In a typical year, how many new stars does the Hollywood Walk of Fame pick: about 3, about 30 or about 300?
About 30, at the top of its own range. The Walk’s nomination FAQ says an average of 24 to 30 stars are selected per year. As of October 20, 2026, the newest is the 2,860th star on the Walk, counting all categories, dedicated on October 15, 2026, to special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi in the motion pictures category.
There is no official count of movie stars. Nobody keeps a register of who is one, so this page uses something that is counted: stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers for the City of Los Angeles. A Walk star is not the same as being a movie star. The Walk has six categories, per the Walk’s FAQ, and its newest motion pictures star honored an effects artist, not an actor. The 2,860 is also a count of stars, not of people.
How a star is picked
The Walk’s FAQ sets out the process. A nomination needs the written agreement of the celebrity or their management, and the application fee is $275 per submission every two years. The selection committee votes once a year, in June, and receives an average of two hundred applications a year. That is about 7 to 8 applications for each star selected (our arithmetic). Winning is not free either: a selected star carries an $85,000 sponsorship fee, and all fees are subject to change, the FAQ says.
The Walk’s long run fits those averages. Its history page says the Walk was completed in spring 1961 with its first 1,558 stars, and that Sophia Loren received the 2,000th star on February 1, 1994. From the 2,000th star to the 2,860th in October 2026 is 860 stars in about 32.7 years, or about 26 a year (our arithmetic).
More common, and rarer
Each comparison below stands on its own count, year and basis, so they are not ranked against each other.
Bumped from a flight (more common). The US airlines that report oversales to the Department of Transportation involuntarily denied boarding to 24,596 passengers in 2025, out of 891,239,459 enplaned, a rate of 0.28 per 10,000 passengers. That is about 1 in 36,200 passenger boardings (our arithmetic). DOT counts only passengers with a confirmed reservation whose oversold flight left without them; cancelled, delayed or diverted flights do not count. The bases differ: one is a full year count of bumped passengers, the other the Walk’s stated yearly average of stars selected. On those terms, airlines bumped roughly 800 to 1,000 passengers in 2025 for every Walk star selected in a typical year (our arithmetic).
Cryopreserved at Alcor (rarer). Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a cryonics provider, shows a count of 263 cryopreserved patients on its homepage, last edited in April 2026; that is Alcor’s own figure. The bases differ here too: Alcor’s figure is its current patient total, and the Walk’s is every star laid since it began. On those terms, the Walk has about 11 times as many stars as Alcor has patients (our arithmetic).
Struck by lightning. The old version of this page led with lightning; it now has its own page, on sharks, lightning and rip currents.
Data limits
The star figures are the Walk’s own: the 2,860th star from its October 2026 ceremony, and the 24 to 30 stars and two hundred applications as averages its FAQ gives without a year. We found no official count of stars in the motion pictures category, so the 2,860 covers all categories. Every 1 in N figure and ratio here, and the 26 a year long run average, is our arithmetic. The bumping figures are for 2025, US airlines only. Alcor’s figure is self-reported.
The short version
As of October 20, 2026, the newest star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is its 2,860th across all categories, and the Walk says it selects an average of 24 to 30 new ones a year from about two hundred applications. There is still no official count of movie stars.
Last checked: 2026-10-20, against the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s official site, the US DOT Air Travel Consumer Report of February 2026 and Alcor’s homepage. This article was machine-checked against the sources above and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page with the article link and we will review it.
Sources
- S1 Hollywood Walk of Fame (Hollywood Chamber of Commerce), official site home page and the Carlo Rambaldi star page (2,860th star, October 15, 2026). https://walkoffame.com/ and https://walkoffame.com/carlo-rambaldi/ . Accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- S2 Hollywood Walk of Fame, “Nomination FAQs.” https://walkoffame.com/faq/ . Accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- S3 Hollywood Walk of Fame, “History of the Walk of Fame.” https://walkoffame.com/history/ . Accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- S4 US Department of Transportation, Air Travel Consumer Report, February 2026, pp. 49 and 51 (oversales, January to December 2025). https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2026-03/February%20%202026%20ATCR.pdf , read from the Internet Archive copy. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- S5 Alcor Life Extension Foundation, homepage counters (page last edited April 28, 2026). https://www.alcor.org/ . Accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- Method: “about 7 to 8 applications”, “about 26 a year”, “about 1 in 36,200”, “roughly 800 to 1,000 passengers per star” and “about 11 times” are Book of Odds arithmetic from the counts above.