The 2016 Most Appealing African-American Celebrities list is comprised of notable returning stars, and several interesting newcomers. Comparing this year’s to last year’s list, several celebrities experienced marked changes.

Shemar Moore (#3 on the list) has shown a steady increase in both his Appeal and E-Score over the last 5 years, resulting in his move up to third place on this year’s list. Moore is among those celebrities who have a large disparity between awareness of their image vs. their name with 20% saying they know him by name and over twice as many (43%) recognizing his image.  Women are even more likely to say they know Moore based on his image, at 48%.

Another celebrity to enjoy an increase over last year’s list is Taraji P. Henson (#8). With the airing of Empire, several movie releases and winning Hollywood awards, Henson’s  E-Score has increased by 9 points to her current score of 92.  Her Awareness has nearly doubled as well.

Experiencing a similar rise in Awareness is Idris Elba (#6), as his level was not high enough to make last year’s list. His Awareness increase from 14% to 21% coincides with winning two SAG awards and starring in several highly anticipated movies. Also, his high Appeal among both men and women has proven beneficial to his marketing value.

A second newcomer to the list by way of increased Awareness is Keegan-Michael Key (#10). The Key and Peele star experienced a 7% increase over last year and brings humor to our list, with a Funny rating that’s 52 points above the average for most celebrities. Consumer comments describe him as “Hilarious” and “Entertaining.”

Will these new additions and veterans of the Most Appealing African Americans list be able to replicate their Appeal  this year and make our 2017 list? We’ll be watching closely.