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 1940
Jan 1, 1940 → Dec 30, 1940 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Richard Llewellyn445
- 2Jan Struther268
- 3F. Van Wyck Mason206
- 4Christopher Morley202
- 5Sholem Asch185
- 6Louis Bromfield136
- 7Ernest Hemingway136
- 8Henry Bellamann135
- 9Nina Fedorova127
- 10Elizabeth von Arnim117
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Llewellyn | 445 | 8.39% | 14.53% | 12.45% | 13 | 34 | 35 |
| 2 | Jan Struther | 268 | 5.06% | 14.53% | 11.11% | 6 | 22 | 22 |
| 3 | F. Van Wyck Mason | 206 | 3.89% | 14.53% | 10.44% | 10 | 16 | 16 |
| 4 | Christopher Morley | 202 | 3.80% | 14.53% | 11.28% | 3 | 16 | 18 |
| 5 | Sholem Asch | 185 | 3.50% | 14.53% | 11.22% | 6 | 15 | 15 |
| 6 | Louis Bromfield | 136 | 2.57% | 12.64% | 7.80% | 0 | 11 | 13 |
| 7 | Ernest Hemingway | 136 | 2.56% | 14.53% | 9.13% | 5 | 10 | 10 |
| 8 | Henry Bellamann | 135 | 2.55% | 12.64% | 7.13% | 0 | 9 | 14 |
| 9 | Nina Fedorova | 127 | 2.39% | 11.01% | 7.20% | 0 | 11 | 14 |
| 10 | Elizabeth von Arnim | 117 | 2.20% | 12.64% | 6.91% | 0 | 11 | 12 |
| 11 | Richard Wright | 116 | 2.18% | 14.53% | 7.13% | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | Lin Yutang | 113 | 2.13% | 12.64% | 7.82% | 0 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | Lella Warren | 98 | 1.85% | 12.64% | 6.72% | 0 | 9 | 10 |
| 14 | Thomas Wolfe | 91 | 1.71% | 14.53% | 6.47% | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| 15 | Robert Nathan | 82 | 1.55% | 11.01% | 5.13% | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 16 | Thomas Mann | 79 | 1.49% | 14.53% | 6.08% | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| 17 | W. Somerset Maugham | 79 | 1.49% | 11.01% | 7.07% | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| 18 | Kenneth Roberts | 73 | 1.37% | 14.53% | 6.37% | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 19 | Walter D. Edmonds | 70 | 1.32% | 11.01% | 5.16% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 20 | C. S. Forester | 60 | 1.13% | 9.58% | 4.01% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 21 | Evelyn Eaton | 58 | 1.09% | 9.58% | 4.11% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 22 | Charles Morgan | 57 | 1.08% | 11.01% | 4.44% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 23 | Robert Henriques | 57 | 1.07% | 11.01% | 4.30% | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| 24 | Upton Sinclair | 48 | 0.91% | 11.01% | 4.31% | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 25 | Elizabeth Goudge | 47 | 0.88% | 8.34% | 3.89% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 26 | Sinclair Lewis | 43 | 0.82% | 11.01% | 3.75% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 27 | Zsolt de Harsanyi | 38 | 0.71% | 9.58% | 3.00% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 28 | Howard Spring | 36 | 0.68% | 11.01% | 3.40% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 29 | R. C. Hutchinson | 32 | 0.61% | 9.58% | 2.48% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 30 | Willa Cather | 29 | 0.55% | 11.01% | 2.90% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 31 | Ethel Vance | 28 | 0.52% | 9.58% | 9.00% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 32 | Aldous Huxley | 23 | 0.43% | 8.34% | 2.25% | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 33 | Margery Sharp | 23 | 0.43% | 8.34% | 2.22% | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 34 | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | 15 | 0.27% | 7.26% | 1.50% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 35 | Susan Glaspell | 15 | 0.27% | 7.26% | 1.50% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 36 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 8 | 0.16% | 8.34% | 0.91% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 | Rumer Godden | 8 | 0.16% | 8.34% | 1.74% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 38 | Jules Romains | 7 | 0.14% | 7.26% | 0.79% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 | Taylor Caldwell | 7 | 0.14% | 7.26% | 0.80% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 | Lloyd C. Douglas | 6 | 0.12% | 6.32% | 0.78% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 | Angela Thirkell | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.72% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Elizabeth Page | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.28% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | Francis Hackett | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.60% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Hugh Walpole | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.36% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | John Jennings | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.79% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | John P. Marquand | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.52% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | John Steinbeck | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 8.40% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Pietro di Donato | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 3.14% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Rachel Field | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.70% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Stuart Cloethe | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.86% | 0 | 0 | 0 |