January
- 15: Dolores O'Riordan, singer-songwriter of Irish band The Cranberries, drowned accidentally in a hotel bath aged 46.
Dolores O'Riordan, of The Cranberries, is famous for the song 'Dreams' | Collected
February
- 24: Bollywood megastar Sridevi Kapoor drowned in a hotel bathtub at the age of 54. She had appeared in around 300 films, including blockbusters such as "Mawali" ("Scoundrel").
March
- 10: French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, famous for the "little black dress", died in his sleep aged 91.
April
- 13: Oscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, behind "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus", died aged 86 after a short illness.
- 20: Swedish superstar DJ Avicii, real name Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat aged 28.
June
- 8: US celebrity chef and television food show host Anthony Bourdain, 61, committed suicide in Alsace, eastern France, where he was filming for his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel programme "Parts Unknown".
- 18: XXXTentacion, a 20-year-old rapper whose grim rhymes propelled him to the top of the US chart, was shot in Florida.
July
- 5: French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, director of the landmark nine-and-a-half hour Holocaust documentary "Shoah", died aged 92.
August
- 6: French "chef of the century" Joel Robuchon, who at one point held a record 32 Michelin stars at the same time, died aged 73 from pancreatic cancer.
- 16: Aretha Franklin, American "Queen of Soul" behind hits such as "Respect" and "Natural Woman", died of cancer aged 76. Her nearly eight-hour funeral was attended by former presidents, stars and musical royalty.
September 
Burt Reynolds | AFP
- 6: Hollywood star Burt Reynolds, best known for alpha-male roles in the 1970s and 1980s, died aged 82 after a heart attack.
November
- 12: American comics legend Stan Lee, co-creator of global action hero favourites including Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men and Black Panther, passed away aged 95.
- 26: Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose work includes "Last Tango In Paris" and Oscar-winning "The Last Emperor", died aged 77 at his home in Rome.