i dont think were counting fictional characthers...

(and chuck norris isnt anywhere near elvis, jackson or lennon levels of fame)

okay, took out Mario

yeah, mario, of course.

Madonna of course! She's the queen and the best performer ever!

The mario discussion does make me wonder though... how will the world react to Miyamoto's eventual death? Will he be given air-time on the main-stream media or only on the gamers' website?

Has anybody mentioned J. K. Rowling? She counts.

Only two

Elvis and the beatles

Stephen King is still big on the scene, and as of late he's been making some of his best work. Duma Key is probably the scariest book I've read in several years.

But I don't know if Stephen King is currently on that level, but when he dies? Yeah, it'll happen. He's partially responsible for the entire horror genre as it exists right now in nearly every medium. George Romero might be as influential as him in cinema, but not in any other genre.

Axum, when mentioning Stephen King movie-adaptations never forget the shining. Even if the master himself hated it.

That's fair, but it's worth mentioning that among people who read books as their primary form of entertainment, Stephen King is about as mainstream as you can get unless you start talking about Rowling or maybe John Grisham or Tom Clancy.