Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

John O'Hara

Charting Aug 27, 1934 → Feb 16, 1969 · 273 weeks with chart power

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Image credits

Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Honours

Author of the Week

NYT Hardcover Fiction
6 crowns
19341969
Longest reign 6 weeks (Sep–Oct 1949) · First crown Sep 1949

Peak Power: 10.84%; week of May 6, 1956
Career Power: 2,071; share-weeks
Crowns: 6; weeks crowned Author of the Week

Peak Year: 370; April 1963 – April 1964
Peak Five Years: 844; March 1960 – March 1965
Top-five weeks: 133; weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity: 273; weeks with chart power
Dominance: 14.53%; week of Sep 18, 1949
Comebacks: 6; Apr 1938 · Sep 1949, after 11 quiet years · Jan 1956, after 6 quiet years · Jan 1959 · Jan 1963 · Jan 1968

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

20 books · 2,071 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
A Rage to Live	#1September 1949	33	September 1949 – April 1950	323.7	323.7
Ten North Frederick	#2March 1956	32	December 1955 – July 1956	286.5	286.5
Elizabeth Appleton	#2June 1963	21	June 1963 – November 1963	217.5	217.5
From the Terrace	#3January 1959	27	December 1958 – July 1959	198.0	198.0
The Hat on the Bed	#3January 1964	19	December 1963 – April 1964	152.1	152.1
Ourselves to Know	#4March 1960	19	February 1960 – July 1960	135.8	135.8
Sermons and Soda Water	#4January 1961	19	December 1960 – April 1961	125.1	125.1
The Lockwood Concern	#4January 1966	15	December 1965 – March 1966	107.5	107.5
The Instrument	#4February 1968	12	December 1967 – March 1968	84.9	84.9
The Cape Cod Lighter	#4January 1963	12	December 1962 – March 1963	81.2	81.2
The Horse Knows the Way	#4February 1965	11	December 1964 – March 1965	78.6	78.6
Butterfield 8	#3November 1935	7	October 1935 – December 1935	57.2	57.2
The Big Laugh	#7June 1962	14	June 1962 – September 1962	55.4	55.4
Appointment in Samarra	#5September 1934	7	August 1934 – October 1934	47.8	47.6
Waiting for Winter	#9February 1967	9	January 1967 – March 1967	38.8	38.8
Hope of Heaven	#4April 1938	5	April 1938 – May 1938	38.6	38.6
And Other Stories	#7February 1969	6	December 1968 – February 1969	29.8	29.8
The Farmers Hotel	#12December 1951	3	December 1951 – December 1951	8.3	8.3
A Family Party	#14September 1956	1	September 1956	2.4	2.4
Assembly	#16January 1962	1	January 1962	1.8	1.8

At their peak

1963 in books →

John O'Hara's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from April 1963 to April 1964. The most powerful authors over those weeks:

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.

Their decades: the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s, the 1960s.