Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

John Updike

Charting Feb 8, 1959 → Jul 16, 2006 · 205 weeks with chart power

Compare with other authors →

Image credits

Photo: Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Honours

Author of the Week

NYT Hardcover Fiction
1 crown
19592006
First crown Jun 1968

Peak Power: 11.94%; week of Oct 6, 1968
Career Power: 1,193; share-weeks
Crowns: 1; weeks crowned Author of the Week

Peak Year: 394; December 1967 – December 1968
Peak Five Years: 565; November 1967 – November 1972
Top-five weeks: 52; weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity: 205; weeks with chart power
Dominance: 14.53%; week of Jun 30, 1968
Comebacks: 6; May 1962 · Apr 1968, after 5 quiet years · Jan 1972 · May 1975 · Feb 1979 · Jan 1982

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 · 1,193 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
Couples	#1June 1968	36	April 1968 – December 1968	394.0	394.0
Rabbit Redux	#4January 1972	17	December 1971 – March 1972	124.9	124.9
Rabbit Is Rich	#4January 1982	23	October 1981 – March 1982	112.1	112.1
A Month of Sundays	#5May 1975	15	March 1975 – June 1975	88.8	88.8
The Coup	#4January 1979	17	January 1979 – April 1979	84.4	84.4
Roger's Version	#4October 1986	15	September 1986 – February 1987	68.7	68.6
The Witches of Eastwick	#5June 1984	12	June 1984 – August 1984	66.7	66.7
The Centaur	#8May 1963	10	March 1963 – May 1963	44.3	44.3
Bech: a Book	#7August 1970	8	July 1970 – September 1970	41.5	41.5
Marry Me	#7December 1976	6	November 1976 – February 1977	30.5	30.5
Rabbit at Rest	#8November 1990	7	October 1990 – November 1990	28.4	28.1
Terrorist	#5July 2006	4	June 2006 – July 2006	23.8	23.8
Rabbit, Run	#14December 1960	10	November 1960 – March 1961	19.3	19.3
S.	#10April 1988	6	March 1988 – May 1988	18.5	18.5
In the Beauty of the Lilies	#9March 1996	5	February 1996 – March 1996	17.0	17.0
Pigeon Feathers	#13May 1962	7	April 1962 – June 1962	16.0	16.0
The Poorhouse Fair	#14February 1959	2	February 1959 – March 1959	4.8	4.8
Museums and Women	#10November 1972	1	November 1972	4.2	4.2
The Best American Short Stories of the Centurywith Katrina Kenison	#15May 1999	3	April 1999 – June 1999	3.0	6.0
Bech Is Back	#13November 1982	1	November 1982	2.8	2.8

At their peak

1967 in books →

John Updike's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from December 1967 to December 1968. The most powerful authors over those weeks:

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.

Their decades: the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s.