Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

Saul Bellow

Charting Oct 4, 1953 → May 14, 2000 · 127 weeks with chart power

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Image credits

Photo: Photograph by Jeff Lowenthal. Published by Viking Press., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Honours

Author of the Week

NYT Hardcover Fiction
29 crowns
19532000
Longest reign 29 weeks (Oct 1964 – May 1965) · First crown Oct 1964

Peak Power: 14.07%; week of May 9, 1965
Career Power: 1,008; share-weeks
Crowns: 29; weeks crowned Author of the Week

Peak Year: 526; August 1964 – August 1965
Peak Five Years: 526; August 1960 – August 1965
Top-five weeks: 55; weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity: 127; weeks with chart power
Dominance: 14.53%; week of Oct 25, 1964
Comebacks: 4; Oct 1964, after 11 quiet years · Apr 1970, after 5 quiet years · Nov 1975, after 5 quiet years · Apr 1982, after 6 quiet years

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

9 books · 1,008 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
Herzog	#1October 1964	42	October 1964 – August 1965	525.6	525.6
Humboldt's Gift	#2November 1975	24	September 1975 – February 1976	163.1	163.1
Mr. Sammlers Planet	#4March 1970	14	February 1970 – May 1970	101.4	101.4
The Dean's December	#3March 1982	12	February 1982 – May 1982	88.3	88.3
More Die of Heartbreak	#5July 1987	13	June 1987 – September 1987	54.5	54.1
The Adventures of Augie March	#8October 1953	10	October 1953 – December 1953	41.9	41.9
Him with His Foot in His Mouth and Other Stories	#12June 1984	8	June 1984 – August 1984	21.2	21.2
Henderson the Rain King	#12March 1959	3	March 1959 – March 1959	7.7	7.7
Ravelstein	#10May 2000	1	May 2000	4.4	4.2

At their peak

1964 in books →

Saul Bellow's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from August 1964 to August 1965. 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.