Category Archives: Music

Which of 2012′s Grammy Winners has the Highest PeekScore?

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news. For first time visitors a more in-depth explanation of what the PeekScore is, and how to increase your own, can be found by clicking through here.

The Grammys have come and gone, and by now it’s pretty well known far and wide that the night’s big winner was British, blue-eyed soul songstress Adele. But is she the big winner here on the Internet? Well, as it just so happens, we here at the PeekScore blog believe we may have an answer to just such a question. And if you’ve been here before, you’re probably not surprised.

With this entry, we’ve taken this year’s big Grammy winners and ranked them according to the sizes of their digital footprints, as quantified on our PeekScore scale (an explanation of which can be found in brief above, or more in-depth by clicking through here). With the groups and duos who won – as PeekScores, at this time, only measure individuals – we’ve taken the most prominent members, and used their scores for this survey.

What were some of your favorite records this year? Did you watch the Grammys? What did you think of the telecast? Let us know in the comments.

Rank Picture Name Grammys Won PeekScore
1

Taylor Swift Country Solo Performance, Country Song 10.00 / 10.00
2

Chris Brown R&B Album 10.00 / 10.00
3

Kanye West Rap Album, Rap Performance, Rap Song, Rap/Sung Collaboration 10.00 / 10.00
4

Jay-Z Rap Performance (w/ Kanye West) 9.56 / 10.00
5

Tony Bennett Pop Performance by a Duo or Group (w/ Amy Winehouse) 9.14 / 10.00
6

Louis CK Comedy Album 9.07 / 10.00
7

Adele Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Pop Solo Performance, Pop Vocal Album 9.01 / 10.00
8

Cee Lo Green R&B Song, Traditional R&B Vocal Performance 8.72 / 10.00
9

Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) New Artist, Alternative Album 8.24 / 10.00
10

Joy Williams (of The Civil Wars) Country Performance by a Duo or Group 8.19 / 10.00
11

Skrillex Dance Recording, Dance/Electronica Album 8.15 / 10.00
12

Charles Kelley (of Lady Antebellum) Country Album 8.10 / 10.00
13

Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters) Rock Song, Rock Album, Rock Performance, Hard Rock/Metal Performance 8.03 / 10.00
14

Corinne Bailey Rae R&B Performance 7.24 / 10.00

Which of America’s Top Radio Personalities Has the Largest Digital Footprint?

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news. For first time visitors a more in-depth explanation of what the PeekScore is, and how to increase your own, can be found by clicking through here.

From the gentle tones of public radio, to the abrasive exclamations of the political talk airwaves, to the anything goes environs of satellite broadcasting, with this PeekScore list we’re taking a look at the online lives and impacts of American radio’s many, varied, and most famous voices.

The controversial gentleman narrowly edging out the competition and topping our list is the host of a reasonably popular syndicated show. Many may be surprised to learn that here in cyberspace he’s the king of the radio pack. However, anyone who frequents political blogs and message boards can tell you that many of Mr. Jones’ fans – who frequently and unabashedly share his worldview and agree with his theories – gather and make their presence known and felt throughout the Web. Indeed, it is here in cyberspace more so than anywhere apart from the airwaves that Alex Jones is clearly a big deal.

Of course, it should be added that PeekScores do change. If we were to run these scores again in a month or two, the enormously influential pundit at number two could quite easily find himself on top, or perhaps the legend at number four would for a moment truly be – as he so often has proclaimed – the King of All Media. But at this time – with many large scores to be found, and a strong Internet presence to be detected for the majority of those named below – these are how the PeekScores stack up.

Is your favorite radio personality included below? If no, who might that be? Any surprises for you here? Any thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Rank Picture Name Show(s) PeekScore
1

