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 1957
Jan 6, 1957 → Dec 29, 1957 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Grace Metalious622
- 2Meyer Levin421
- 3Daphne Du Maurier346
- 4Frances Parkinson Keyes272
- 5James Gould Cozzens233
- 6Nevil Shute208
- 7Gerald Green203
- 8Max Schulman186
- 9Richard Powell180
- 10Edwin Gilbert166
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grace Metalious | 622 | 11.97% | 14.53% | 14.09% | 23 | 43 | 52 |
| 2 | Meyer Levin | 421 | 8.10% | 12.64% | 10.61% | 0 | 34 | 47 |
| 3 | Daphne Du Maurier | 346 | 6.65% | 14.53% | 12.38% | 14 | 23 | 31 |
| 4 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 272 | 5.23% | 11.01% | 8.79% | 0 | 22 | 37 |
| 5 | James Gould Cozzens | 233 | 4.48% | 14.53% | 12.24% | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 6 | Nevil Shute | 208 | 4.00% | 12.64% | 9.19% | 0 | 18 | 21 |
| 7 | Gerald Green | 203 | 3.90% | 9.58% | 7.41% | 0 | 11 | 31 |
| 8 | Max Schulman | 186 | 3.58% | 12.64% | 10.13% | 0 | 15 | 18 |
| 9 | Richard Powell | 180 | 3.45% | 11.01% | 7.10% | 0 | 11 | 26 |
| 10 | Edwin Gilbert | 166 | 3.19% | 12.64% | 7.53% | 0 | 8 | 26 |
| 11 | Richard Mason | 153 | 2.93% | 9.58% | 6.42% | 0 | 9 | 21 |
| 12 | Rebecca West | 143 | 2.75% | 12.64% | 7.53% | 0 | 10 | 18 |
| 13 | Pearl S. Buck | 123 | 2.37% | 12.64% | 6.38% | 0 | 7 | 18 |
| 14 | William Brinkley | 116 | 2.23% | 12.64% | 12.53% | 0 | 8 | 15 |
| 15 | Thomas B. Costain | 115 | 2.21% | 11.01% | 7.58% | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| 16 | Patrick Dennis | 109 | 2.10% | 8.34% | 8.46% | 0 | 1 | 31 |
| 17 | John P. Marquand | 108 | 2.07% | 7.26% | 3.62% | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 18 | Ayn Rand | 99 | 1.90% | 11.01% | 6.62% | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| 19 | Nicholas Monsarrat | 89 | 1.70% | 11.01% | 7.60% | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| 20 | John Steinbeck | 85 | 1.63% | 6.32% | 4.45% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 21 | Myron S. Kaufmann | 78 | 1.51% | 7.26% | 4.64% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 22 | William Faulkner | 63 | 1.20% | 7.26% | 3.81% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 23 | Howard Swiggett | 59 | 1.13% | 5.50% | 3.13% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 24 | Richard Bissell | 57 | 1.10% | 6.32% | 3.12% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 25 | Taylor Caldwell | 55 | 1.05% | 7.26% | 4.01% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 26 | Albert Camus | 54 | 1.05% | 6.32% | 3.25% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 27 | Sybille Bedford | 48 | 0.93% | 5.50% | 2.51% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 28 | John Cheever | 46 | 0.88% | 5.50% | 2.62% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 | Mika Waltari | 45 | 0.87% | 6.32% | 2.98% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 30 | Ernest Gann | 42 | 0.81% | 5.50% | 2.44% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 31 | James Thurber | 39 | 0.75% | 4.17% | 2.30% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 32 | Frank Yerby | 38 | 0.74% | 4.79% | 2.44% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | John Masters | 36 | 0.70% | 4.79% | 2.25% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 34 | Conrad Richter | 35 | 0.68% | 4.79% | 2.08% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 35 | Edwin O'Connor | 33 | 0.63% | 6.32% | 9.05% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 36 | Dorothy Erskine | 31 | 0.60% | 3.63% | 1.90% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 37 | Erich Maria Remarque | 31 | 0.59% | 5.50% | 2.06% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 38 | Mary Ellen Chase | 30 | 0.58% | 7.26% | 2.57% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 39 | John McPartland | 30 | 0.57% | 4.79% | 2.06% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Guy Endore | 29 | 0.55% | 6.32% | 4.98% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 | Rose Macaulay | 28 | 0.53% | 4.79% | 1.74% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 42 | Frank Norris | 26 | 0.49% | 4.79% | 1.76% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Paul Wellman | 24 | 0.46% | 4.79% | 3.55% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 44 | Isak Dinesen | 22 | 0.43% | 4.79% | 1.88% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 | Mary Renault | 19 | 0.36% | 3.63% | 1.41% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | A.B. Guthrie Jr | 18 | 0.34% | 4.17% | 1.75% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 47 | C.Y. Lee | 17 | 0.32% | 2.40% | 0.94% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 48 | Jack Kerouac | 14 | 0.27% | 3.63% | 1.23% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 49 | Vladimir Dudintsev | 13 | 0.25% | 3.63% | 1.11% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 50 | Harnett T. Kane | 12 | 0.23% | 3.16% | 1.13% | 0 | 0 | 4 |