BlogGood Question
I got another set of "Ask Alex" questions a few days ago. There were the usual questions like "What do you like more Math or Science?" and "Are there more planets in outer space?" Amongst those questions was this question that I had some fun answering:
Q: How many pop stars are in the world?
A: I guess that depends on what you define as a pop star. What is popular today may not be popular the next. There are very questionable boundaries. If we go by the old adage of everyone having “15 minutes of fame" then we can make a calculation. With a population of 6.6 billion and an average life expectancy of 67 years that would mean there are an average of 2800 famous people or (pop stars) at any given moment in time. I’m betting this is a low estimate though. Then again it could be pretty close since that is at each moment. For any given day, that is about 270,000 pop stars.
posted by Alex at 7:15 PM
2 Comments:
I think your estimate of 1125 is apt. Most people don't get their 15 minutes, we can only assume that's an average.
1125 sounds right because pop stars are different than celebrities. Celebrities are well-known, while pop stars are at the forefront of popular culture. At one point magician (sorry, illusionist) Doug Henning was a pop star, now he's barely a celebrity.
I like that their is a fixed number of stars possible, and that one gets bumped out if one goes in. I also like to think that each part of the world gets their portion of stars. America gets 500, Europe gets 300, East Asia 200, etc.
Does 1125 seem low? Yes, at first glance. But think about it, how many pop stars can you name. If forced, I could probably only get to about 200.
I guess it depends on your definition of pop star. Right now in the world of politics, there is only one: Barack Obama.
Oops, A made a small miscalculation and originally wrote 1125 when I meant 2800. The other figure didn't change.
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