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 1951
Jan 7, 1951 → Dec 30, 1951 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1James Jones513
- 2Herman Wouk492
- 3Frances Parkinson Keyes317
- 4Budd Schulberg260
- 5Nicholas Monsarrat232
- 6James A. Michener223
- 7J.D. Salinger170
- 8F. Van Wyck Mason164
- 9Frank Yerby155
- 10Paul I. Wellman127
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Jones | 513 | 9.86% | 14.53% | 13.23% | 20 | 37 | 43 |
| 2 | Herman Wouk | 492 | 9.45% | 14.53% | 14.15% | 21 | 36 | 37 |
| 3 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 317 | 6.10% | 14.53% | 11.94% | 8 | 22 | 30 |
| 4 | Budd Schulberg | 260 | 5.00% | 14.53% | 11.75% | 3 | 19 | 26 |
| 5 | Nicholas Monsarrat | 232 | 4.46% | 12.64% | 11.09% | 0 | 19 | 20 |
| 6 | James A. Michener | 223 | 4.28% | 11.01% | 9.02% | 0 | 18 | 26 |
| 7 | J.D. Salinger | 170 | 3.26% | 9.58% | 7.41% | 0 | 13 | 23 |
| 8 | F. Van Wyck Mason | 164 | 3.16% | 11.01% | 7.50% | 0 | 12 | 22 |
| 9 | Frank Yerby | 155 | 2.98% | 9.58% | 6.73% | 0 | 10 | 24 |
| 10 | Paul I. Wellman | 127 | 2.44% | 8.34% | 5.79% | 0 | 4 | 21 |
| 11 | John Marquand | 118 | 2.28% | 11.01% | 7.83% | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| 12 | James Ramsey Ullman | 114 | 2.19% | 11.01% | 6.38% | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| 13 | Taylor Caldwell | 111 | 2.14% | 11.01% | 5.78% | 0 | 4 | 18 |
| 14 | Henry Morton Robinson | 109 | 2.09% | 11.01% | 11.98% | 0 | 6 | 17 |
| 15 | Francis Cardinal Spellman | 92 | 1.77% | 8.34% | 4.79% | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| 16 | Mika Waltari | 92 | 1.77% | 9.58% | 8.55% | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| 17 | Philip Wylie | 92 | 1.76% | 9.58% | 5.43% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 18 | James Hilton | 89 | 1.72% | 9.58% | 5.38% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 19 | Sholem Asch | 87 | 1.67% | 9.58% | 5.75% | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| 20 | J. B. Priestley | 86 | 1.64% | 8.34% | 4.45% | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 21 | Irwin Shaw | 85 | 1.63% | 8.34% | 4.61% | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 22 | Irving Stone | 81 | 1.56% | 9.58% | 5.45% | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 23 | Thomas B. Costain | 78 | 1.49% | 11.01% | 7.51% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 24 | Reginald Arkell | 67 | 1.28% | 4.17% | 2.45% | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 25 | Arthur Koestler | 66 | 1.26% | 8.34% | 4.26% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 | James Street | 65 | 1.25% | 5.50% | 3.33% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 27 | Graham Greene | 61 | 1.18% | 9.58% | 4.82% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 28 | Lion Feuchtwanger | 60 | 1.16% | 6.32% | 3.57% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 | Ilka Chase | 59 | 1.14% | 8.34% | 3.52% | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| 30 | Anya Seton | 57 | 1.09% | 7.26% | 3.46% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 31 | Pearl S. Buck | 56 | 1.08% | 5.50% | 3.12% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 32 | William E. Barrett | 51 | 0.99% | 5.50% | 2.65% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 33 | Lillian Budd | 49 | 0.95% | 4.79% | 2.47% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 34 | Enid Bagnold | 47 | 0.90% | 7.26% | 3.22% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 35 | Thomas Mann | 47 | 0.90% | 7.26% | 2.66% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 36 | Nancy Mitford | 45 | 0.87% | 5.50% | 3.03% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 | Louis Bromfield | 42 | 0.81% | 6.32% | 2.52% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 38 | Pierre La Mure | 38 | 0.73% | 3.63% | 1.47% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 39 | William Styron | 38 | 0.72% | 6.32% | 2.34% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 40 | Giovanni Guareschi | 37 | 0.71% | 6.32% | 5.34% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 41 | Nevil Shute | 36 | 0.69% | 4.79% | 2.53% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 42 | Ernest Hemingway | 33 | 0.64% | 7.26% | 9.68% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 43 | Harnett T. Kane | 29 | 0.56% | 4.17% | 2.21% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 44 | Frank G. Slaughter | 26 | 0.49% | 4.17% | 1.71% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 45 | William Faulkner | 24 | 0.46% | 4.17% | 1.88% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 46 | Margaret Kennedy | 23 | 0.45% | 4.79% | 1.92% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 47 | James Thurber | 21 | 0.41% | 4.79% | 1.73% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Inglis Fletcher | 20 | 0.38% | 6.32% | 3.97% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 | Shirley Barker | 17 | 0.34% | 4.17% | 1.38% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 50 | Victor Leclerc | 17 | 0.32% | 2.09% | 1.00% | 0 | 0 | 12 |