The World's Most Photographed Celebrities

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo

‍‍For centuries, there's been a fascination verging on obsession with celebrities, and paparazzi are paid to snap them at every moment, whether they’re giving speeches, attending award shows or simply popping to the supermarket. Photographs of famous faces are constantly splashed across front pages and posted on social media feeds for the whole world to see.But who is the most photographed celeb? Which famous families and couples are the most sought after by photographers, and are there any patterns behind those who have the most time in the limelight?

The World’s Most Photographed Celebrities

To find out the world’s most photographed celebrities, we looked at Getty Images data for more than 1,000 of the world’s most famous celebrities from the realms of film, TV, music, politics, business, sport, fashion, and more.Some of the results are to be expected, while others had us surprised to say the least!Take a moment to think of who you might expect to see in the list, then check out the rankings below to discover who the world’s most photographed famous people really are.

Donald Trump - 463,574 images
Barack Obama - 336,823 images
Queen Elizabeth II - 230,495 images
Kate Middleton - 155,505 images
Roger Federer - 149,576 images
Prince William - 148,784 images
Joe Biden - 143,412 images
Hillary Clinton - 135,501 images
Andy Murray - 132,295 images
Prince Charles - 130,334 images
Serena Williams - 125,257 images
Elton John - 123,080 images
Prince Harry - 119,379 images
Jennifer Lopez - 107,997 images
Paris Hilton - 101,438 images
Jimmy Kimmel - 100,520 images
Bill Murray - 92,194 images
Rihanna - 86,247 images
Jimmy Fallon - 82,464 images
Camilla Parker-Bowles - 79,602 images

The World’s Most Photographed Celebrity - Donald Trump

Coming up trumps (if you may) is none other than former President of the United States, Donald Trump. The 75-year-old businessman-turned-politician returns a staggering 463,574 results on Getty Images at the time of research.

The Other Most Photographed Celebrities

Photo shows the iconic white HOLLYWOOD sign in a hillside, with blue skies above — *The iconic sign over Hollywood Hills.* *Photo* by *REVOLT.*

Alongside Trump in the top 20 list are three other US politicians. Barack Obama is in the second spot, with Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton sitting at seven and eight. Serving as (or running for) president means your every move will be watched, scrutinized and publicized, so it’s no surprise to see these prominent figures at the top of the pile.Across the pond, it’s not politicians that are the most photographed. It is, of course, the globally renowned British Royal Family. Six royals appear in our rankings, with Queen Elizabeth II unsurprisingly taking the lead. What’s more surprising is that Kate Middleton is the second most photographed royal, with nearly 7,000 more images than her husband Prince William. When it comes to sports, you might think that soccer stars and basketballers would be the most frequently snapped, but in fact it’s the world’s tennis stars that are photographed most. That goes to show just how popular this sport and its champions are on a global level.Federer and Murray join politicians and royals to complete the top 10, while places 11-20 are dominated by musicians, TV hosts, a TV “personality”, and just one actor.Elton John, with his signature oversized glasses, is the most photographed musician, followed by J-Lo, then Rihanna.

If you want to use an image of a celebrity, whether that’s for your website, your blog, or even to post on social media, make sure to verify the source of the image and avoid breaking any image copyright laws that could lead to hefty fines.

The World’s Most Photographed Celebrity Families

The world loves a famous family, but which celebrity family has been photographed the most? We took the total amount of photographs for each famous family and divided it by the number of family members to work out the average number of times each of them has been photographed:

The Obamas - 100,437 images
The Clintons - 72,542 images
The Trumps - 68,613 images
British Royal Family - 68,146 images
The Hiltons - 34,466 images
The Jonas Brothers - 31,524 images
The Kardashians/Jenners - 23,896 images
The Smiths - 23,678 images
The Gyllenhaal Siblings - 23,237 images
The Osbournes - 17,179 images

Politicians and royals once again take the top spots, with a global obsession for not just world leaders, but their family lives too. This time, though, the Obamas rank higher than the Trumps, with more photographs on average of each of the immediate family members.The Kardashian/Jenner family was inevitably going to appear on this list, with a family of A-list celebrities who are all frequently photographed. The most photographed of the bunch is, predictably, Kim Kardashian, with over 74,000 photos on Getty Images, followed by Kendall Jenner, who, despite her fame as a model, features in fewer than half as many (35,403).Two musical families (the Jonas Brothers and the Osbournes) and two families of actors (the Smiths and the Gyllenhaals) complete the top 10, with the Jonas Brothers’ average outranking even the Kardashians’!

The World’s Most Photographed Celebrity Couples

Donald Trump and Melania Trump - 250,430 images per person
Barack Obama and Michelle Obama - 194,419 images per person
Prince William and Kate Middleton - 152,145 images per person
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip - 151,167 images per person
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - 83,171 images per person
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck - 69,297 images per person
Elton John and David Furnish - 66,956 images per person
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian - 63,244 images per person
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - 56,644 images per person
Beyoncé and Jay Z - 54,199 images per person

Lo and behold, politicians and royals take the top spots yet again when looking at the most photographed celebrity couples, both current and former. It’s common for leaders in such positions of authority to bring their other half along to events to showcase their family unit, so it’s perhaps not surprising that all five of the top spots are filled by them.We then see a mixture of actors, musicians and sports star couples taking the remaining titles of the most photographed famous couples. J-Lo, who is the 15th most photographed celebrity overall, and Ben Affleck, who is the 120th, rekindled their romance last year after 17 years apart and are now engaged for the second time — this landed them at 6th place on our most photographed celebrity couples list.Despite the long gap in their relationship, J-Lo and Ben are thousands of images ahead of pop star royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who have been together for more than 20 years. The superstar couple is known for cherishing their privacy as a family, which could explain why fewer photos of them exist in the public realm.