Alex Jones The Alex Jones Show 9.54 / 10.00
2

Rush Limbaugh The Rush Limbaugh Show 9.53 / 10.00
3

Glenn Beck Glenn Beck Program 9.48 / 10.00
4

Howard Stern The Howard Stern Show 9.45 / 10.00
5

Ryan Seacrest On Air with Ryan Seacrest, American Top 40 9.42 / 10.00
6

Sean Hannity The Sean Hannity Show 9.19 / 10.00
7

Dave Ramsey The Dave Ramsey Show 8.99 / 10.00
8

Mark Levin Mark Levin Show 8.63 / 10.00
9

Garrison Keillor A Prairie Home Companion 8.59 / 10.00
10

Ed Schultz The Ed Schultz Show 8.39 / 10.00
11

Drew Pinsky Loveline 8.38 / 10.00
12

Michael Medved The Michael Medved Show 8.30 / 10.00
13

Michael Savage The Savage Nation 8.29 / 10.00
14

Laura Ingraham The Laura Ingraham Show 8.27 / 10.00
15

Don Imus Imus in the Morning 8.21 / 10.00
16

Neal Boortz The Neal Boortz Show 8.15 / 10.00
17

Ira Glass This American Life 8.15 / 10.00
18

George Noory Coast to Coast AM 8.14 / 10.00
19

Dr. Laura Schlesinger The Dr. Laura Program 8.11 / 10.00
20

Stephanie Miller The Stephanie Miller Show 8.11 / 10.00
21

Randi Rhodes The Randi Rhodes Show 8.10 / 10.00
22

Terry Gross Fresh Air 8.09 / 10.00
23

Michele Norris All Things Considered 8.02 / 10.00
24

Anthony Cumia Opie & Anthony 7.80 / 10.00
25

Gregg “Opie” Hughes Opie & Anthony 7.45 / 10.00
26

Delilah Love Songs with Delilah 7.18 / 10.00

Which of 2011′s Top Recording Artists Has the Highest PeekScore?

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

While none but pop music’s very biggest stars sell recordings in anything like the quantities of the pop stars of 15-20 years ago, pop music itself looms as large in the culture as ever. Below is a list of 2011′s top recording artists ranked not according to the quantity of units they moved, but according to the sizes of their digital footrpints.

Of all the popular artists, from all the popular media, none – with the possible exception of athletes – have taken to social networking the way pop musicians have. While the PeekScore is a measurement of an individual’s overall digital footrpint – taking in to consideration all aspects of one’s online life, both active and passive – it surely doesn’t hurt your score to generate your own content, and most of those below are doing plenty of just that (or are having it done on their behalves). Between this and their mostly enormous celebrities – particularly receiving attention in the youth driven music and gossip blogospheres – there’s not a meager PeekScore to be found below.

It will be no surprise to anyone familiar with the internet’s assorted celebrity fixations to see that this list’s top three names all are accompanied by a PeekScore of 10. Within that lofty peak of “Peek” there are subtle gradations, and these three do – as of this writing – fall into line, in sequence as you see below; meaning Gaga’s 10 is slightly bigger than Bieber’s, and so forth. (PeekScores do change over time, and if we were to refresh this list a month from now things might shake out slightly differently.)

Who were some of your favorite recording artists of 2011? Do you have any ideas for other pop music related lists you’d like to see us do? Let us know in the comments.

Rank Picture Name Recent Releases PeekScore
1

Lady Gaga Born This Way 10.00 / 10
2

Justin Bieber My World 2.0, Under the Mistletoe 10.00 / 10
3

Taylor Swift Speak Now 10.00 / 10
4

Lil’ Wayne Tha Carter IV 9.99 / 10
5

Michael Bublé Crazy Love: Hollywood Edition, Christmas 9.98 / 10
6

Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 9.47 / 10
7

Adele 21 9.34 / 10
8

Drake Take Care, Thank Me Later 9.11 / 10
9

Marcus Mumford (of Mumford & Sons) Sigh No More 9.03 / 10
10

Charles Kelley (of Lady Antebellum) Own the Night, Need You Now 8.10 / 10

Which of the (U.S.) X Factor judges has the largest PeekScore?

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

In 2010, TV mega-producer and mega-personality Simon Cowell departed his highly paid spot as the most high profile judge on ratings juggernaut American Idol to focus on bringing stateside his U.K. megahit The X Factor. The U.K. version of this talent contest series, created by and featuring Cowell (who had been doing transatlantic double-duty, working on both it and Idol simultaneously), wound up becoming globally known in 2010 thanks to an unexpectedly impressive appearance by then unknown Scottish vocalist Susan Boyle going viral on the internet (Boyle is now a multi-platinum recording artist as a result).

The U.S. version of The X Factor has been running to very respectable ratings, and not without some controversy, for a while now, and will be reaching its finale at the end of this month. In honor of the mini-phenomenon and all the attention it’s receiving, we decided to take a look at the show’s four judges and see how they shake out after being put through the PeekScore wringer.

Although it’s a short list, the results surely surprised us. While Cowell is a PeekScore giant, as we’d have suspected, Nicole Scherzinger is nearly PeekScore royalty. While it’s difficult to imagine anyone being more of a press darling and general superstar than Cowell, it would seem that between her own formidable and well maintained social media presence, and her numerous mentions throughout the blogosphere and elsewhere, Nicole’s got the edge.

