Hard to say, too many were a shock. From those on your list, Victoria Wood (I think)

Quite a few on the list came as a shock.

The biggest shock for me though was Prince and George Michael.

My favourite death was Prince

Victoria Wood, George Michael and Caroline Aherne (although it was reported she had cancer, still a shock to see the headlines) for me.

A toss up between Caroline Ahern and George Michael for me. I had no idea Caroline was ill and I admired her so much - such comedic talent! George, in retrospect, wasn't as shocking because I wouldn't have considered him to be well in recent months, maybe years. Still, though, what a wallop to get at the end of Christmas Day and at the end of a year when we lost so many.

I was very sad to hear about a lot of them, Cohen, Bowie and Wogan in particular; but the shock factor wasn't really as strong. It's been a complete b*tch of a year.

George Michael. Totally unexpected.

Carry Fisher has just joined the list.

Any way of updating the list? Carrie Fisher would be my choice because of the impact Star Wars had when I was young

Is Castro a celebrity?

My answer was Victoria Wood but I expect George Michael is going to top this because it's still a shock.

And you'd need to add Carrie Fisher now to make the poll complete.

I was gutted about Alan Rickman and Caroline Ahern.

Victoria Wood

David Bowie as he is just my idol. But also George Michael, Victoria Wood, Caroline Aherne and Prince.

20 celebs in 12 months, thats still only 1.6 people who have died per month.

How many syrians have died this year????

Since the other thread has now been closed I'll repost this here;

I'm not sure that we've never had a year like this before, in terms of the number of high-profile deaths. They happen all the time, it's just that when Bowie and a couple of others died this year it got people thinking. I expect it's just a case of confirmation bias. How many 'celebs' died in 2015, or 2014, by comparison?

I had a look around for numbers after posting that but all I could find was a couple of categories on Wikipedia: 2015 deaths & 2016 deaths. Without considering each entry separately I'd say that the two lists were 'comparable' in size.

Carrie Fisher. I'm totally heartbroken.

None.
I might think oh that's sad but I don't know these people so I don't get hit hard by their passing.
Personally I think the media tries to drum up a sense of dramatic loss for their own gain.

Bowie was a huge shock and very sad (although the mix up on CBB was very entertaining at the time, of course had we known David Gest would die just a couple of months later it may not have been quite so funny)

George Michael was a massive shocker, I love wham (music wise) but never been a huge fan of his solo career (I like a handful of songs but not enough to fill a whole album) but had no bad feelings towards him as a person but didn't follow his personal life either (had no idea until his death how bad his personal life had been at times) but 53 is no age

David Gest was a surprise

Alan Rickman was shocking on the basis that his private life had been kept private and no one knew he was in poor health

Prince was another young shocking one but I wasn't a massive fan so it didn't affect me in a fan sense just in the sense that regardless of wether I'm a fan or not I wouldn't wish anyone dead

And lastly although he's not in the poll I was sad and shocked/gutted when Garry Marshall died as a massive fan of Pretty Woman and the Princess Diaries and many of his other films although he reached a great age compared to some of the others we lost this year that was still one that physically made me say "oh no" out loud as I read it

I think what's been so shocking is the relative youth of some of the deceased, like the George Michaels, Caroline Ahernes, Victoria Woods and Carrie Fishers of the list. Individuals who should have had decades left.

By the way another death

Ive just realised, you missed out Kenny baker.

Weve lost both princess Leia and R2D2 this year....

Another assumption that people who mourn celebrities couldn't give a flying you know what for others who have died.

We didn't know these poor Syrians, and just because some of us don't post about it, we still feel for their loss. We did (albeit not personally) know and for a lot of us, grew up with the celebrities.

It's presumptuous for you to assume that we're heartless.

Prince for me.
Johan Cruyff also died, football legend.

I'm thinking of doing a celebrity deaths quiz. Would you have a go?

I was shocked when Bowie died but not surprised as it was widely known he was in poor health.

I was surprised when George Michael died as he was so young but not shocked as he and his music were nothing to me. Same goes for Prince.

with all these celebrity deaths going on during the past week, if I was a celebrity I'd be more worried about the grim reaper than some attention seeker suddenly 'coming forward' after thirty years with some totally made of allegation of sex abuse.

Prince, George Michael, Victoria Wood David Bowie were all a shock.

Carrie Fisher was also a shock yesterday.

The most horrific death was the Labour politician Jo Cox.