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 1961
Jan 1, 1961 → Dec 31, 1961 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Harper Lee582
- 2Irving Stone538
- 3Andre Schwarz-Bart348
- 4James A. Michener336
- 5Allen Drury244
- 6Leon Uris242
- 7Harold Robbins217
- 8Graham Greene191
- 9J.D. Salinger191
- 10Edwin O'Connor189
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harper Lee | 582 | 10.99% | 12.64% | 12.26% | 0 | 52 | 53 |
| 2 | Irving Stone | 538 | 10.16% | 14.53% | 13.97% | 27 | 38 | 40 |
| 3 | Andre Schwarz-Bart | 348 | 6.56% | 14.53% | 11.51% | 4 | 27 | 38 |
| 4 | James A. Michener | 336 | 6.34% | 14.53% | 14.45% | 12 | 23 | 36 |
| 5 | Allen Drury | 244 | 4.60% | 12.64% | 12.89% | 0 | 16 | 30 |
| 6 | Leon Uris | 242 | 4.57% | 12.64% | 8.88% | 0 | 21 | 29 |
| 7 | Harold Robbins | 217 | 4.09% | 11.01% | 8.58% | 0 | 14 | 27 |
| 8 | Graham Greene | 191 | 3.61% | 11.01% | 8.28% | 0 | 15 | 26 |
| 9 | J.D. Salinger | 191 | 3.61% | 14.53% | 11.30% | 10 | 13 | 15 |
| 10 | Edwin O'Connor | 189 | 3.56% | 11.01% | 7.30% | 0 | 12 | 26 |
| 11 | Henry Miller | 146 | 2.75% | 8.34% | 5.75% | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| 12 | John Steinbeck | 144 | 2.72% | 8.34% | 6.32% | 0 | 10 | 23 |
| 13 | John O'Hara | 117 | 2.21% | 9.58% | 6.46% | 0 | 8 | 17 |
| 14 | Rumer Godden | 107 | 2.02% | 8.34% | 5.02% | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| 15 | Helen MacInnes | 102 | 1.93% | 8.34% | 5.89% | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| 16 | Noel Coward | 91 | 1.72% | 6.32% | 3.99% | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 17 | A.A. Milnei | 91 | 1.72% | 6.32% | 4.44% | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 18 | Sheila Burnford | 90 | 1.70% | 4.79% | 3.05% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 19 | John Dos Passos | 87 | 1.64% | 8.34% | 4.97% | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 20 | Carson McCullers | 86 | 1.61% | 6.32% | 4.46% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 21 | Elizabeth Goudge | 85 | 1.61% | 11.01% | 7.04% | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 22 | Gladys Schmitt | 77 | 1.45% | 5.50% | 3.83% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 23 | MacKinlay Kantor | 74 | 1.41% | 9.58% | 5.46% | 0 | 7 | 11 |
| 24 | Robert Lewis Taylor | 70 | 1.33% | 5.50% | 3.02% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 25 | Edward Streeter | 67 | 1.25% | 7.26% | 4.52% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 26 | Taylor Caldwell | 57 | 1.08% | 5.50% | 3.33% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 27 | Nancy Mitford | 54 | 1.02% | 7.26% | 3.44% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 28 | Evan Hunter | 53 | 1.00% | 4.79% | 2.98% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 29 | Patrick Dennis | 52 | 0.98% | 9.58% | 4.18% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 30 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 51 | 0.97% | 6.32% | 3.06% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 31 | William Maxwell | 51 | 0.95% | 6.32% | 2.87% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 32 | Mary Ellen Chase | 47 | 0.89% | 7.26% | 6.82% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 33 | Nicholas Monsarrat | 45 | 0.86% | 4.79% | 2.14% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 34 | Wallace Stegner | 42 | 0.80% | 6.32% | 2.49% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 35 | F. Van Wyck Mason | 38 | 0.71% | 4.17% | 2.21% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 36 | A. J. Cronin | 33 | 0.63% | 5.50% | 2.63% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 37 | Victoria Holt | 33 | 0.62% | 6.32% | 5.41% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 38 | Sloan Wilson | 32 | 0.60% | 4.17% | 2.06% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 39 | Morris L. West | 18 | 0.34% | 5.50% | 1.68% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 40 | Guiseppe di Lampedusa | 17 | 0.33% | 4.17% | 8.01% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 41 | Norah Lofts | 15 | 0.28% | 3.16% | 1.22% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 42 | Richard Llewellyn | 13 | 0.25% | 3.63% | 1.17% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 43 | John Updike | 11 | 0.22% | 2.09% | 1.08% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 44 | Hammond Innes | 11 | 0.21% | 2.75% | 0.92% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 45 | Marquis William Childs | 11 | 0.20% | 2.75% | 0.83% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 | Elizabeth Taylor | 9 | 0.17% | 2.75% | 0.74% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 47 | Howard Spring | 8 | 0.15% | 3.63% | 0.79% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 48 | Jere Peacock | 8 | 0.15% | 3.16% | 0.74% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 | May Sarton | 7 | 0.13% | 2.75% | 0.68% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 50 | Nathaniel Benchley | 7 | 0.13% | 2.75% | 0.64% | 0 | 0 | 3 |