Ronaldo did not acheive enough and may fade away quickly after his retirement. Lebron is world-famous, but still has a long way to go to reach iconic status.
How well known do these people have to be? I guess some, like Tiger Woods or Lebron James, are known by a specific group of people outside the US. But if you ask a regular person, they'd have no clue about it. OTOH, Jordan is really widely known. Also, if you exclude US from the discussion, I'm sure most famous soccer players would make it. But I don't think many casual American sports fans even know about the likes of Maradonna, Ronaldo, or Pele. So do they count? Of those mentioned, I second Micheal Jackson, Princess Di, Jordan, and Ali. Although I guess many hollywood actors and top singers should make it too simply due to the internet. But that's an area I'm not familiar with.
Can't believe no one has mentioned this and it is a group of actors? First one, almost anyone who has played 007 (James Bond) in EON/MGM series (Broccoli family). Sean Connery - Roger Moore - Timothy Dalton - George Lazenby - Pierce Brosnan - Daniel Craig (Strangely, all are still living). This probably will come as shock to some people, but Bond movies are much more popular overseas than in America. Most of Bond movies that underperformed in America were still blockbusters overseas. Sidenote: Overseas, Bond, along with Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, and the Phantom are either more or as nearly as any American superhero you can name, except maybe Superman (which is very debatable). Second . . . the Rat Pack http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff
Global Entertainment Icons There has got to be fewer people on this list as some of you are listing. IMO only the following are truely global. Michael Jackson Bruce Lee Jackie Chan Madonna Muhammad Ali Charlie Chapman Angelina Jolie Jordan, Tiger Woods, Kobe, Becham, Pele, Maradona, Elvis, and The Beatles are borderline. Lebron and all the other soccer players aren't even close to being iconic.
lol... Elvis and the Beatles are "borderline"? Yeah, they each sold over 1 billion records worldwide and they're borderline. Here's something for you... in the US, since 2000, only 1 group/artist has sold more records than the Beatles, and that's Eminem. And that's just the US. Now consider the Beatles haven't been a group in about 30-40 years.
Those numbers are incredible for the Beatles. But I have spent some time in a foreign country. And there was not much talk about the Beatles or Elvis amonst the people of that country. True, Elvis and the Beatles are huge in most of the globe, but I wouldn't say they are well known in some part of the world that are more isolated.
The issue with this is that James Bond is more of a brand and not really a person, and I don't think those individual actors that played Bond are more well-known than an Ali, Pele, Michael Jackson, Elvis, etc. There are parts of the world listening to music on a radio and playing sports that know of Alie, Pele, MJ, Elvis, but have no movie theaters nearby.
I don't know, you could be right. I'm saying talking from my point of view. I never heard of the Beatles or Elvis when I was a kid.
I was raised (early in my life) and visited villages in India several times that had no tv's and no running water in the late 80's. They couldn't name any current movie stars from America (probably because they couldn't relate to anything in the movies), but they knew Elvis, the Beatles, and Bruce Lee for some reason. I remember going to my mom and saying "they know about Bruce Lee!", to which she busted out laughing. Isolation didn't stop them from being known. I posted previously that 2 of the first 3 "American" albums my dad bought when we came to this country and got our first record player were Elvis'. It's been estimated that 40% of the 1 billion+ record sales of his were outside of the US from what I read a few days ago. Times have changed and years have passed since their deaths, but as you can tell by record sales for the Beatles, they still dominate pretty much any act today. Another way to look at it is this : 10+ years after their deaths, they were, will be, and are still talking about Elvis, the Beatles, and Ali, but I doubt anybody'll give a flip about Angelina 10 years after she's kicked the bucket. I don't have an argument against the others you put, but I just don't see Angelina Jolie as a global icon (even now, not just in the future). She's just "in the news a lot".
No, I get your opinion, and don't say you're necessarily wrong. It's just that I happened to grow up right after the death of Elvis and about a decade after the Beatles broke up in the US and still see people freaking out about those two acts. I mean seriously, people still make freaking pilgrimages to see Graceland. I just don't see as many people doing that 10 years after the death of some of these athletes or movie stars. Right now Angelina may very well be more popular, but her fame will fade and they'll still be arguing who was the better musical act - Elvis or the Beatles 30 years from now, probably.
