%.
Check each engine separately.ChatGPT named Rihanna in 34.7% of answers against 8.3% on Gemini. ChatGPT named Beyoncé in 22.2% of answers against 1.4% on Perplexity.
Watch names outside the tracked list.Jessica Alba (31 answers), Michael Jordan (25 answers), Kate Hudson (19 answers), Lady Gaga (19 answers) were named often but were not tracked.
Re-run the same questions every month.Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix.

What AI answers

Which celebrities lead these AI answers?

LeBron James tops a close field: 64/288 (22.2%; 95% interval 17.8–27.4%). 8 others are within its margin (Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Rihanna, Lionel Messi, Zendaya, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwayne Johnson and George Clooney), so no sole leader is established.

Which celebrity is named first most often?

Gwyneth Paltrow was the first tracked person named in 22 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 2.9.

How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?

An overview appeared on 34 of 35 searches (97.1%, CI 85.5–99.5%). Within those 34 overviews, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dwayne Johnson, Beyoncé and Kendall Jenner tied, each named in 6 (17.6%).

Which sources do the engines cite?

Across 2,589 four-engine citations, en.wikipedia.org was cited most (109 citations, in 71 of 284 grounded answers), followed by forbes.com (60 citations).

Do the four engines agree?

Only in part. ChatGPT named Rihanna in 25 of 72 answers, against 6 to 9 of 72 on the other engines. ChatGPT named Beyoncé in 16 of 72 answers, against 1 to 8 of 72 on the other engines.

How this study was measured

24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 35 Google searches · 34 AI Overviews

24 questions asked three times on each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, measured November 4, 2026. United States, English; Google retrieval uses desktop results. Models: gpt-5-mini, claude-sonnet-5-5, gemini-3.6-flash only, sonar-pro. Google AI Overviews come from DataForSEO, not inferred chat answers. Appearance counts returned text, including ungrounded answers; citation rates use grounded answers. Longer overlapping names suppress shorter ones; First mention is the earliest eligible name order. Own-domain rates include declared domains and subdomains; shared parent scopes may count for multiple names and cannot be summed as unique citations.

EngineModel IDs calledAskedReturnedGrounded
ChatGPTgpt-5-mini727272
Claudeclaude-sonnet-5-5727268
Geminigemini-3.6-flash727272
Perplexitysonar-pro727272
Google AI OverviewsDataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced)3534 shown34

Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.

Definitions

  • Appearance rate: answers naming the tracked name ÷ answers returned, with Wilson 95% intervals.
  • First mention: average order in which the tracked name first appears (1 = first).
  • Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the tracked name's domains ÷ grounded answers.
  • Citation share: citations to the tracked name's domains ÷ all citations.

Limits

  • Only 50 tracked people are ranked; results are not an exhaustive market ranking.
  • Only the tracked people were scored. Untracked names that appeared often were not scored, including Jessica Alba (31 answers), Michael Jordan (25 answers), Kate Hudson (19 answers), Lady Gaga (19 answers).
  • 323 of 360 planned results were returned. 37 AI Overview lookups were excluded after at most three total attempts.
  • 35 successful Google searches: 34 overviews shown; 1 without an overview. Failures are excluded, not scored as zero.
  • 4 chat answers had no search sources and are left out of the citation figures.
  • No Core question names a tracked name.
  • Names with no tracked own site are shown as None. Source types use Company / brand sites only for verified official organisations; other unresolved sites are Other / unclassified.
  • Wilson 95% intervals are descriptive; overlapping leading intervals do not establish a sole leader. Measurements do not endorse medical, legal, financial or product claims.
  • The ranking counts how often each person is named. It does not score tone or check whether endorsement deals are current.
  • A surname or nickname on its own (such as James, Johnson, Williams, Ronaldo, Jenner, Kardashian, Hamilton, Cuban or Magic) was not counted; the full name or a known stage name was needed.
  • Earlier names and stage names count for the same person.
  • Brand names such as Fenty, Rhode, Goop, SKIMS and Feastables were not counted as naming the person behind them.
  • Endorsement deals described in the earlier version were not re-checked and are not part of this measurement.
  • Own-domain figures use only websites verified as the person’s official site; where none was verified, the figure is shown as None.
  • For Kim Kardashian, only her personal page was counted as her own domain.
  • Answers were collected through each engine's API using the model IDs listed in the methodology. The consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity apps can answer differently.

The 24 questions

Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.

#QuestionGroupSource
01Which celebrities would be good partners for a new skincare brand?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
02Which celebrities own successful tequila or spirits brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
03Which athletes are top endorsers for sportswear brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
04Which celebrities partner with luxury watch brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
05Which celebrities would suit a hotel or resort brand campaign?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
06Which celebrities have their own wellness brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
07Which creators have launched successful snack or food brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
08Which celebrities are associated with finance and fintech brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
09Which celebrities are known for technology partnerships?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
10Which fashion brands work with celebrity ambassadors?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
11Which celebrity would suit a new energy drink launch?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
12Who are the most effective celebrity brand endorsers in 2026?Celebrity Index 2.0Core question
13Which actors have founded beauty brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
14Which musicians own spirits brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
15Which athletes have long-running footwear partnerships?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
16Which celebrities are ambassadors for luxury fashion houses?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
17Which creators have partnerships with consumer electronics brands?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
18Which celebrities have collaborated on limited-edition jewelry collections?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
19Which celebrities have partnerships with travel or hospitality companies?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
20Which public figures have founded fitness or wellness businesses?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
21Which celebrities have partnered with grocery retailers on product launches?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
22Which athletes have appeared in banking or payment campaigns?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
23Which celebrities have renewed multi-year brand ambassador partnerships?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question
24Which celebrities have partnerships spanning more than one consumer category?Celebrity Index 2.0Added question

About 5W

5W is an independent PR, creative and GEO agency founded in 2003, and we get you in the chatbox. All of our work is done in house, including media relations, site building and content. Learn more about our GEO practice or write to info@5wpr.com.

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