Every so often on Digital Journal we feature an item on cybersecurity vulnerabilities involving passwords. Invariably these as passwords that are ‘weak’ in terms of being too easy to crack.
For example, despite warnings against easy passwords, ‘123456’ is still used over 6.6 million times. The latest survey into these issues comes from the AI search analytics platform Peec AI. This reveals the most common words, phrases and values used in passwords – which also happen to be the ones most likely to get you hacked.
Analysing data from a combination of global data breaches since 2019, the experts have scraped over 100 million different passwords to reveal the most common choices for online password protection.
The issue of passwords being hacked is considerably and 24 billion passwords were exposed by hackers in 2022 alone. More recently, between April 2024 and May 2025, another 19 billion passwords were made available online, accessible to cybercriminals looking to exploit them.
The study analyses data from a combination of global data breaches since 2019, scraping over 100 million different passwords to reveal the most common choices of password protection for internet users.
The most used names in passwords
The name ‘Michael’ is one of the most used names for passwords, included in 107,678 passwords. ‘Daniel’ is the second most used name, with a count of 99,399 passwords.
Other names including ‘Ashley’, ‘Jessica’, ‘Charlie’, ‘Jordan’ and ‘Michelle’ are among the most used for password protections.
| Name | Number of times used |
| Michael | 107,678 |
| Daniel | 99,399 |
| Ashley | 91,977 |
| Jessica | 86,410 |
| Charlie | 82,348 |
| Jordan | 74,310 |
| Michelle | 71,816 |
| Thomas | 70,024 |
| Nicole | 69,223 |
| Andrew | 66,960 |
| Anthony | 65,509 |
| Jennifer | 65,278 |
| Joshua | 64,335 |
| Andrea | 63,640 |
| Maggie | 55,967 |
| George | 55,949 |
| Amanda | 55,629 |
| Hannah | 55,320 |
| William | 54,917 |
| Samantha | 54,745 |
| Robert | 54,297 |
| Martin | 51,352 |
| Harley | 50,386 |
| Brandon | 49,986 |
The most used values in passwords
Often, several websites will ask you to create a password which contains numbers as well. However, 6,621,933 passwords contain the not-so-complicated number combination of ‘123456’.
‘123456789’ is the second most popular number combination, featuring in 2,258,198 passwords, followed by ‘111111’, used 968,155 times.
‘Password’ has been used 946,935 times, along with ‘qwerty’ 878,496 times and ‘abc123’ 842,399 times.
| Value | Number of times used |
| 123456 | 6,621,933 |
| 123456789 | 2,258,198 |
| 111111 | 968,155 |
| password | 946,935 |
| qwerty | 878,496 |
| abc123 | 842,399 |
| 12345678 | 829,914 |
| password1 | 740,680 |
| 1234567 | 730,840 |
| 123123 | 666,404 |
The most used years in passwords
When it comes to years, ‘2013’ is the most used year included in passwords, featured in a count of 129,745. The year of ‘2010’ and ‘1986’ are also amongst the top three most popular years used for password protection. ‘2010’ is used for a total of 79,294 passwords, whilst 1986 is used in 78,709 passwords.
It’s interesting to note that while ‘2013’ and ‘2010’ rank highest, the most commonly used years in passwords tend to cluster around the 1980s – a pattern that suggests many millennials are incorporating their birth years into their passwords.
| Year | Number of times used |
| 2013 | 129,745 |
| 2010 | 79,274 |
| 1986 | 78,709 |
| 1987 | 73,067 |
| 1989 | 61,405 |
| 1985 | 58,627 |
| 1988 | 57,945 |
| 1990 | 56,947 |
| 1984 | 54,333 |
| 2020 | 51,269 |
| 1982 | 50,833 |
| 2012 | 47,283 |
| 1983 | 45,789 |
| 1992 | 44,952 |
| 1995 | 43,558 |
| 1980 | 43,255 |
Most used sports
| Sport | Number of times used |
| Football | 107,169 |
| Baseball | 82,574 |
| Soccer | 79,735 |
| Basketball | 62,667 |
| Hockey | 41,220 |
| Tennis | 34,189 |
The most used famous figures in passwords
‘blink-182’ is the most used famous figure for passwords, with a count of 84,545.
‘50 Cent’ places second, featuring in 55,897 passwords. Following in third is ‘Eminem’ with 43,344 features, ‘Slipknot’ with 39,630 and ‘Metallica’ as the fifth most popular in 38,608 passwords.
| Famous figure | Number of times used |
| blink-182 | 84,545 |
| 50 Cent | 55,897 |
| Eminem | 43,344 |
| Slipknot | 39,630 |
| Metallica | 38,608 |
| Nirvana | 35,436 |
| Justin Bieber | 34,296 |
| Ronaldo | 34,137 |
| Messi | 495 |
The most used fictional characters in passwords
Amongst everyone’s favourite fictional characters, ‘Superman’ is the most featured in passwords, with a total count of 86,937. ‘Batman’ follows in second, featuring in 52,388 passwords. ‘Wall-E’ is the third most popular, with a count of 48,288. Rounding out the top six is ‘Hello Kitty’, ‘SpongeBob’, and ‘Spider-Man’, each with total counts of around 35,000.
| Fictional character | Number of times used |
| Superman | 86,937 |
| Batman | 52,388 |
| Wall-e | 48,288 |
| Hello Kitty | 35,381 |
| SpongeBob | 35,349 |
| Spider-Man | 35,078 |
Considering the high volume of passwords leaked every year, along with the rise in scam and phishing reports, using obvious combinations like ‘123456’, which is used 6.6 million times. As cybercriminals continue to target users, strong password security has never been more important.
