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 1950
Jan 1, 1950 → Dec 31, 1950 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Henry Morton Robinson523
- 2Mika Waltari483
- 3John Hersey352
- 4Gwen Bristow347
- 5Daphne Du Maurier201
- 6Ernest Hemingway193
- 7Robert Penn Warren175
- 8Kathleen Winsor171
- 9Samuel Shellabarger151
- 10Sholem Asch146
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henry Morton Robinson | 523 | 9.88% | 14.63% | 13.83% | 24 | 38 | 39 |
| 2 | Mika Waltari | 483 | 9.12% | 14.53% | 13.26% | 7 | 37 | 53 |
| 3 | John Hersey | 352 | 6.63% | 14.53% | 11.44% | 5 | 26 | 34 |
| 4 | Gwen Bristow | 347 | 6.54% | 11.01% | 9.78% | 0 | 27 | 44 |
| 5 | Daphne Du Maurier | 201 | 3.79% | 14.53% | 9.68% | 5 | 14 | 21 |
| 6 | Ernest Hemingway | 193 | 3.64% | 14.53% | 10.39% | 7 | 14 | 15 |
| 7 | Robert Penn Warren | 175 | 3.29% | 12.64% | 9.02% | 0 | 12 | 18 |
| 8 | Kathleen Winsor | 171 | 3.23% | 11.01% | 7.81% | 0 | 12 | 22 |
| 9 | Samuel Shellabarger | 151 | 2.84% | 12.64% | 7.51% | 0 | 10 | 19 |
| 10 | Sholem Asch | 146 | 2.75% | 12.64% | 10.15% | 0 | 9 | 20 |
| 11 | Frank Yerby | 139 | 2.62% | 11.09% | 6.86% | 0 | 9 | 18 |
| 12 | Ruth Chatterton | 127 | 2.39% | 8.34% | 5.56% | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 13 | Joyce Cary | 123 | 2.31% | 9.58% | 5.31% | 0 | 4 | 23 |
| 14 | Nevil Shute | 119 | 2.25% | 9.58% | 6.36% | 0 | 8 | 18 |
| 15 | John O'Hara | 111 | 2.10% | 11.01% | 10.62% | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| 16 | Elizabeth Goudge | 110 | 2.07% | 9.58% | 5.84% | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| 17 | A. J. Cronin | 108 | 2.04% | 9.65% | 5.55% | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| 18 | Alberto Moravia | 105 | 1.99% | 7.26% | 4.59% | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| 19 | Budd Schulberg | 97 | 1.83% | 14.53% | 7.74% | 5 | 7 | 9 |
| 20 | Giovanni Guareschi | 94 | 1.77% | 7.26% | 5.04% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 21 | Mary Lasswell | 82 | 1.55% | 8.34% | 4.82% | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 22 | Thomas B. Costain | 70 | 1.32% | 12.64% | 5.38% | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 23 | Max Shulman | 69 | 1.30% | 6.32% | 3.17% | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 24 | Robert Wilder | 68 | 1.29% | 7.26% | 3.55% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 25 | A.B. Guthrie Jr | 66 | 1.25% | 9.58% | 7.14% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 | Margaret Kennedy | 55 | 1.04% | 8.34% | 3.91% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 27 | Ernest Gebler | 55 | 1.04% | 6.32% | 3.36% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 28 | Ben Ames Williams | 52 | 0.99% | 7.26% | 3.09% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 | Susan Yorke | 48 | 0.91% | 7.26% | 2.98% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 30 | Robert Henriques | 46 | 0.88% | 5.50% | 3.00% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 31 | Helen Huntington Howe | 46 | 0.87% | 5.50% | 2.71% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 32 | Inglis Fletcher | 42 | 0.80% | 6.32% | 3.23% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 33 | Louise A. Stinetorf | 41 | 0.77% | 7.26% | 2.83% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 34 | Jay Walz | 38 | 0.73% | 4.17% | 2.08% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 35 | Paul Bowles | 37 | 0.70% | 4.79% | 2.43% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 36 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 37 | 0.69% | 12.64% | 3.56% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 37 | Frank G. Slaughter | 36 | 0.68% | 4.79% | 2.18% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 38 | Nelia Gardner White | 33 | 0.63% | 4.17% | 1.67% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 39 | Nelson Algren | 32 | 0.59% | 5.50% | 4.07% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 40 | C. S. Forester | 31 | 0.59% | 5.50% | 2.42% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 | Henry Green | 30 | 0.57% | 4.79% | 3.50% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 42 | Frederick Buechner | 27 | 0.52% | 4.17% | 1.99% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | John Jennings | 27 | 0.51% | 5.50% | 1.93% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 44 | Ned Calmer | 24 | 0.45% | 4.79% | 1.97% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 45 | Lloyd C. Douglas | 23 | 0.44% | 6.32% | 5.04% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 | Theodore Bonnet | 22 | 0.41% | 6.32% | 4.35% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Harnett T. Kane | 19 | 0.36% | 4.79% | 1.67% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 48 | Evelyn Waugh | 18 | 0.34% | 4.17% | 1.33% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 49 | Laura Z. Hobson | 18 | 0.34% | 4.79% | 1.57% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 50 | Nancy Wilson Ross | 17 | 0.32% | 4.79% | 1.36% | 0 | 0 | 6 |