Eye color of winners over time

Feb 20, 2020

If you’ve ever wondered what physical traits might make you more likely to be a winner, you may have forgotten to consider your eye color. In fact, there are certain eye colors that more often correlate with different types of “winners” in life. In everything from leadership to athleticism and musical talent, there were certain eye colors that impacted a player, singer, or politician’s likelihood of winning in their respective industries.

To learn which eye colors correlate most with winning, we analyzed 446 “winners” across everything from U.S. presidents to Grammy Awards. We even analyzed U.S. gold medalists during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, as well as NBA and NFL players, to see how eye color may impact winning concerning physical prowess. Continue reading to see the type of “winner” you might be according to your eye color.

Eyes on the prize

We found that the most common eye colors in the U.S. are fairly well-dispersed, with 32 percent having blue eyes, 25 percent having dark brown, 16 percent having brown, 15 percent having hazel, and 12 percent having green eyes. However, brown eyes dominated the winner’s circle over time –50 percent were brown, followed by the 18 percent of winners who had blue eyes.

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That said, this didn’t necessarily hold for a few key areas of winning, so continue reading to see how each category – from leadership to sports and music –had a distinct relationship with eye color.

From the president’s eyes

Presidential figures flipped the script on the winningest eye colors. In fact, blue eyes most often sat in the Oval Office. Thirty of the 45 presidents –or 67 percent of commanders in chief –had blue eyes. Just one of the last 14 presidents had hazel eyes (Jimmy Carter), and there has yet to be a green eyed president.

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Eye color might be one of the few commonalities between Republican and Democratic presidents, as blue eyes dominated both parties. Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush are blue eyed, as were George H. W. Bush, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Ford. Franklin D. Roosevelt –the only president to serve more than two terms – was also blue eyed. Blue eyes and political leadership may correlate, but another eye color is taking home medals in a different category.

Rio de Jan-Eye-Ro Olympics

If blue eyes correlate with presidential potential, brown eyes correlate with athleticism. Gold medals and brown eyes were a match made in Olympic heaven, as 59 of U.S. gold medalists during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic games had brown eyes. In contrast, only 19 hazel eyed competitors took home gold.

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Around 3.6 billion people tuned in to watch the 2016 Rio Olympics, with swimming and gymnastics being two of the most popular sports to follow. Three of the five American gymnasts who took home gold medals had brown eyes, while most of the swimmers who won looked with hazel eyes through their goggles.

There was also a relationship between gender and eye color when it came to taking home gold. There were 10 green-eyed female gold medalists at the 2016 games, compared to just the one green eyed male gold medalist. There were actually more women in total and of every single eye color that took home gold that year.

Big game sights

When looking at professional football,we were able to compare not only the number of championships by eye color but also the average annual salary associated with each eye color. Like most Olympic sports, brown eyes dominated football. In fact, 54 players who won the Big Game were brown eyed, followed by another 20 who had dark brown eyes. Hazel eyes, however, were ultimately the most lucrative color to have in the sport.

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While brown eyed champions earned an average of $34.6 million, their hazel eyed counterparts earned $58.9 million, on average.

The Denver Broncos claimed five of these wealthy, hazel eyed players; the New England Patriots had four; and the Philadelphia Eagles had three. That said, Payton Manning and Tom Brady, two very well-paid players who have earned $248.7 million and $235.2 million respectively, both have hazel eyes.

Eyes of NBA champions

Of all the NBA champions of the past five years, 39 had brown eyes, and 18 had dark brown. Hazel was the rarest eye color, with only three NBA champions from the past five years having eyes this color. The three players with the most NBA titles – Bill Russell, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan – all had brown eyes, as well.

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Green eyes, however, garnered the biggest paychecks in the NBA. On average, green eyed players earned $43.2 million more than their blue eyed counterparts and $70.2 million more than earnings for brown eyed players. One green eyed player, in particular –Stephen Curry –led the 2019 NBA salary rankings with a cap hit of $40.2 million.

Grammy eyes

Last but not least, we recognized achievements in the music industry by studying Grammy Awards recipients from the past 50 years. Specifically, we looked at the artists with the most album of the year awards.

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Once again, there was a nice spread of eye colors – 19 with brown eyes, 11 with blue, nine with hazel, and three with green. Pop music had the most recipients overall and maintained a similarly even spread of eye color. However, Stevie Wonder, who is blind, has won more album of the year awards than any other recipient over the past 50 years.

A Winner’s View

Evidently, eye color might have something to do with winning. If you want to be president someday, it seems like blue eyes give an apparent edge. If you want to earn the most money in sports, hope for green. And if winning, in general, is more your style? Brown eyes are the way to go.

If there’s one thing that will have a much more dramatic impact on your ability to win, however, it’s your eyesight. If your vision is impaired, and need a safer, more affordable, and flexible option, head to 1800Contacts.com. With 24/7 customer care, full transparency in pricing, and the ability to renew your prescription immediately, 1800Contacts.com can help you start to see your true potential.

Methodology

For this project, we collected data from different sources to explore the eye colors of different category winners. In total, we analyzed 446 partcipants distributed in the following categories:45 U.S. presidents; 120 U.S. gold medalists at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics; 96 NFL Big Game and 69 NBA Finals champions from the past five years; 35 NFL MVPs from the past 45 years; 36 NBA MVPs from the past 65 years; and 45 Grammy Awards winners for album of the year from the past 50 years. Participants with multiple appearances were counted once.

We used the following sources:

  • Spotrac.com
  • Grammy.com
  • Basketball-Reference.com
  • Pro-Football-Reference.com
  • Olympic.org
  • Gallup.com

Limitations

We identified all participants’ eye colors by analyzing high-resolution images from different sources. The eye colors shown in this project are subject to our criteria when identifying the eye colors of participants.

Fair Use Statement

Perhaps you’re a music fan, sports fan, or even a history buff but have never thought about success through this lens. You’re welcome to share this data, but it must be for noncommercial purposes, and you should link back to this page.