Who were the most famous pianists of the 20th/21st century?

[cuberdrift]

Who were the ones who really had global renown? Who had household names? I know Horowitz was very popular, and perhaps Rubinstein too. Was Hoffman known throughout Europe? How about Cziffra? Arrau? Gould? Richter?

Just curious.

[stevensk]

Richard Clayderman
Liberace
Elton john
Billy Joel
Alicia Keys
Oscar Peterson
Vanessa carlton
Rubinstein
Horowitz
Regina Spector
Paul Mccartney

[chicoscalco]

Richard Clayderman
Liberace
Elton john
Billy Joel
Alicia Keys
Oscar Peterson
Vanessa carlton
Rubinstein
Horowitz
Regina Spector
Paul Mccartney

This makes me sad

[stevensk]

"This makes me sad"

Me too..but this is the way it is 

And I forgot:

Lady gaga
Norah Jones
Scott joplin
Tori Amus

[thalbergmad]

Mrs Mills

[visitor]

This makes me sad

not sure what there is to be sad about. all great popular performers in own way.

I would add the greatest virtuoso no one has heard of (and was quite popular and a household name in his day, and on the level of Hoffman, etc. including having a circle of friends that included Blummenfeld, Carreno, etc.).

Alberto Jonas.

Also please consider:
Mischa Levitsky (very very popular)
Percy Grainger

[cuberdrift]

I'm pretty sure my circle of friends don't know a majority of the people in these lists. 

[symphonicdance]

You go to an online music store and search for Great Pianists of the 20th Century issued by Philips record (before it was M&A-ed).  There will be a number of names.  But, Anton Rubinstein, Hoffman, etc. those who hadn't made any recordings, would be missed out.

[outin]

If we consider an average person not into piano or classical, I think there are just a couple of classical pianists from the earlier generations that almost everyone would recognize by name, Rachmaninoff (not least due to his composing career) and Horowitch.
Then of course depending on where you are, there are some names that are well known in a specific country.

[pianist1976]

Chico Marx, Richard Nixon, Condoleezza Rize...

[canada100]

There are many great pianists of this century....not just Lang Lang and Yundi Li or Yuja Wang but also:


Haochen Zhang (won 2009 Cliburn)
Andrew Tyson
George Li
Aimi Kobayashi
Claire Huangci
Sean Chen
Steven Lin


They're not too well-known but have active careers.

[ted]

Mrs Mills

Correct, along with others such as Russ Conway and Johnny Maddox. In her day she occasionally topped both the Beatles and Presley on hit parades. Charlie Kunz and Billy Mayerl, from an earlier era, would also be contenders. In terms of general global fame among both public and musicians, however, I tend to suggest Waller.

[j_menz]

They're not too well-known

Isn't that a prerequisite for being "famous"?