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Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

Stephen King portraitStephen King

Charting Mar 27, 1977Sep 14, 2025 · 986 weeks with chart power

Compare with other authors
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Honours

Author of the Decade
Author of the Year

Author of the Week

  • NYT Hardcover Fiction

    169 crowns

    19772025

    Longest reign 10 weeks (Jun–Aug 1985) · First crown Oct 1979

Peak Power
16.03%
week of Mar 15, 1987
Career Power
8,547
share-weeks
Crowns
169
weeks crowned Author of the Week
Peak Year
730
September 1986 – September 1987
Peak Five Years
2,061
April 1983 – March 1988
Top-five weeks
568
weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity
986
weeks with chart power
Dominance
22.57%
week of Feb 1, 1987
Comebacks
12
Dec 1989 · Nov 1996 · Nov 1998 · May 2001 · Jan 2004 · Mar 2006 · Jan 2010 · Dec 2011 · Nov 2013 · Jul 2018 · Sep 2021 · Jul 2025

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

64 books · 8,547 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.

TitlePeakWeeksPower
Pet Sematary#132349.4
Firestarter#135339.7
It#135339.4
Cujo#133302.1
Skeleton Crew#132283.6
Christine#232261.1
Four Past Midnight#122251.2
Misery#130250.9
The Tommyknockers#123249.5
Fairy Tale#127245.7
The Stand#138232.2
Different Seasons#132220.5
Gerald's Game#128217.4
The Dead Zone#132212.9
The Eyes of the Dragon#126208.6
Needful Things#220203.2
The Dark Half#119189.9
The Outsider#121185.4
11/22/63#121183.4
Bag of Bones#120179.6
Nightmares & Dreamscapes#218177.6
Doctor Sleep#121162.5
Insomnia#116161.2
The Institute#120151.0
Dolores Claiborne#114148.4
Holly#118143.3
Billy Summers#120140.9
Desperation#115138.9
Dreamcatcher#115138.9
The Talismanwith Peter Straub#123133.4
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon#118131.2
If It Bleeds#120126.9
Hearts in Atlantis#416106.4
Never Flinch#11399.4
Rose Madder#21498.6
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams#11198.1
Cell#1996.2
Revival#11093.4
Everything's Eventual#11193.3
You Like It Darker#11692.0
Under the Dome#1986.3
THE DARK TOWER: Volumes 1-5#2982.2
End of Watch#1979.5
The Dark Tower#1875.7
Mr. Mercedes#11075.0
From a Buick 8#11174.3
Finders Keepers#11072.1
Duma Key#1969.6
Song of Susannah#11067.3
Full Dark, No Stars#2866.7
Just After Sunset#2861.7
Lisey's Story#1957.5
Elevation#11057.2
Black Housewith Peter Straub#11552.6
The Wind Through the Keyhole#1849.5
Sleeping Beautieswith Owen King#11446.7
Blockade Billy#927.5
The Bachman Books#1037.0
Gwendy's Button Boxwith Richard Chizmar#735.7
The Shining#815.5
Ell#1014.2
Wizard and Glass#1213.2
The Life of Chuck#1411.6
Gwendy's Final Taskwith Richard Chizmar#1411.2

At their peak

1986 in books

Stephen King's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from September 1986 to September 1987. The most powerful authors over those weeks:

  1. 1Stephen King730
  2. 2Tom Clancy502
  3. 3Danielle Steel384
  4. 4Sidney Sheldon315
  5. 5Louis L'Amour235
  6. 6Pat Conroy226
  7. 7James Clavell202
  8. 8Jackie Collins139
  9. 9Stephen Coonts138
  10. 10Scott Turow132

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.

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