Have you been watching The X Factor this season? What have you thought of the show? Who’s been your favorite contestant? Who’s your favorite judge? Let us know in the comments.

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Nicoe Scherzinger Former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls 10.00 / 10.00
2

Simon Cowell Former judge on American Idol. Creator of the X Factor. 9.53 / 10.00
3

Paula Abdul Platinum recording artist. Choreographer. Former judge on American Idol. 9.27 / 10.00
4

L.A. Reid Massively successful record producer and label president. 8.07 / 10.00

Comparing the PeekScores of Famous Sibling Pairs

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

It was suggested to us by a close colleague that we maybe try something different with our next PeekScore list. The suggestion was that instead of taking 10 or 20, or however many celebrities, athletes, poets, or whatever, and comparing the sizes of their digital footprints en masse, as we normally do, we take a bunch of different celebrity sibling pairs – as so many are kicking around and receiving notice these days – and pit them against each other in head-to-head PeekScore melees.

So, without much in the way of elaboration necessary, we suspect, that’s what you see below.

In most of these pairings there is an arguable “more famous” sibling, and most results conform to those popular perceptions. There are, however, some surprises to be found.

Although it’s not the most meaningful of bonus tales to tell, a master list of all the participants in these pairings, and where they fall PeekScore-wise in relation to each other, can be found at the bottom of this entry. We figure that some may be curious.

We know there are many sibling pairings we left out. Did we leave out any of your faves? Let us know in the comments.

Ben & Casey Affleck

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Ben Affleck Oscar winning screenwriter, movie star, filmmaker 9.39 / 10.00
2

Casey Affleck Actor, filmmaker 8.95 / 10.00

Zooey & Emily Deschanel

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Zooey Deschanel Movie actress, sitcom star, indie musician 9.47 / 10.00
2

Emily Deschanel Star of Fox’s Bones 9.09 / 10.00

Owen & Luke Wilson

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Owen Wilson Movie star, co-screenwriter of early Wes Anderson films 9.27 / 10.00
2

Luke Wilson Star of The Royal Tenenbaums and Old School 8.95 / 10.00

Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Jake Gyllenhaal Star of Brokeback Mountain and Donnie Darko 9.37 / 10.00
2

Maggie Gyllenhaal Star of Dark Knight Returns 9.33 / 10.00

John & Joan Cusack

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

John Cusack Star of Say Anything and Being John Malkovich 8.92 / 10.00
2

Joan Cusack Two-time Oscar nominated star of Working Girl and In & Out 8.89 / 10.00

Charlie Sheen & Emilio Estevez

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Charlie Sheen Famously rambunctious former star of Two and a Half Men 10.00 / 10.00
2

Emilio Estevez Former Brat Packer and star of The Breakfast Club, filmmaker 9.00 / 10.00

Shirley MacLaine & Warren Beatty

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Shirley MacLaine Oscar winning actress, dancer, “new age” spiritualist 9.05 / 10.00
2

Warren Beatty Oscar winning filmmaker, massive movie star, world renowned lothario 9.01 / 10.00

Jessica & Ashlee Simpson

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Jessica Simpson Pop-singer, actress, former reality TV star 10.00 / 10.00
2

Ashlee Simpson Pop-singer, actress, former reality TV star 9.53 / 10.00

Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Mary Kate Olsen Fashion designer, entrepreneur, former child star 9.35 / 10.00
2

Ashley Olsen Fashion designer, entrepreneur, former child star 9.24 / 10.00

Matt & Kevin Dillon

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Matt Dillon Star of Over the Edge, My Bodyguard, and Little Darlings 9.09 / 10.00
2

Kevin Dillon Star of Entourage, and No Big Deal 8.32 / 10.00

And here, for the fun of it (as is the case with all of our entries, of course) is the full master list, with all of the siblings sorted by their PeekScores.

