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 1960
Jan 3, 1960 → Dec 25, 1960 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1James A. Michener725
- 2Allen Drury686
- 3Guiseppe di Lampedusa327
- 4Marcia Davenport230
- 5Irving Wallace213
- 6Taylor Caldwell212
- 7Harper Lee174
- 8Mary Ellen Chase170
- 9John O'Hara144
- 10Cameron Hawley142
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James A. Michener | 725 | 13.95% | 14.53% | 14.22% | 37 | 52 | 52 |
| 2 | Allen Drury | 686 | 13.19% | 14.53% | 13.94% | 15 | 52 | 52 |
| 3 | Guiseppe di Lampedusa | 327 | 6.30% | 12.64% | 10.52% | 0 | 27 | 33 |
| 4 | Marcia Davenport | 230 | 4.42% | 11.01% | 8.92% | 0 | 19 | 29 |
| 5 | Irving Wallace | 213 | 4.09% | 9.58% | 8.30% | 0 | 19 | 28 |
| 6 | Taylor Caldwell | 212 | 4.07% | 11.01% | 9.88% | 0 | 9 | 37 |
| 7 | Harper Lee | 174 | 3.34% | 11.01% | 8.69% | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| 8 | Mary Ellen Chase | 170 | 3.27% | 9.58% | 6.71% | 0 | 4 | 26 |
| 9 | John O'Hara | 144 | 2.76% | 9.58% | 6.78% | 0 | 10 | 21 |
| 10 | Cameron Hawley | 142 | 2.74% | 9.58% | 6.55% | 0 | 9 | 22 |
| 11 | Robert Ruark | 141 | 2.71% | 11.01% | 8.26% | 0 | 11 | 19 |
| 12 | Morris L. West | 138 | 2.66% | 9.58% | 6.68% | 0 | 3 | 25 |
| 13 | C.P. Snow | 125 | 2.41% | 8.34% | 5.34% | 0 | 2 | 23 |
| 14 | John Hersey | 117 | 2.25% | 8.34% | 7.21% | 0 | 5 | 21 |
| 15 | Henry Morton Robinson | 115 | 2.20% | 8.34% | 5.59% | 0 | 5 | 19 |
| 16 | Irwin Shaw | 113 | 2.17% | 11.01% | 5.90% | 0 | 6 | 17 |
| 17 | Nevil Shute | 103 | 1.98% | 8.34% | 4.95% | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| 18 | Victoria Holt | 85 | 1.63% | 8.34% | 5.29% | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| 19 | Leon Uris | 83 | 1.59% | 8.34% | 11.47% | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 20 | Elizabeth Goudge | 81 | 1.55% | 11.01% | 5.77% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 21 | Theodore H. White | 76 | 1.45% | 7.26% | 3.85% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 22 | Peter Gilman | 73 | 1.40% | 6.32% | 3.86% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 23 | Lawrence Durrell | 69 | 1.33% | 6.32% | 3.25% | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 24 | Paul Gallico | 63 | 1.21% | 6.32% | 2.92% | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 25 | Thomas B. Costain | 55 | 1.05% | 7.26% | 5.25% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 26 | William Styron | 50 | 0.97% | 5.50% | 2.75% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 27 | Louis Auchincloss | 46 | 0.88% | 6.32% | 2.71% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 28 | Nikos Kazantzakis | 45 | 0.87% | 6.32% | 2.58% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 | Paul Horgan | 45 | 0.86% | 5.50% | 2.72% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 30 | Helen MacInnes | 37 | 0.72% | 8.34% | 3.15% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 31 | Roald Dahl | 37 | 0.70% | 4.17% | 2.24% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 32 | Jerome Weidman | 35 | 0.68% | 4.79% | 2.42% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 33 | Alec Waugh | 31 | 0.59% | 4.17% | 1.94% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 34 | Eugene Burdick | 30 | 0.57% | 2.40% | 4.15% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 35 | William J. Lederer | 30 | 0.57% | 2.40% | 4.15% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 36 | William Faulkner | 27 | 0.51% | 4.17% | 2.57% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 37 | Howard Spring | 26 | 0.49% | 3.63% | 1.55% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 38 | Andre Schwarz-Bart | 26 | 0.49% | 7.26% | 2.31% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 39 | Mary Stewart | 25 | 0.49% | 4.17% | 1.65% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Geoffrey Household | 24 | 0.46% | 4.79% | 1.83% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 | Nicholas Monsarrat | 23 | 0.45% | 4.17% | 1.81% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 42 | Robert Wilder | 21 | 0.41% | 3.63% | 1.56% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Eugene Vale | 17 | 0.33% | 3.63% | 3.30% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 44 | Richard Frede | 16 | 0.31% | 2.40% | 0.98% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 45 | Ngaio Marsh | 14 | 0.27% | 3.63% | 1.09% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 | Rona Jaffe | 12 | 0.23% | 2.75% | 0.97% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Jessamyn West | 12 | 0.23% | 2.75% | 0.94% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 48 | Robert Penn Warren | 11 | 0.21% | 3.63% | 4.11% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 | Noel Coward | 9 | 0.18% | 3.16% | 0.89% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 50 | William Kelley | 8 | 0.16% | 2.40% | 0.80% | 0 | 0 | 4 |