Top 10 most popular Bollywood actresses internationally

I found these numbers interesting. Below is the list of highest grossing Bollywood movies overseas for each year of the last 30 or so years. All numbers came from Box Office India.

1992 - Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman

1993 - Darr

1994 - Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!

1995 - Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

1996 - Khamoshi

1997 - Dil To Pagal Hai

1998 - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

1999 - Taal

2000 - Mohabbatein

2001 - Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

2002 - Devdas

2003 - Kal Ho Naa Ho

2004 - Veer-Zaara

2005 - Salaam Namaste

2006 - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

2007 - Om Shanti Om

2008 - Rab Be Bana Di Jodi

2009 - 3 Idiots

2010 - My Name is Khan

2011 - Don 2

2012 - Jab Tak Hai Jaan

2013 - Dhoom 3

2014 - PK

2015 - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

2016 - Dangal

2017 - Tiger Zinda Hai

2018 - Padmaavat

2019 - War

2020 - Tanhaji

2021 - 83

2022 - Ponniyin Selvan Part 1

2023 - Pathaan

Based on that, I tallied up how many actresses frequently had the highest grossing film overseas.

Not counting cameos and special appearances, the top ten list of actresses who had a film that was the highest grossing overseas each year is...

5 - Kajol (DDLJ, KKHH, K3G, My Name is Khan, Tanhaji)

4 - Aishwarya Rai (Taal, Mohabbatein, Devdas, PS Part 1)

4 - Preity Zinta (KHNH, Veer-Zaara, Salaam Namaste, KANK)

4 - Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om, Padmaavat, 83, Pathaan)

3 - Madhuri Dixit (HAHK, Dil To Pagal Hai, Devdas)

3 - Rani Mukerji (KKHH, Veer-Zaara, KANK)

3 - Katrina Kaif (Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Dhoom 3, Tiger Zinda Hai)

3 - Anushka Sharma (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, PK)

2 - Juhi Chawla (Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Darr)

2 - Kareena Kapoor (K3G, 3 Idiots)

Looks like Kajol is the queen of the overseas box office. 4/5 of her top-grossing #1 films were with SRK.

Ponniyin Selvan is not a BW film but I included it because the marketing heavily featured Aish, a BW superstar, and there was a Hindi dub released as well. 

Karishma barely misses out on the list. Khamoshi was a slightly bigger hit overseas compared to Raja Hindustani which keeps Karishma off the list even though she also has Dil To Pagal Hai.

Katrina has one movie with each of the three Khans. 

This is sort of true for Kareena as well. Except she's a supporting role in K3G and I didn't include Bajrangi Bhaijaan as part of her list because she's barely in the movie and nonexistent in the second half, and wasn't even used for most of the film's marketing. Hasn't even been asked back for the sequel. 3 Idiots is her biggest role on here and even in that film she plays second fiddle to the three main leads. This is further proof that Kareena's hits are mainly from her latching onto films featuring the Khans where she has miniscule screentime but afterwards can claim that she was instrumental in the films' success.

Since box office stats for overseas grosses don't go past 1992, it's very likely that Madhuri or Juhi might have higher rankings. I imagine Sridevi could also make this list then since I know she's always been very popular overseas and her English Vinglish was especially a huge hit internationally.

For male actor stats, SRK is the undisputed king with 17 #1s. 

Salman and Aamir are tied for #2 unless you count Salman's guest appearance in KKHH which would break the tie.

17 - SRK

4 - Salman (HAHK, Khamoshi, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Tiger Zinda Hai)

4 - Aamir (3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, PK, Dangal)

3 - Amitabh (Mohabbatein, K3G, KANK)

2 - Hrithik (K3G, War)

2 - Saif (KHNH, Salaam Namaste)

2 - Ranveer (Padmaavat, 83)

2 - Abhishek (KANK, Dhoom 3)

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

For male actor stats, SRK is the undisputed king with 17 #1s. 

Salman and Aamir are tied for #2 unless you count Salman's guest appearance in KKHH which would break the tie.

17 - SRK

4 - Salman (HAHK, Khamoshi, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Dangal)

4 - Aamir (3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, PK, Dangal)

3 - Amitabh (Mohabbatein, K3G, KANK)

2 - Hrithik (K3G, War)

2 - Saif (KHNH, Salaam Namaste)

2 - Ranveer (Padmaavat, 83)

2 - Abhishek (KANK, Dhoom 3)

You have Tiger Zinda Hai as 2017 topper and you didn’t Include it here 

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

You have Tiger Zinda Hai as 2017 topper and you didn’t Include it here 

I accidentally put Dangal instead of Tiger Zinda Hai on Salman's list. Thanks for the check, I'll update it.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

For male actor stats, SRK is the undisputed king with 17 #1s. 