1. Charlie Sheen - 10.00
2. Jessica Simpson - 10.00
3. Ashlee Simpson - 9.53
4. Zooey Deschanel - 9.47
5. Ben Affleck - 9.39
6. Jake Gyllenhaal - 9.37
7. Mary Kate Olsen - 9.35
8. Maggie Gyllenhaal - 9.33
9. Owen Wilson - 9.27
10. Emily Deschanel - 9.09
11. Matt Dillon - 9.09
12. Ashley Olsen - 9.24
13. Shirley MacLaine - 9.05
14. Warren Beatty - 9.01
15. Emilio Estevez - 9.00
16. Luke Wilson - 8.95
17. Casey Affleck - 8.95
18. John Cusack - 8.92
19. Joan Cusack - 8.89
20. Kevin Dillon - 8.32
…

The PeekScores of PeekYou’s 10 Most Searched For Female Celebrities

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

The good folks over at Celebuzz.com asked us to cook up a list of the ten female celebrities who are searched for the most frequently on PeekYou. They then, of course (knowing how much we love to do such things), requested that we rank these women according to their PeekScores.

Being insanely famous, or being massively searched for online does not necessarily translate to the largest PeekScore (for the record, being searched for here on PeekYou has no impact on PeekScores whatsoever). Per usual, it is the celebrities who most actively participate in their online lives – via social networking, blogs, and personal websites – whose digital footprints are the most profound. Pop musicians seem to, in general, lead among the most robust social media existences and this is surely reflected in the scores below. We’ll spare you the long-winded analysis for the moment, but it obviously relates to the demographic of the pop music audience and the degree to which it intersects with the general specs of social media’s most avid users.

Yet another list of this precise nature, only for male celebs, is coming very soon, so stay tuned. And in the meantime, head on over to Celebuzz.com and spend some time clicking around there, why don’cha?

Rank Picture Name Occupation PeekScore
1

Rihanna Pop star 10.00 / 10
2

Lady Gaga Pop star 10.00 / 10
3

Katy Perry Pop star 10.00 / 10
4

Adele Pop star 9.14 / 10
5

Emma Watson Movie star 9.10 / 10
6

Kristen Stewart Movie star 9.00 / 10
7

Jennifer Aniston Movie star 9.00 / 10
8



Angelina Jolie Movie star 8.10 / 10
9

Sandra Bullock Movie star 7.96 / 10
10



Anne Hathaway Movie star 7.33 / 10

The PeekScores of PeekYou’s 10 Most Searched For Male Celebrities

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

We did the women, and now the men get their turn. Just as we explained previously with our list of female celebs, our friends over at Celebuzz.com asked us to make for them a list of the ten male celebrities who are searched for the most frequently on PeekYou, and rank them according to their PeekScores.

Being insanely famous, or being massively searched for online does not necessarily translate to having the largest PeekScore. It is generally those who most actively participate in their online lives – via social networking, blogs, and personal websites – whose PeekScores are the most immense. As with our last list, the pop musicians, with their full and lively social media existences, have the highest scores, whereas by contrast Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, and Daniel Radcliffe – even for all their global fame, and legions of adoring fans – tend to limit their direct accessibility here in cyberspace, and their smaller PeekScores reflect this.

So that’s all for now. Chime in and tell us what you think of these results. And do yourself a favor and head on over to Celebuzz.com and spend some time clicking around there. You won’t regret it.

Rank Picture Name Occupation PeekScore
1

Justin Bieber Pop star 10.00 / 10
2

Chris Brown Pop star 10.00 / 10
3

Simon Cowell TV producer and star 9.88 / 10
4

Tiger Woods Sports star 9.56 / 10
5

Peter Andre Pop star and TV star 9.23 / 10
6

David Beckham Sports star 9.01 / 10
7

Johnny Depp Movie star 9.00 / 10
8



Robert Pattinson Movie star 8.35 / 10
9

Daniel Radcliffe Movie star 8.04 / 10
10



Taylor Lautner Movie star 8.02 / 10

The Digital Footprints of 15 Incredibly Successful College Dropouts

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

There’s a not a college degree to be found amongst them, yet we doubt they ultimately broke their mothers’ hearts too badly. Now, you might well expect reasonably healthy PeekScores from a bunch of dropouts, as you could imagine they’ve little to do with their time apart from tweet, blog, and update their Facebook pages. But this is not a bunch who are chilling in their parents’ basements, while they “figure some stuff out.” This band of 15 go-getters are nearly all millionaires, and the comfortable majority are actually billionaires.

We’re not here to quantify and compare their successes in terms of dollars and cents, though, nor even assess their relative worth in terms of accomplishments or importance. We’re just here to see how they measure up in the digital footprint department, and it seems that these dropouts are making their marks here in the ether quite dramatically; with a whopping seven of them having a PeekScore of 10, and another four having a PeekScore in the 9s. But, the fact is, go-getters or not (and whether or not they are the founders and/or CEOs of the websites in question) a lot of these guys are on Twitter and Facebook, and do actually use them. We doubt that their lacking degrees has much to do with this fact, but it is a nifty list of some deeply “web impactful” individuals.

