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 1963
Jan 6, 1963 → Dec 29, 1963 · 51 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Morris L. West380
- 2John O'Hara309
- 3J.D. Salinger291
- 4Daphne Du Maurier259
- 5Richard McKenna255
- 6James Michener216
- 7Mary McCarthy209
- 8Charles W. Bailey II196
- 9Fletcher Knebel196
- 10John Rechy187
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morris L. West | 380 | 7.46% | 14.53% | 12.52% | 14 | 29 | 29 |
| 2 | John O'Hara | 309 | 6.06% | 12.64% | 9.91% | 0 | 20 | 35 |
| 3 | J.D. Salinger | 291 | 5.71% | 14.53% | 11.09% | 10 | 21 | 28 |
| 4 | Daphne Du Maurier | 259 | 5.07% | 14.53% | 10.39% | 6 | 20 | 24 |
| 5 | Richard McKenna | 255 | 5.00% | 12.64% | 8.84% | 4 | 21 | 29 |
| 6 | James Michener | 216 | 4.23% | 12.64% | 9.93% | 0 | 19 | 20 |
| 7 | Mary McCarthy | 209 | 4.11% | 14.53% | 11.73% | 12 | 15 | 16 |
| 8 | Charles W. Bailey II | 196 | 3.84% | 7.26% | 6.51% | 0 | 9 | 34 |
| 9 | Fletcher Knebel | 196 | 3.84% | 7.26% | 6.51% | 0 | 15 | 34 |
| 10 | John Rechy | 187 | 3.67% | 11.01% | 7.75% | 0 | 15 | 24 |
| 11 | Taylor Caldwell | 184 | 3.60% | 11.01% | 7.79% | 0 | 16 | 23 |
| 12 | Mary Stewart | 150 | 2.94% | 8.34% | 6.51% | 0 | 12 | 22 |
| 13 | Allen Drury | 112 | 2.20% | 11.01% | 10.02% | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| 14 | Jetta Carleton | 110 | 2.15% | 8.34% | 5.58% | 0 | 8 | 17 |
| 15 | Eugene Burdick | 103 | 2.02% | 6.32% | 5.11% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 16 | Harvey Wheeler | 103 | 2.02% | 6.32% | 5.11% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 17 | Pearl S. Buck | 95 | 1.86% | 9.58% | 6.41% | 0 | 9 | 11 |
| 18 | Ian Fleming | 86 | 1.68% | 6.32% | 4.85% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 19 | Helen MacInnes | 73 | 1.43% | 12.64% | 5.56% | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| 20 | Rumer Godden | 71 | 1.38% | 8.34% | 4.81% | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 21 | Robert Gover | 70 | 1.37% | 8.34% | 4.65% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 22 | Betty Smith | 69 | 1.36% | 8.34% | 4.52% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 23 | John Fowles | 63 | 1.24% | 7.26% | 4.47% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 24 | Mark Rascovich | 63 | 1.24% | 5.50% | 3.83% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 25 | Nora Lofts | 63 | 1.23% | 6.32% | 3.59% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 26 | Irving Wallace | 60 | 1.17% | 6.32% | 6.29% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 27 | Gunter Grass | 50 | 0.97% | 7.26% | 3.25% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 28 | Philip Wylie | 46 | 0.90% | 7.26% | 3.40% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 29 | John Updike | 44 | 0.87% | 5.50% | 2.96% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 30 | Patrick Dennis | 43 | 0.84% | 9.58% | 4.26% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 31 | Katherine Anne Porter | 38 | 0.74% | 7.26% | 9.75% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 32 | Harold Robbins | 28 | 0.56% | 7.26% | 5.26% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 33 | James Jones | 21 | 0.41% | 6.32% | 4.90% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 34 | Anne Morrow Lindbergh | 20 | 0.38% | 9.58% | 8.29% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 35 | Robert H.K. Walter | 17 | 0.33% | 4.17% | 1.39% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 36 | Frances Parkinson Keyes | 16 | 0.32% | 6.32% | 1.51% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 | Louis Auchincloss | 13 | 0.24% | 4.17% | 1.24% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 38 | James E. Bassett | 10 | 0.20% | 3.16% | 0.87% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 39 | Rosalind Erskine | 9 | 0.18% | 2.40% | 1.27% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 40 | Shirley Jackson | 9 | 0.17% | 3.16% | 2.44% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 | Hal Borland | 8 | 0.16% | 4.17% | 0.78% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 42 | Alistair MacLean | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 | Jean Genet | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 44 | Robert St. John | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 | Victoria Holt | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 | Paul I. Wellman | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 2.00% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 47 | Pierre La Mure | 2 | 0.04% | 1.82% | 0.58% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 48 | Anya Seton | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.54% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Bart Spicer | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 2.31% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | C. S. Forester | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.76% | 0 | 0 | 0 |