The Most Photographed Celebrity Age Group

When assessing the results from our research by age, those who are or would be over the age of 100 at the time of writing are featured in the most images (20,615 on average). This list includes Hollywood royalty like Kirk Douglas, Olivia de Havilland, Betty White and Doris Day, with the average number of photos boosted, of course, by the late HRH Prince Philip, who features in 71,839 images on Getty.Celebs in their 70s are the next most photographed, including musicians Cher and Paul McCartney, and actor Harrison Ford, who turns 80 this year.By contrast, teens are the age group photographed the least. Millie Bobby Brown and Romeo James Beckham, who were reportedly dating in 2019, are the most photographed of that demographic.As well as age groups, we analyzed birth months to find out if celebs included in our research who were born in specific months are typically more photographed than others. We found that, on average, celebrities born in June are photographed the most, followed by famous people who are August- and September-born:

Celebrities born in June - 16,761 images per person
Celebrities born in August - 15,802 images per person
Celebrities born in September - 14,715 images per person
Celebrities born in November - 13,964 images per person
Celebrities born in March - 13,246 images per person
Celebrities born in October - 12,103 images per person
Celebrities born in May - 12,067 images per person
Celebrities born in April - 11,712 images per person
Celebrities born in January - 11,108 images per person
Celebrities born in July - 10,764 images per person
Celebrities born in February - 10,210 images per person
Celebrities born in December - 10,037 images per person

Celebrities vs the Paparazzi: Copyright infringement in Hollywood

Historically, there have been several photo infringement cases involving paparazzi and celebrities such as Khloé Kardashian, Dua Lipa and Emily Ratajkowski.According to US copyright law, a photographer can sue a celebrity over stolen pictures, which they frequently do, as celebrities often post photos of themselves on their social media accounts without permission from the photographer. Under US copyright law, a person who captures an image in a public setting is the legal owner of an image - not the photographer’s subject. Each finding of infringement can yield damages of $750 to $30,000, with compensation capped at $150,000 for an intentional violation.On the other side of the coin is the issue of privacy. Famous cases of celebrities suing paparazzi for an invasion of privacy include George and Amal Clooney, Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Adele. The conflict between the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression is an ongoing one. In the US, many state bills, such as California’s anti-paparazzi law, aim to protect celebrity privacy, while the First Amendment of the US Constitution protects freedom of the press. Then there’s the matter of public interest to take into account, as privacy laws can exclude situations that may be of public interest, including matters involving celebrities. What constitutes public interest is a gray area, and one that celebrities often battle with.It’s not just celebrities that can be sued or held accountable for copyright infringements. Members of the public can too.If you’re wanting to use images from social media or a search engine, remember that the original photographer typically owns the copyright. Locating the copyright owner can be a bit of a minefield; using an image checker will help you verify the source and correctly attribute the image you want to use, but make sure to get familiar with photo copyright laws first. If you need help finding an image source, check out our guide on verifying images and sourcing the copyright owner.If you or one of your employees or contractors uses an image without authorization, your business insurance may include coverage for such situations. Consider taking out additional copyright infringement insurance in the form of professional indemnity or liability insurance.If you enjoyed this research, why not take a look at our study exploring the world’s most photographed city skylines?

Fair Use Statement

Do you think your audience would like to hear about this research? If so, feel free to share the information on your website or social media accounts, and please credit with a link back to this page so they can easily access the original research in full.

Methodology and Notes to Editors

Using a range of sources, we drew up a seed list of names of over 1,200 celebrities, who are mostly famous internationally but particularly so in the US and UK. Each of these names was then entered into Getty Images, and we pulled the number of editorial image results available for each person. These figures are accurate at the time of research (March 2022).We categorized the list by:

Occupation/why they’re famous
Date of birth
Whether they’re part of a particularly famous couple or family

The names mentioned in this article are for research purposes only. There is no affiliation between Pixsy and the people named on this page, nor does any mention of them amount to or imply endorsement.

Sources

We used the following sources to inform the list of 1,233 celebrities that were included in the research, all of which were accessed in March 2022:Celebrities/Famous People:

Celebrity families:

News24: 8 of Hollywood’s big, famous families

Celebrity couples:

Popular films and TV shows (current and all-time), and the leading cast of those:

Kain Jones

With a background in arts, law, and business, Kain leads the team at Pixsy on the collective mission. He brings his years of experience from working in Australia and Europe to drive Pixsy forward with new products, features, and into new markets. Kain is driven to make copyright enforcement accessible, affordable and uncomplicated for creatives worldwide.

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