Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

James A. Michener

Charting Feb 27, 1949 → Jan 31, 1993 · 478 weeks with chart power

Compare with other authors →

Image credits

Photo: Robert Wilson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Honours

Author of the Year: 1960
1983

Author of the Week

NYT Hardcover Fiction
132 crowns
19491993
Longest reign 25 weeks (Nov 1980 – Apr 1981) · First crown Jan 1960

Peak Power: 14.45%; week of Mar 19, 1961
Career Power: 4,537; share-weeks
Crowns: 132; weeks crowned Author of the Week

Peak Year: 731; January 1960 – January 1961
Peak Five Years: 1,432; November 1978 – November 1983
Top-five weeks: 299; weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity: 478; weeks with chart power
Dominance: 14.72%; week of Nov 17, 1985
Comebacks: 10; May 1951 · Aug 1953 · Dec 1959, after 5 quiet years · Sep 1971, after 10 quiet years · Nov 1978, after 7 quiet years · Nov 1980 · Oct 1982 · Nov 1985 · Jul 1988 · Dec 1992

Ranked by weekly Power Share, part of the ChartReign Power model — not the list's own positions. How it works →

Exponentially smoothed share of the week's total power (the primary metric).

Titles on the NYT Hardcover Fiction

16 books · 4,537 share-weeks of Career Power

Power contributed is what each book earned this author: their weekly Power Share, split across their books (a featured credit takes its reduced share). Book Power is the book's own figure, the same for every author on it. Bar length compares books within this list.

Title	Peak	Weeks	On chart	Power contributedPower	Book Power
Hawaii	#1January 1960	94	November 1959 – September 1961	1,112.3	1,112.3
Chesapeake	#1July 1978	47	July 1978 – September 1979	470.5	470.5
The Covenant	#1November 1980	41	October 1980 – August 1981	464.8	464.8
Space	#1October 1982	39	October 1982 – July 1983	409.2	409.2
Poland	#1September 1983	38	September 1983 – May 1984	404.2	404.0
Alaska	#1July 1988	33	July 1988 – February 1989	297.7	297.7
Texas	#1October 1985	29	October 1985 – April 1986	277.0	276.6
Return to Paradise	#3June 1951	26	May 1951 – October 1951	222.5	222.5
Sayonara	#2March 1954	21	February 1954 – July 1954	202.3	202.3
Caribbean	#2January 1990	22	November 1989 – April 1990	167.9	167.9
The Drifters	#4July 1971	22	June 1971 – November 1971	157.1	157.1
Mexico	#3November 1992	13	November 1992 – January 1993	104.0	101.4
Legacy	#3September 1987	18	September 1987 – January 1988	91.3	91.2
The Bridges at Toko-Ri	#5August 1953	12	August 1953 – October 1953	70.8	70.8
The Fires of Spring	#8March 1949	14	February 1949 – June 1949	43.7	43.7
The Novel	#5May 1991	9	April 1991 – June 1991	41.9	41.9

At their peak

1960 in books →

James A. Michener's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from January 1960 to January 1961. The most powerful authors over those weeks:

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.

Their decades: the 1940s, the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s.