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 1977
Jan 2, 1977 → Dec 25, 1977 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Paul E. Erdman430
- 2Colleen McCullough415
- 3Leon Uris381
- 4Erich Segal301
- 5John Cheever253
- 6Richard Bach250
- 7J.R.R. Tolkien204
- 8Clive Cussler187
- 9John D. MacDonald170
- 10Robert Ludlum142
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul E. Erdman | 430 | 8.26% | 12.64% | 11.50% | 0 | 35 | 43 |
| 2 | Colleen McCullough | 415 | 7.99% | 14.53% | 12.64% | 15 | 30 | 32 |
| 3 | Leon Uris | 381 | 7.33% | 14.53% | 14.30% | 14 | 24 | 37 |
| 4 | Erich Segal | 301 | 5.79% | 14.53% | 10.53% | 7 | 21 | 31 |
| 5 | John Cheever | 253 | 4.87% | 14.53% | 10.68% | 3 | 20 | 25 |
| 6 | Richard Bach | 250 | 4.80% | 12.64% | 9.34% | 0 | 18 | 28 |
| 7 | J.R.R. Tolkien | 204 | 3.92% | 16.77% | 11.96% | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| 8 | Clive Cussler | 187 | 3.59% | 12.64% | 9.31% | 0 | 15 | 19 |
| 9 | John D. MacDonald | 170 | 3.28% | 11.01% | 6.91% | 0 | 10 | 27 |
| 10 | Robert Ludlum | 142 | 2.73% | 8.34% | 5.99% | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 11 | Anais Nin | 137 | 2.64% | 9.58% | 6.38% | 0 | 8 | 21 |
| 12 | Agatha Christie | 125 | 2.40% | 12.64% | 11.69% | 0 | 10 | 12 |
| 13 | John le Carré | 120 | 2.30% | 11.13% | 7.88% | 0 | 10 | 12 |
| 14 | Robert S. Elegant | 113 | 2.17% | 11.01% | 5.39% | 0 | 4 | 19 |
| 15 | Jack Higgins | 110 | 2.11% | 11.01% | 8.90% | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| 16 | John Fowles | 109 | 2.10% | 9.58% | 6.54% | 0 | 9 | 14 |
| 17 | Joyce Haber | 95 | 1.82% | 9.58% | 5.91% | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| 18 | Erica Jong | 91 | 1.76% | 8.34% | 4.67% | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 19 | William Safire | 76 | 1.47% | 9.58% | 4.57% | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 20 | Kurt Vonnegut | 73 | 1.41% | 9.58% | 7.81% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 21 | Joan Didion | 72 | 1.38% | 5.50% | 3.87% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 22 | Lawrence Sanders | 69 | 1.33% | 7.26% | 3.79% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 23 | Taylor Caldwell | 65 | 1.24% | 7.26% | 4.24% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 24 | Robin Cook | 65 | 1.24% | 7.26% | 3.78% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 25 | Irwin Shaw | 57 | 1.10% | 9.69% | 4.54% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 26 | John Gardner | 57 | 1.10% | 7.26% | 3.69% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 27 | Howard Fast | 57 | 1.10% | 8.34% | 3.79% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 28 | Sterling Hayden | 55 | 1.06% | 8.34% | 3.80% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 29 | Terence H. White | 51 | 0.98% | 7.26% | 3.48% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 30 | Harold Robbins | 48 | 0.92% | 7.33% | 3.73% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 31 | Dorothy Uhnak | 47 | 0.91% | 5.50% | 2.42% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 32 | Harry Patterson | 36 | 0.69% | 6.32% | 2.62% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 33 | N. Richard Nash | 22 | 0.43% | 5.50% | 1.93% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 34 | Susan Howatch | 21 | 0.41% | 4.79% | 1.29% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 35 | John Updike | 19 | 0.37% | 5.50% | 2.04% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 36 | Mary Stewart | 15 | 0.29% | 6.32% | 6.90% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 37 | Marilyn French | 12 | 0.23% | 4.17% | 1.11% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 38 | Phillip Roth | 6 | 0.12% | 2.11% | 0.53% | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 39 | Gael Greene | 6 | 0.11% | 5.50% | 2.89% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 | Stephen King | 6 | 0.11% | 5.50% | 0.60% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 | Jacqueline Susann | 5 | 0.09% | 4.79% | 7.50% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 42 | Judith Guest | 5 | 0.09% | 4.79% | 4.83% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 | John Gregory Dunne | 4 | 0.09% | 2.40% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 44 | Judith Rossner | 4 | 0.09% | 2.40% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 45 | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | 4 | 0.08% | 4.17% | 0.46% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 | Louis Auchincloss | 2 | 0.05% | 2.40% | 0.26% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 47 | Jeffrey Archer | 2 | 0.04% | 2.10% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 48 | Allistair MacLean | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 49 | Robert Coover | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 50 | Victoria Holt | 2 | 0.04% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |