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 1959
Jan 4, 1959 → Dec 27, 1959 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Leon Uris662
- 2Boris Pasternak499
- 3Taylor Caldwell341
- 4Vladimir Nabokov316
- 5Eugene Burdick258
- 6William J. Lederer258
- 7Allen Drury252
- 8D.H. Lawrence251
- 9Paul Gallico200
- 10John O'Hara189
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leon Uris | 662 | 12.72% | 14.53% | 14.20% | 20 | 51 | 52 |
| 2 | Boris Pasternak | 499 | 9.59% | 14.53% | 13.98% | 19 | 38 | 45 |
| 3 | Taylor Caldwell | 341 | 6.55% | 11.01% | 9.11% | 0 | 36 | 39 |
| 4 | Vladimir Nabokov | 316 | 6.09% | 12.64% | 11.96% | 0 | 25 | 38 |
| 5 | Eugene Burdick | 258 | 4.96% | 6.32% | 5.43% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 6 | William J. Lederer | 258 | 4.96% | 6.32% | 5.43% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 7 | Allen Drury | 252 | 4.84% | 14.53% | 12.49% | 13 | 18 | 20 |
| 8 | D.H. Lawrence | 251 | 4.82% | 12.64% | 10.27% | 0 | 22 | 27 |
| 9 | Paul Gallico | 200 | 3.85% | 7.26% | 6.04% | 0 | 8 | 42 |
| 10 | John O'Hara | 189 | 3.63% | 11.01% | 7.65% | 0 | 18 | 25 |
| 11 | Gwen Bristow | 118 | 2.28% | 7.26% | 5.63% | 0 | 9 | 21 |
| 12 | Mary Stewart | 110 | 2.12% | 6.32% | 4.62% | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| 13 | Robert Penn Warren | 94 | 1.80% | 11.01% | 5.05% | 0 | 6 | 16 |
| 14 | John Hersey | 86 | 1.66% | 12.64% | 6.20% | 0 | 8 | 10 |
| 15 | Romain Gary | 86 | 1.65% | 7.26% | 4.47% | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| 16 | Niven Busch | 85 | 1.64% | 6.32% | 4.26% | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 17 | Patrick Dennis | 82 | 1.57% | 8.34% | 9.32% | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| 18 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 81 | 1.55% | 6.32% | 3.60% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 19 | Edmund Schiddel | 71 | 1.36% | 6.32% | 3.96% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 20 | Paul Hyde Bonner | 66 | 1.27% | 6.32% | 3.86% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 21 | Morris L. West | 64 | 1.24% | 7.26% | 3.98% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 22 | Hugh MacLennan | 64 | 1.22% | 5.50% | 3.09% | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 23 | Eugene Vale | 63 | 1.22% | 7.26% | 3.37% | 0 | 2 | 16 |
| 24 | Hamilton Basso | 55 | 1.06% | 5.50% | 3.32% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 25 | Thomas B. Costain | 55 | 1.05% | 9.58% | 4.05% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 26 | Robert Ruark | 51 | 0.99% | 11.01% | 4.33% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 27 | Evan Connell | 51 | 0.98% | 5.50% | 2.89% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 28 | James A. Michener | 51 | 0.98% | 12.64% | 4.63% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 29 | Robert Traver | 49 | 0.94% | 5.50% | 9.45% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 30 | Katherine Wigmore Eyre | 48 | 0.92% | 4.17% | 2.56% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 31 | Meyer Levin | 36 | 0.70% | 6.32% | 2.47% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 32 | Peter De Vries | 36 | 0.69% | 6.32% | 2.65% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 33 | John P. Marquand | 34 | 0.65% | 6.32% | 6.25% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 34 | F. Van Wyck Mason | 32 | 0.62% | 3.63% | 1.84% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 35 | Mary Renault | 31 | 0.60% | 4.79% | 4.18% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 36 | Gerald Green | 27 | 0.51% | 4.79% | 1.87% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 37 | Edwin Gilbert | 22 | 0.42% | 3.63% | 1.64% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 38 | Joseph Kessel | 22 | 0.41% | 4.17% | 1.47% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 39 | Rona Jaffe | 21 | 0.40% | 3.63% | 4.98% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 40 | Samuel H. Adams | 20 | 0.39% | 4.79% | 1.54% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 41 | Sylvia Ashton-Warner | 20 | 0.39% | 3.16% | 1.35% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 42 | Robin White | 20 | 0.38% | 3.63% | 1.58% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 | Angus Wilson | 18 | 0.35% | 3.63% | 1.39% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | William Faulkner | 18 | 0.35% | 4.17% | 1.63% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 45 | Truman Capote | 17 | 0.33% | 3.16% | 1.06% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | Norah Lofts | 16 | 0.31% | 3.63% | 1.10% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 47 | Richard Powell | 15 | 0.29% | 3.63% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 48 | Frank G. Slaughter | 14 | 0.26% | 3.63% | 0.70% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 | Han Suyin | 13 | 0.26% | 3.16% | 1.84% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 50 | Lawrence Durrell | 11 | 0.21% | 3.63% | 1.03% | 0 | 0 | 4 |