Why so many celebrities have died in 2016

[Deleted]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36108133

We are only four months in, but it's already been a dark, dark 2016.

It now seems rare for a week to pass without a significant celebrity death being reported - from David Bowie in the second week of January, to actor Alan Rickman a week later, to comedian Victoria Wood and Prince this week.

"Enough, 2016" and a more vulgar alternative are phrases people are uttering more and more regularly. So is this wave of celebrity deaths the new normal?

The answer is yes, according to the BBC's obituary editor Nick Serpell, who ought to know about such things.

He said that the number of significant deaths this year has been "phenomenal".

Looking at the basic statistics, there's a very clear upward trend. Nick prepares obituaries for BBC television, radio and online, that run once a notable person's death is confirmed.

The number of his obituaries used across BBC outlets in recent years has leaped considerably.

[zubaja]

Old artists get old, increasing their chances of biting the dust as each day passes -same with us. It's not rocket science.
And some famous people do drugs, which are bad m'kay?

But seriousley now:
It's a shame so many have already gone, and we're not even four months into this year.

[Orlong]

I love how the article talks about significant celebrity deaths and then mentions people that nobody heard of like Victoria Wood and Alan Rickman, and then leave off people like Balls Mahoney, Rob Ford, Iron Mike Sharpe, Angus Scrimm, and Dan Haggerty that are well known

[Crillam]

People die all the time, it is sad yes but it is life. And those who do lethal drugs, well their own fault.

[Hound Archon]

It's a leap year. And it has just begun.

[Hiricine]

This is such a simple concept, the population of the world exploded in the last 50 years as well as our access to media, making far more people famous than earlier. Put simply, there are more celebrity deaths in 2016 because there are more celebrities in 2016. If 1 celebrity out of 100 died, itd be 1%. If 100 celebrities out of 10000 died, itd be 1%, but we'd all be talking about it.

[Kalis]

I love how the article talks about significant celebrity deaths and then mentions people that nobody heard of like Victoria Wood and Alan Rickman, and then leave off people like Balls Mahoney, Rob Ford, Iron Mike Sharpe, Angus Scrimm, and Dan Haggerty that are well known

I have heard of Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman and Rob Ford, I think you made the others up - nobody is called Angus Scrimm or Balls. Get outta here.

[Heladys]

Celebrities die every year. It's just usually ones you don't care about.

[Ripster42]

I have heard of Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman and Rob Ford, I think you made the others up - nobody is called Angus Scrimm or Balls. Get outta here.

The only ones I know are Alan Rickman and Rob Ford. And Rob Ford is more of an anti-celebrity. He was the crack addict mayor.

[Grimbold21]

Well, what's this, people die. News to me

[Orlong]

I have heard of Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman and Rob Ford, I think you made the others up - nobody is called Angus Scrimm or Balls. Get outta here.

Angus Scrimm was the Tallman in the Phantasm movies, and Balls was a Professional Athlete

[Kalis]

Angus Scrimm was the Tallman in the Phantasm movies, and Balls was a Professional Athlete

Nobody would name their kid Balls. Unless you really hated them.

Perhaps one of the other British posters has heard of the Phantasm movies or a person named Balls, but they are not household names in the UK.

[BuckSparkles]

People die. Like, yeah it sucks for certain movie stars, but life moves on.

[Macaquerie]

Big name wrestlers, or at least big names to wrestling fans, die pretty much every second Tuesday. It's only really news when they go out in a particularly vile way, like Chris Benoit.

[Felya]

Nobody would name their kid Balls. Unless you really hated them.

Perhaps one of the other British posters has heard of the Phantasm movies or a person named Balls, but they are not household names in the UK.

It's not his real name... It's Jonathan Rechner...

[Deleted]

You have reached the age where the celebrities that where big in your childhood grow old and start to die off.

[Saeran]

I love how the article talks about significant celebrity deaths and then mentions people that nobody heard of like Victoria Wood and Alan Rickman, and then leave off people like Balls Mahoney, Rob Ford, Iron Mike Sharpe, Angus Scrimm, and Dan Haggerty that are well known

Nobody heard of eh? Lol. More like the people you mention that people will not have heard of.

[Deleted]

Angus Scrimm was the Tallman in the Phantasm movies, and Balls was a Professional Athlete

Phantasm is an old movie...and not a particularly remembered one..and Balls Mahoney wasn't famous outside of ECW....you know, the smallest of the 3 wrestling companies of the 90s. So it's not particularly surprising most people don't know/don't care. Doesn't take anything away from the sadness of their passing, but asking people to remember those that weren't all that "famous" isn't going to go the way you want it to.

[Kalis]

It's not his real name... It's Jonathan Rechner...

Did he call himself Balls then? That may be worse.

[Deleted]

At least we still have celebs like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.