Eras
Who was the most powerful author in a year, who dominated a decade, who held #1 the longest. Every figure is a defined metric summed or maximised over a date range of stored weekly rows — nothing is weighted by opinion.
Leader of every year
Column height = the leader's average Power Share over the period. Click a column to explore that range.
- Robert Ludlum5 periods
- John Grisham5 periods
- James Patterson5 periods
- Lloyd C. Douglas3 periods
- Leon Uris3 periods
- Stephen King3 periods
- Dan Brown3 periods
- Hervey Allen2 periods
- Margaret Mitchell2 periods
- Herman Wouk2 periods
- James A. Michener2 periods
- Robert James Waller2 periods
- James Redfield2 periods
- Danielle Steel2 periods
- J. K. Rowling2 periods
- Gillian Flynn2 periods
- Anthony Doerr2 periods
- Delia Owens2 periods
- Rebecca Yarros2 periods
- John Galsworthy1 period
- Charles Morgan1 period
- A. J. Cronin1 period
- John Steinbeck1 period
- Richard Llewellyn1 period
- James Hilton1 period
- Franz Werfel1 period
- Lillian Smith1 period
- Samuel Shellaburger1 period
- Taylor Caldwell1 period
- Laura Z. Hobson1 period
- Norman Mailer1 period
- Henry Morton Robinson1 period
- James Jones1 period
- Annemarie Selinko1 period
- Morton Thompson1 period
- Francoise Sagan1 period
- Edwin O'Connor1 period
- Grace Metalious1 period
- Robert Traver1 period
- Harper Lee1 period
- Katherine Anne Porter1 period
- Morris L. West1 period
- John le Carré1 period
- Bel Kaufman1 period
- Jacqueline Susann1 period
- Elia Kazan1 period
- Arthur Hailey1 period
- Mario Puzo1 period
- Erich Segal1 period
- Frederick Forsyth1 period
- Peter Benchley1 period
- James Michener1 period
- Paul E. Erdman1 period
- J.R.R. Tolkien1 period
- James Clavell1 period
- Tom Wolfe1 period
- Tom Clancy1 period
- Khaled Hosseini1 period
- Stephenie Meyer1 period
- Kathryn Stockett1 period
- Donna Tartt1 period
- Matt Haig1 period
- Bonnie Garmus1 period
- Virginia Evans1 period
Leaders in 1934
Jan 1, 1934 → Dec 31, 1934 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Hervey Allen486
- 2James Hilton327
- 3Stark Young310
- 4Caroline Miller279
- 5Sinclair Lewis148
- 6Robert Graves130
- 7Irving Stone105
- 8Lion Feuchtwanger91
- 9Dashiell Hammett84
- 10Isak Dinesen83
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hervey Allen | 486 | 9.18% | 14.53% | 13.95% | 7 | 40 | 44 |
| 2 | James Hilton | 327 | 6.17% | 22.85% | 16.31% | 11 | 19 | 24 |
| 3 | Stark Young | 310 | 5.85% | 15.31% | 12.94% | 11 | 22 | 23 |
| 4 | Caroline Miller | 279 | 5.26% | 14.53% | 10.96% | 8 | 19 | 24 |
| 5 | Sinclair Lewis | 148 | 2.80% | 14.53% | 8.69% | 7 | 9 | 13 |
| 6 | Robert Graves | 130 | 2.45% | 14.53% | 8.36% | 1 | 10 | 12 |
| 7 | Irving Stone | 105 | 1.98% | 12.64% | 6.28% | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| 8 | Lion Feuchtwanger | 91 | 1.72% | 14.53% | 6.43% | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | Dashiell Hammett | 84 | 1.59% | 14.53% | 5.86% | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 10 | Isak Dinesen | 83 | 1.57% | 14.53% | 5.24% | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 11 | James Joyce | 81 | 1.54% | 12.64% | 5.80% | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| 12 | Phyllis Boltome | 79 | 1.48% | 11.01% | 5.25% | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 13 | Mary Ellen Chase | 73 | 1.37% | 13.16% | 5.23% | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 14 | Franz Werfel | 68 | 1.28% | 15.38% | 6.12% | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 15 | Mary Roberts Rinehart | 66 | 1.24% | 11.01% | 5.04% | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| 16 | James M. Cain | 59 | 1.12% | 12.64% | 4.92% | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 17 | Alice Tisdale Hobart | 57 | 1.07% | 12.64% | 3.35% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 18 | E. M. Delafield | 57 | 1.07% | 11.01% | 4.68% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 19 | Tess Slesinger | 51 | 0.96% | 12.64% | 3.86% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 20 | Louis Golding | 51 | 0.96% | 14.53% | 4.46% | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 21 | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 49 | 0.92% | 14.53% | 4.19% | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 22 | John O'Hara | 48 | 0.90% | 8.34% | 3.33% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 23 | Margaret Ayer Barnes | 48 | 0.90% | 11.01% | 5.81% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 24 | T. S. Stribling | 46 | 0.88% | 12.64% | 3.69% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 25 | MacKinlay Kantor | 45 | 0.85% | 11.01% | 3.86% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 26 | Kenneth Roberts | 45 | 0.85% | 8.79% | 3.78% | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| 27 | Hugh Walpole | 43 | 0.82% | 12.64% | 4.14% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 28 | E. Phillips Oppenheim | 37 | 0.70% | 7.26% | 2.13% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 29 | Agatha Christie | 35 | 0.67% | 9.58% | 2.24% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 30 | Josephine Lawrence | 35 | 0.66% | 9.58% | 2.82% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 31 | Pearl S. Buck | 35 | 0.65% | 11.01% | 3.11% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 32 | Charles Nordloff | 33 | 0.63% | 6.66% | 2.67% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 33 | James Norman Hall | 33 | 0.63% | 6.66% | 2.67% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 34 | A. P. Herbert | 33 | 0.62% | 9.58% | 3.00% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 35 | S. S. Van Dine | 33 | 0.62% | 11.01% | 2.95% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 36 | Maurice Walsh | 32 | 0.60% | 7.26% | 2.75% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 | Victoria Lincoln | 31 | 0.58% | 6.69% | 2.44% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 38 | Elizabeth von Arnim | 30 | 0.56% | 8.83% | 2.60% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 39 | Samuel Rogers | 29 | 0.55% | 11.01% | 2.90% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 40 | Stefan Zweig | 29 | 0.54% | 8.34% | 2.59% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 41 | Archie Binns | 28 | 0.53% | 11.01% | 2.68% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 42 | Fannie Hurst | 27 | 0.51% | 11.01% | 2.58% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 43 | Thomas Mann | 26 | 0.50% | 9.58% | 2.55% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 44 | Phyllis Bentley | 25 | 0.47% | 9.58% | 2.47% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 45 | Eric Linklater | 23 | 0.44% | 9.58% | 2.23% | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 46 | Charles Nordhoff | 22 | 0.41% | 5.50% | 1.76% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 47 | James N. Hall | 22 | 0.41% | 5.50% | 1.76% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 48 | Stephen Vincent Benet | 19 | 0.36% | 7.26% | 1.63% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 | Anne Parrish | 17 | 0.32% | 8.34% | 1.72% | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 50 | Thorne Smith | 15 | 0.27% | 7.26% | 1.57% | 0 | 2 | 2 |