Are there any famous college dropouts you would have included? Do you have any thoughts on this list you’d like to share? Say hello in the comments.
…

Rank Picture Name PeekScore as of Last Update Current PeekScore
1

Mark Zuckerberg Co-founder/CEO – Facebook 10.00 / 10
2

Bill Gates Chairman/Co-founder – Microsoft 10.00 / 10
3

Steve Jobs Co-founder/CEO – Apple, Inc. 10.00 / 10
4

Richard Branson Chairman – Virgin Group 10.00 / 10
5

Evan Williams Co-founder and former CEO – Twitter 10.00 / 10
6

Biz Stone Co-founder – Twitter 10.00 / 10
7

Matt Mullenweg Founding developer – WordPress 10.00 / 10
8

Michael Dell CEO and Founder – Dell, Inc. 9.63 / 10
9



Ted Turner Founder – TBS, CNN, Turner Entertainment, etc. 9.59 / 10
10

James Cameron Film Director/Producer 9.41 / 10
11



Larry Ellison Co-founder and CEO – Oracle Corporation 9.19 / 10
12

Ralph Lauren Fashion Designer and Founder – Ralph Lauren 7.83 / 10
13

Sean Parker Entrepreneur, Former President – Facebook 7.59 / 10
14

Paul Allen Co-founder – Microsoft 7.20 / 10
15

David Geffen Co-founder – Dreamworks, Creator – Asylum Records, Creator – Geffen Records 6.83 / 10

The Digital Footprints of the Year’s Highest Paid Musical Acts

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

The music industry may be in a bit of a shambles in recent years, but try telling that to the ten folks listed below; each of whom fell asleep last night on a pile of money and awoke this morning on a different, bigger pile of money. They earn their keep (and oh boy, do they!) making with the tunes, even while the record labels scramble and panic, and we civilians come to regard recorded music on demand as something akin to running water.

Forbes has lately been blessing we of the (at least relatively) broke and curious class with their annual “top paid” lists for this profession or that, and just a few weeks ago bestowed upon us mere fiscal mortals their list of the year’s highest paid musicians. As we’ve done previously with other such lists – and will likely do until there’s no internet left for us to do it upon/within – we’ve arranged these fabulous popsters not by their heights, weights, ages, or numbers of records sold, but according to the sizes of their digital footprints as measured upon our handy, dandy PeekScore scale.

Ms. Germanotta, unsurprisingly, tops our list. Sir Macca, only slightly more surprisingly – until you think about it for even five seconds – holds strong at number 2. The vocalist for the year’s biggest money makers, even for all his global fame and import, just hasn’t left his mark here in cyberspace in the way many of his less well financially rewarded peers have, and lurks shadily at the list’s bottom. We can’t say that we mind the internet being a reasonably Bono-light zone, but we know we don’t speak for all.

Talk to us in the comments section. Complain or praise us. Tell us what you think of Gaga, Elton, Bono, or whomever. Just say hello.

Rank Picture Name Earnings for Last
Year		 PeekScore
1

Lady Gaga $90 million 10.00 / 10
2

Paul McCartney $67 million 10.00 / 10
3

Dave Matthews (for The Dave Matthews Band) $51 million 10.00 / 10
4

Elton John $100 million 10.00 / 10
5

Justin Bieber $53 million 10.00 / 10
6

will.i.am (for The Black Eyed Peas) $61 million 9.63 / 10
7

Michael Bublé $70 million 9.01 / 10
8

Jon Bon Jovi (for Bon Jovi) $125 million 8.98 / 10
9

Don Henley (for The Eagles) $60 million 8.80 / 10
10

Bono (for U2) $195 million 8.40 / 10

The Digital Footprints of 11 Famously Elusive Celebrities

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What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

Don’t call them recluses, although some in the media will portray them as such. They are mostly just men and women who are content to let their works speak for themselves. Below is a list of 11 artists, all of whom work (or have worked) in popular media, and all of whom have achieved incredible success in their chosen fields. They are also men and women who have little interest in living their lives in a constant state of exposure and self-promotion, contrary to the prevailing mentality of our culture’s popular artists. Some have retired, some have sadly gone a little off the deep end, but for the most part these are men and women who have not shunned success, and who, to this day, are continuing to create and work hard at their crafts. They have simply chosen to live their lives on their own terms.

