Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

John Irving

Charting May 28, 1978 → Nov 23, 2025 · 150 weeks with chart power

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Image credits

Photo: Dr. Jost Hindersmann Krimidoedel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Honours

Author of the Week

NYT Hardcover Fiction
13 crowns
19782025
Longest reign 7 weeks (Sep–Nov 1981) · First crown Sep 1981

Peak Power: 11.88%; week of Feb 14, 1982
Career Power: 1,114; share-weeks
Crowns: 13; weeks crowned Author of the Week

Peak Year: 368; June 1981 – June 1982
Peak Five Years: 545; October 1980 – October 1985
Top-five weeks: 61; weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity: 150; weeks with chart power
Dominance: 14.53%; week of Sep 27, 1981
Comebacks: 5; Sep 1981 · Jun 1985 · Apr 1989 · Jun 1998, after 9 quiet years · Aug 2001

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

13 books · 1,114 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
The Hotel New Hampshire	#1September 1981	40	September 1981 – June 1982	368.1	368.1
The Cider House Rules	#1June 1985	21	May 1985 – October 1985	177.0	177.0
A Widow for One Year	#1June 1998	20	May 1998 – September 1998	140.9	140.9
A Prayer for Owen Meany	#2April 1989	19	March 1989 – July 1989	125.8	125.8
The World According to Garp	#4July 1978	15	May 1978 – February 1979	82.7	82.7
The Fourth Hand	#1July 2001	10	July 2001 – September 2001	80.4	80.4
Until I Find You	#3July 2005	6	July 2005 – September 2005	44.6	44.5
A Son of the Circus	#7September 1994	9	September 1994 – October 1994	39.0	39.0
In One Person	#5May 2012	4	May 2012 – June 2012	25.2	25.2
Last Night in Twisted River	#4November 2009	2	November 2009 – November 2009	13.8	13.8
Avenue of Mysteries	#5November 2015	2	November 2015 – November 2015	10.4	10.4
The Last Chairlift	#11November 2022	1	November 2022	3.6	3.6
Queen Esther	#14November 2025	1	November 2025	2.4	2.4

At their peak

1981 in books →

John Irving's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from June 1981 to June 1982. The most powerful authors over those weeks:

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.

Their decades: the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s, the 2020s.