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 1962
Jan 7, 1962 → Dec 30, 1962 · 51 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Katherine Anne Porter468
- 2J.D. Salinger413
- 3Irving Stone354
- 4Anne Morrow Lindbergh272
- 5Herman Wouk250
- 6Irving Wallace203
- 7Mary Renault197
- 8Taylor Caldwell184
- 9Harper Lee173
- 10William Faulkner165
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Katherine Anne Porter | 468 | 9.18% | 14.53% | 13.87% | 26 | 33 | 37 |
| 2 | J.D. Salinger | 413 | 8.09% | 14.53% | 14.02% | 16 | 29 | 39 |
| 3 | Irving Stone | 354 | 6.94% | 12.64% | 13.02% | 0 | 25 | 43 |
| 4 | Anne Morrow Lindbergh | 272 | 5.33% | 12.64% | 10.29% | 0 | 22 | 28 |
| 5 | Herman Wouk | 250 | 4.91% | 12.64% | 9.84% | 0 | 20 | 26 |
| 6 | Irving Wallace | 203 | 3.98% | 11.01% | 8.26% | 0 | 16 | 27 |
| 7 | Mary Renault | 197 | 3.87% | 12.64% | 8.85% | 0 | 15 | 25 |
| 8 | Taylor Caldwell | 184 | 3.61% | 11.01% | 7.93% | 0 | 11 | 25 |
| 9 | Harper Lee | 173 | 3.39% | 11.01% | 11.29% | 0 | 11 | 24 |
| 10 | William Faulkner | 165 | 3.24% | 9.58% | 7.06% | 0 | 11 | 26 |
| 11 | Richard Hughes | 159 | 3.12% | 12.64% | 7.69% | 0 | 12 | 20 |
| 12 | Allen Drury | 147 | 2.87% | 14.53% | 9.26% | 9 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | Anya Seton | 137 | 2.69% | 9.58% | 6.12% | 0 | 3 | 25 |
| 14 | Robert Ruark | 128 | 2.51% | 9.58% | 5.37% | 0 | 3 | 24 |
| 15 | Patrick Dennis | 123 | 2.41% | 9.58% | 6.85% | 0 | 6 | 22 |
| 16 | James Baldwin | 122 | 2.39% | 7.26% | 5.06% | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 17 | Edward Streeter | 117 | 2.29% | 7.26% | 5.53% | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 18 | Harold Robbins | 111 | 2.18% | 9.58% | 7.73% | 0 | 4 | 22 |
| 19 | Morris L. West | 99 | 1.94% | 8.34% | 5.65% | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| 20 | Leo Calvin Rosten | 88 | 1.73% | 6.32% | 3.89% | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 21 | Mary Stewart | 88 | 1.73% | 7.26% | 4.26% | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 22 | Charles W. Bailey II | 81 | 1.58% | 7.26% | 5.13% | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| 23 | Fletcher Knebel | 81 | 1.58% | 7.26% | 5.13% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 24 | James Jones | 78 | 1.53% | 7.26% | 4.87% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 25 | John O'Hara | 69 | 1.36% | 8.34% | 3.04% | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 26 | Louis Auchincloss | 62 | 1.21% | 6.32% | 3.56% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 27 | Bart Spicer | 59 | 1.15% | 4.79% | 2.97% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 28 | MacKinlay Kantor | 56 | 1.09% | 8.34% | 6.41% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 29 | Robert Traver | 49 | 0.96% | 5.50% | 3.00% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 30 | Paul I. Wellman | 43 | 0.83% | 3.63% | 1.98% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 31 | Aldous Huxley | 42 | 0.82% | 6.32% | 2.77% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 32 | Philip Roth | 40 | 0.78% | 4.79% | 2.64% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | Eugene Burdick | 39 | 0.76% | 6.32% | 3.14% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 34 | Harvey Wheeler | 39 | 0.76% | 6.32% | 3.14% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 35 | C. S. Forester | 32 | 0.62% | 7.26% | 2.19% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 | Sheila Burnford | 30 | 0.59% | 3.63% | 3.14% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 | Shirley Jackson | 28 | 0.56% | 4.79% | 2.26% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 38 | Robert Gover | 24 | 0.47% | 9.58% | 2.38% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 39 | Victoria Holt | 23 | 0.44% | 3.16% | 1.54% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Al Dewlen | 22 | 0.44% | 3.16% | 1.58% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 41 | A. J. Cronin | 22 | 0.44% | 4.17% | 3.06% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 42 | Alistair MacLean | 17 | 0.34% | 2.75% | 1.18% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | John Updike | 16 | 0.31% | 2.75% | 1.20% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | Jorge Amado | 13 | 0.25% | 2.40% | 1.05% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 | Andrew Tully | 12 | 0.23% | 2.09% | 0.84% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 | Niven Busch | 12 | 0.23% | 3.63% | 0.95% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Carson McCullers | 11 | 0.21% | 3.16% | 3.83% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 48 | Jerome Weidman | 10 | 0.19% | 3.16% | 0.81% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 | Howard Spring | 9 | 0.18% | 2.40% | 1.18% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 50 | Leon Uris | 9 | 0.17% | 2.75% | 5.38% | 0 | 0 | 4 |