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 1956
Jan 1, 1956 → Dec 30, 1956 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Edwin O'Connor548
- 2MacKinlay Kantor452
- 3Patrick Dennis422
- 4William Brinkley313
- 5John O'Hara273
- 6Simone de Beauvoir212
- 7Herman Wouk196
- 8Pearl S. Buck186
- 9A. J. Cronin173
- 10Francoise Sagan166
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edwin O'Connor | 548 | 10.34% | 14.53% | 13.44% | 20 | 41 | 45 |
| 2 | MacKinlay Kantor | 452 | 8.53% | 14.53% | 12.47% | 12 | 31 | 44 |
| 3 | Patrick Dennis | 422 | 7.96% | 11.01% | 11.74% | 0 | 32 | 53 |
| 4 | William Brinkley | 313 | 5.91% | 14.53% | 12.48% | 15 | 22 | 24 |
| 5 | John O'Hara | 273 | 5.14% | 12.64% | 10.84% | 0 | 20 | 30 |
| 6 | Simone de Beauvoir | 212 | 3.99% | 11.01% | 8.89% | 0 | 17 | 24 |
| 7 | Herman Wouk | 196 | 3.71% | 12.64% | 12.33% | 0 | 14 | 22 |
| 8 | Pearl S. Buck | 186 | 3.51% | 12.64% | 8.16% | 0 | 11 | 24 |
| 9 | A. J. Cronin | 173 | 3.26% | 12.64% | 7.51% | 0 | 13 | 21 |
| 10 | Francoise Sagan | 166 | 3.13% | 12.64% | 8.42% | 0 | 11 | 19 |
| 11 | Grace Metalious | 161 | 3.03% | 14.53% | 10.31% | 6 | 12 | 14 |
| 12 | Cameron Hawley | 156 | 2.95% | 11.01% | 7.62% | 0 | 9 | 24 |
| 13 | John Hersey | 153 | 2.88% | 9.58% | 6.73% | 0 | 10 | 23 |
| 14 | Irwin Shaw | 124 | 2.33% | 11.01% | 6.54% | 0 | 7 | 18 |
| 15 | Alec Waugh | 114 | 2.15% | 8.34% | 5.42% | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| 16 | Sloan Wilson | 107 | 2.03% | 6.32% | 8.52% | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 17 | Graham Greene | 94 | 1.78% | 9.58% | 5.14% | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| 18 | Kenneth Roberts | 82 | 1.55% | 8.34% | 4.30% | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 19 | Eugene Burdick | 74 | 1.40% | 5.50% | 3.77% | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 20 | Alistair MacLean | 72 | 1.35% | 5.50% | 3.55% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 21 | Guy Endore | 71 | 1.34% | 7.26% | 4.65% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 22 | Nicholas Monsarrat | 67 | 1.27% | 11.01% | 5.53% | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 23 | Virginia Rowans | 65 | 1.22% | 6.32% | 3.70% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 24 | Elizabeth Goudge | 59 | 1.11% | 4.79% | 3.03% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 25 | Rumer Godden | 58 | 1.09% | 5.50% | 3.43% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 26 | Thomas B. Costain | 56 | 1.05% | 7.26% | 6.62% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 27 | Nelson Algren | 55 | 1.04% | 5.50% | 2.97% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 28 | Susan Ertz | 48 | 0.91% | 5.50% | 3.11% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 29 | Meyer Levin | 45 | 0.85% | 8.34% | 3.74% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 30 | Paul Wellman | 45 | 0.84% | 5.50% | 3.19% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 31 | Peter De Vries | 44 | 0.83% | 6.32% | 2.46% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 32 | Taylor Caldwell | 42 | 0.80% | 4.17% | 2.42% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 33 | Helen Howe | 40 | 0.74% | 5.50% | 2.64% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 34 | Santha Rama Rau | 30 | 0.56% | 4.79% | 1.85% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 35 | Samuel Shellabarger | 28 | 0.52% | 4.79% | 1.90% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 | A.M. Maughan | 27 | 0.51% | 3.63% | 1.82% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 | Angus Wilson | 27 | 0.51% | 3.63% | 1.73% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 38 | David Garnett | 25 | 0.47% | 4.17% | 1.83% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 39 | Mac Hyman | 24 | 0.45% | 3.63% | 2.83% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Honor Tracy | 24 | 0.44% | 4.17% | 1.72% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 | Robert Ruark | 23 | 0.44% | 4.79% | 6.86% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 42 | Willi Heinrich | 22 | 0.42% | 4.79% | 1.68% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 | Edward Streeter | 19 | 0.36% | 4.79% | 1.72% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 44 | Mary McCarthy | 19 | 0.36% | 4.79% | 2.60% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 45 | Norman Mailer | 18 | 0.34% | 3.63% | 3.91% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 | Charles E. Mercer | 17 | 0.33% | 2.75% | 1.37% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 47 | Norah Lofts | 16 | 0.30% | 2.75% | 1.17% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Nevil Shute | 14 | 0.27% | 4.17% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 49 | Sholem Asch | 14 | 0.27% | 2.40% | 1.36% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 | Edwin Gilbert | 13 | 0.26% | 2.75% | 1.05% | 0 | 0 | 6 |