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 1964
Jan 5, 1964 → Dec 27, 1964 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1John le Carré632
- 2Mary McCarthy359
- 3Leon Uris251
- 4Louis Auchincloss249
- 5Gore Vidal218
- 6Helen MacInnes210
- 7John Cheever172
- 8Mary Stewart170
- 9Ian Fleming161
- 10Saul Bellow159
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John le Carré | 632 | 12.16% | 14.53% | 14.27% | 34 | 45 | 50 |
| 2 | Mary McCarthy | 359 | 6.90% | 14.53% | 13.28% | 7 | 26 | 35 |
| 3 | Leon Uris | 251 | 4.83% | 12.64% | 9.48% | 0 | 17 | 28 |
| 4 | Louis Auchincloss | 249 | 4.78% | 14.53% | 11.11% | 1 | 22 | 22 |
| 5 | Gore Vidal | 218 | 4.19% | 12.64% | 7.62% | 0 | 16 | 28 |
| 6 | Helen MacInnes | 210 | 4.04% | 12.64% | 10.06% | 0 | 18 | 22 |
| 7 | John Cheever | 172 | 3.31% | 9.58% | 7.59% | 0 | 14 | 23 |
| 8 | Mary Stewart | 170 | 3.26% | 12.64% | 8.78% | 0 | 17 | 19 |
| 9 | Ian Fleming | 161 | 3.10% | 8.34% | 5.43% | 0 | 4 | 27 |
| 10 | Saul Bellow | 159 | 3.06% | 14.53% | 10.41% | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 11 | Mason Hoffenberg | 145 | 2.78% | 6.32% | 4.86% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 12 | Terry Southern | 145 | 2.78% | 6.32% | 4.86% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 13 | Erich Maria Remarque | 142 | 2.74% | 11.01% | 6.58% | 0 | 12 | 20 |
| 14 | John O'Hara | 139 | 2.67% | 11.01% | 8.29% | 0 | 12 | 17 |
| 15 | Charles W. Bailey II | 131 | 2.52% | 6.32% | 5.07% | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| 16 | Fletcher Knebel | 131 | 2.52% | 6.32% | 5.07% | 0 | 4 | 27 |
| 17 | David Westheimer | 131 | 2.51% | 7.26% | 5.42% | 0 | 5 | 22 |
| 18 | Irving Wallace | 115 | 2.21% | 11.01% | 6.43% | 0 | 8 | 17 |
| 19 | Morris L. West | 114 | 2.20% | 12.64% | 12.29% | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| 20 | William Golding | 106 | 2.03% | 11.01% | 5.60% | 0 | 9 | 15 |
| 21 | Richard E. Kim | 105 | 2.02% | 8.34% | 5.46% | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| 22 | Pearl S. Buck | 69 | 1.32% | 8.34% | 6.81% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 23 | James Michener | 68 | 1.31% | 11.01% | 10.04% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 24 | Eugene Burdick | 66 | 1.28% | 6.32% | 3.96% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 25 | Bruce Jay Friedman | 40 | 0.77% | 5.50% | 2.71% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 26 | Hans Kirst | 31 | 0.60% | 4.79% | 2.26% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 27 | Peter DeVries | 23 | 0.44% | 4.79% | 1.76% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 28 | Rumer Godden | 20 | 0.38% | 5.50% | 4.95% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 29 | Robert Wilder | 18 | 0.34% | 4.79% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 30 | Meyer Levin | 14 | 0.27% | 5.50% | 1.34% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | A. J. Cronin | 13 | 0.24% | 4.17% | 1.18% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 32 | Elizabeth Goudge | 13 | 0.24% | 4.17% | 1.00% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 | Edwin O'Connor | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | Elizabeth Gray Vining | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | John Gunther | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 36 | Paul Molloy | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | Alistair MacLean | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.41% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Betty Smith | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.83% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Daphne Du Maurier | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.56% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | J.D. Salinger | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.96% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Jean Genet | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.26% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Jetta Carleton | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.21% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | John Fowles | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.41% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | John Rechy | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 4.89% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Mark Rascovich | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.38% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Nora Lofts | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.42% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | Richard McKenna | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.61% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Taylor Caldwell | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.12% | 0 | 0 | 0 |