There are no Twitters, Facebooks, or blogs to be found among the individuals on this list (although there are some personal websites, mostly set up by corporate partners, or – as is the case with Ms. Bardot’s site – affiliated with charity work). And yet, so admired are their works, and/or so enduring are their iconic statuses that each of them has still made a significant mark here in the world wide web. The PeekScore measures the “digital footprint” of an individual, meaning it quantifies the full breadth and scope of his or her impact on the web. The score is based largely on a given individual’s own activity on the web, but as the above disclaimer states, it also factors in an individual’s “prominence in the news.” The works of the men and women on this list are so celebrated, written about, discussed, and enduring that each of them has left a large digital footprint without even directly contributing to it themselves. We felt that this phenomenon was worthy of notice. Here we are, after all, writing about these people.

Are there any famously press-shy/media-hostile artists who you think we should have included below? Are there any we shouldn’t have? Let us know.

Rank Picture Name Bio PeekScore
1

Terrence Malick There’s little doubt that the hubbub surrounding his most recent film, The Tree of Life, is why he’s topping our list today. Our media-shy friend here has been making films for nearly 40 years, and thus far he’s managed to make only five. In his defense, though, they are all pretty good. 8.30 / 10
2

Thomas Pynchon “My belief is that recluse is a code word generated by journalists meaning he doesn’t like to talk to reporters”, the brilliant author of Gravity’s Rainbow, and The Crying of Lot 49 once said. He lives openly in a city of over 8 million people, he’s done voices for The Simpsons, has made other appearances over the years, and apparently leads a quite normal life. He just doesn’t court the media and its adjacent brouhaha. 8.08 / 10
3

Bill Watterson The creator of the extraordinary, and extraordinarily popular, Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. After drawing the strip for ten years, he walked away to “work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises.” Notoriously unwilling to give autographs, a few years back he would occasionally sneak autographed copies of his books onto the shelves of a small bookshop in his Ohio hometown, just for fun. 8.03 / 10
4

Lana Wachowski (representing both Wachowskis) Lana (formerly Larry/Laurence) is one half – along with her brother Andy – of The Wachowskis, the writing/directing team responsible for the sprawling The Matrix franchise, and the (ahem, frankly underrated) Speed Racer film. While their press-shyness has contributed to their carrying about them something of a mystique, many who have worked with the pair have described them as extremely approachable and fun people. They just don’t have much interest in publicly talking about themselves or their lives. 8.01 / 10
5

Steve Ditko Some find religion and withdraw from the limelight, Ditko – the co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange (and a man whose artwork is positively worshiped by hardcore comic geeks) – instead found Ayn Rand. His story is worth investigating, if you have the time. 7.71/ 10
6

Dave Chapelle As is well known, he admirably abandoned his wildly popular Chappelle’s Show for a number of reasons both personal and artistic. “I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced.” He still works as a stand-up comedian, which is his true craft and first love. 7.53 / 10
7

Daniel Day-Lewis “How can you be a recluse in a house full of children, even if you had the inclination to be, which I don’t?” While he shuns the publicity machine, for all the reasons any sane man would, he leads what he insists is an entirely normal life; only with the boatloads of cash you have on-hand when you’re a big, fancy movie star. 7.52 / 10
8

Brigitte Bardot She retired from entertainment in 1973, but what an iconic legacy she left behind. She has dedicated herself to animal rights causes in the subsequent decades, and in more recent years made headlines for expressing political opinions viewed by some as controversial. 7.49 / 10
9

Harper Lee After writing the inconceivably celebrated To Kill a Mockingbird, she then assisted Truman Capote in his researching In Cold Blood, and soon thereafter all but vanished from public view. Next to the now deceased J. D. Salinger, she may very well be modern times’ most famously media-shy author. 7.35 / 10
10

Sly Stone A pop musician of nearly incalculable importance and brilliance, during the 70s he apparently developed numerous drug and personal problems, which precipitated a decline and recession from public view. He has only emerged from hiding sporadically in the decades since, and never to much commercial or artistic avail. Of all the individuals on this list, he is the only one whose story has a tragic undercurrent. We couldn’t see compiling a list of this nature without including him, but let’s move on. 7.24 / 10
11

Cormac McCarthy He appeared on Oprah, and has popped up here and there in more recent years, but the author of No Country for Old Men, The Road, and All the Pretty Horses is as famous for shunning celebrity and its hassles as any artist you can name. 7.19 / 10