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 1945
Jan 7, 1945 → Dec 30, 1945 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Samuel Shellaburger370
- 2A. J. Cronin326
- 3Adria Locke Langley291
- 4Gwenthalyn Graham269
- 5Kathleen Winsor265
- 6Thomas B. Costain220
- 7James Hilton187
- 8James Ramsey Ullman163
- 9Upton Sinclair143
- 10Rosamond Lehmann128
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Shellaburger | 370 | 7.11% | 14.53% | 11.03% | 4 | 29 | 41 |
| 2 | A. J. Cronin | 326 | 6.27% | 14.53% | 12.98% | 17 | 24 | 24 |
| 3 | Adria Locke Langley | 291 | 5.61% | 14.53% | 11.28% | 10 | 19 | 29 |
| 4 | Gwenthalyn Graham | 269 | 5.18% | 14.53% | 11.10% | 1 | 24 | 24 |
| 5 | Kathleen Winsor | 265 | 5.10% | 14.53% | 10.87% | 1 | 18 | 33 |
| 6 | Thomas B. Costain | 220 | 4.24% | 14.53% | 11.99% | 13 | 15 | 16 |
| 7 | James Hilton | 187 | 3.60% | 14.53% | 8.66% | 2 | 12 | 19 |
| 8 | James Ramsey Ullman | 163 | 3.14% | 12.64% | 9.27% | 0 | 14 | 16 |
| 9 | Upton Sinclair | 143 | 2.76% | 12.64% | 7.28% | 0 | 10 | 18 |
| 10 | Rosamond Lehmann | 128 | 2.46% | 14.53% | 7.85% | 4 | 11 | 12 |
| 11 | Sinclair Lewis | 127 | 2.44% | 12.64% | 8.45% | 0 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | Alice Tisdale Hobart | 108 | 2.07% | 9.58% | 6.64% | 0 | 9 | 13 |
| 13 | C. S. Forester | 106 | 2.04% | 11.01% | 5.90% | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| 14 | Bruce Marshall | 106 | 2.03% | 11.01% | 5.03% | 0 | 6 | 18 |
| 15 | Irving Stone | 99 | 1.90% | 11.01% | 6.40% | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| 16 | Edna Ferber | 84 | 1.61% | 12.64% | 5.91% | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 17 | John Steinbeck | 80 | 1.53% | 11.01% | 5.29% | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 18 | Elizabeth Goudge | 72 | 1.39% | 11.01% | 9.67% | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 19 | Ayn Rand | 69 | 1.33% | 8.34% | 3.26% | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 20 | Lau Shaw | 66 | 1.27% | 9.58% | 4.03% | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 21 | Josephine Pinckney | 64 | 1.24% | 8.34% | 4.29% | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 22 | James H. Street | 50 | 0.97% | 8.34% | 3.96% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 23 | Glenway Wescott | 45 | 0.87% | 9.58% | 3.89% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 24 | Taylor Caldwell | 38 | 0.73% | 11.01% | 2.15% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 25 | Nancy Bruff | 30 | 0.57% | 6.32% | 2.33% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 26 | Konstantine Simonov | 20 | 0.38% | 4.17% | 1.60% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 27 | Lloyd C. Douglas | 18 | 0.34% | 3.16% | 1.42% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 28 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 16 | 0.30% | 8.34% | 1.62% | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | Nevil Shute | 15 | 0.29% | 4.79% | 1.31% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 30 | Wilbur Daniel Steele | 15 | 0.28% | 8.34% | 1.01% | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 31 | Robert Hardy Andrews | 11 | 0.21% | 4.17% | 0.76% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 32 | Nicholas Monsarrat | 9 | 0.17% | 2.75% | 0.83% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 33 | Dan Wickenden | 8 | 0.16% | 8.34% | 0.91% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Bellamy Partridge | 8 | 0.16% | 3.63% | 0.74% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 35 | Herbert Gorman | 7 | 0.14% | 3.16% | 0.71% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 36 | James Thurber | 5 | 0.10% | 3.16% | 0.55% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 37 | John P. Marquand | 5 | 0.09% | 2.75% | 0.49% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 38 | Rafael Sabatini | 4 | 0.07% | 2.09% | 0.40% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 39 | Pearl S. Buck | 4 | 0.07% | 3.63% | 0.40% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 | Elswyth Thane | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 | Lester Cohen | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 42 | Myron Brinig | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 | Ben Burman | 2 | 0.04% | 1.82% | 0.20% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 44 | Elizabeth Janeway | 2 | 0.04% | 1.82% | 0.20% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 | Jim Bishop | 2 | 0.04% | 1.82% | 0.20% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 | Aldous Huxley | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.42% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | Ben Ames Williams | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 2.79% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Betty Smith | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.10% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | John Hersey | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.52% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Joseph S. Pennell | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 2.04% | 0 | 0 | 0 |