Salman and Aamir are tied for #2 unless he you count Salman's guest appearance in KKHH which would break the tie.

17 - SRK

4 - Salman (HAHK, Khamoshi, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Tiger Zinda Hai)

4 - Aamir (3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, PK, Dangal)

3 - Amitabh (Mohabbatein, K3G, KANK)

2 - Hrithik (K3G, War)

2 - Saif (KHNH, Salaam Namaste)

2 - Ranveer (Padmaavat, 83)

2 - Abhishek (KANK, Dhoom 3)

Post dedicated to fellow SRK fans. Out of 32 years, SRK ruled for 17 years overseas as #1. That's more than 50% of more than 3 decades that SRK has been the one and only King Khan.

1992 - Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman

1993 - Darr

1994 - Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!

1995 - Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

1996 - Khamoshi

1997 - Dil To Pagal Hai

1998 - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

1999 - Taal

2000 - Mohabbatein

2001 - Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

2002 - Devdas

2003 - Kal Ho Naa Ho

2004 - Veer-Zaara

2005 - Salaam Namaste

2006 - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

2007 - Om Shanti Om

2008 - Rab Be Bana Di Jodi

2009 - 3 Idiots

2010 - My Name is Khan

2011 - Don 2

2012 - Jab Tak Hai Jaan

2013 - Dhoom 3

2014 - PK

2015 - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

2016 - Dangal

2017 - Tiger Zinda Hai

2018 - Padmaavat

2019 - War

2020 - Tanhaji

2021 - 83

2022 - Ponniyin Selvan Part 1

2023 - Pathaan

Here's hoping we'll be able to add 2025 to the list as well.

Aishwarya could have been tied with Kajol on this list had she accepted Darr when it was originally offered to her.

https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/yash-chopra-wanted-aishwarya-rai-for-darr-didnt-work-out-8859672/

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

This is sort of true for Kareena as well. Except she's a supporting role in K3G and I didn't include Bajrangi Bhaijaan as part of her list because she's barely in the movie and nonexistent in the second half, and wasn't even used for most of the film's marketing. Hasn't even been asked back for the sequel. 3 Idiots is her biggest role on here and even in that film she plays second fiddle to the three main leads. 

So Kareena doesn't get credit for k3g and bajrangi. And you are almost robbing credit for 3idiots

But Aish gets credit for mohabbatein and ps1 (hindi). 

Originally posted by: CrimeMasterToto

So Kareena doesn't get credit for k3g and bajrangi. And you are almost robbing credit for 3idiots

But Aish gets credit for mohabbatein and ps1 (hindi). 

I gave Kareena credit for K3G and 3 Idiots. She's definitely a supporting role in the former.

But out of the six main cast members for K3G, Kareena was definitely the lowest of the totem pole. SRK and Amitabh are the two biggest stars from different generations, reuniting after previous blockbuster Mohabbatein. Jaya and Amitabh are reuniting onscreen after decades. SRK and Kajol, BW's #1 jodi, are coming back together onscreen after blockbusters DDLJ and KKHH. Hrithik, the newest superstar on the block, is appearing alongside rival SRK. You can remove Kareena's role from the movie and it would not change the plot at all. You can't do that with Rahul, Anjali, Yash, Nandini, and Rohit.

In most films, the female lead is the secondary character after the male lead. In 3 Idiots, Kareena is not even the secondary or tertiary character. She is the quaternary character after the three male leads. Look at all the posters and promotion for the movie and it always focuses on the three male leads. Kareena is not on the DVD cover or album cover. 

And I'm definitely not counting her for Bajrangi Bhaijan. Rani has a bigger role, more screentime, and songs in K3G and I didn't count that since it's a special appearance. Same with Salman in KKHH who also has more screentime, a hit song, and is a fan fav character. Kareena's got one chicken song in the first half of BB and maybe a few seconds in the second half of the movie. Her part could be cut and it again wouldn't change the film at all. There's a reason she is not being asked back for the sequel. This was not Bodyguard where she is the central POV character. 

Now compare to Aish in Mohabbatein. She's on all the posters and marketing for the film, paired with SRK. She's dead but her ghost keeps coming throughout the movie and she has several extended flashback scenes. You can't remove Aish from the movie without completely changing the storyline. The movie does not work without her. The central conflict between SRK and Amitabh hinges entirely on her. She has multiple songs as well, hit songs for that matter.

As for PS Part 1 (and Part 2 for that matter), she's once more a central character. Heavily involved in the marketing and promotion for the movie because you look at any poster and she's front and center. I look the movie up on my TV on Amazon Prime and her face is the image used to represent the movie. The central conflict once more revolves around Aish's character. For Hindi speaking audiences, she is the actress being used to market this film and that's true internationally as well.