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 1978
Jan 1, 1978 → Dec 31, 1978 · 40 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1J.R.R. Tolkien354
- 2Sidney Sheldon336
- 3Colleen McCullough298
- 4Judith Krantz252
- 5Richard Bach221
- 6Robert Ludlum189
- 7Marilyn French156
- 8James A. Michener149
- 9John le Carré148
- 10Graham Greene140
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.R.R. Tolkien | 354 | 8.86% | 14.53% | 13.72% | 10 | 22 | 39 |
| 2 | Sidney Sheldon | 336 | 8.40% | 14.53% | 12.35% | 13 | 26 | 26 |
| 3 | Colleen McCullough | 298 | 7.44% | 14.53% | 12.64% | 1 | 24 | 27 |
| 4 | Judith Krantz | 252 | 6.30% | 14.53% | 11.16% | 4 | 20 | 29 |
| 5 | Richard Bach | 221 | 5.53% | 11.01% | 8.69% | 0 | 6 | 40 |
| 6 | Robert Ludlum | 189 | 4.73% | 14.53% | 9.55% | 1 | 15 | 18 |
| 7 | Marilyn French | 156 | 3.91% | 9.58% | 5.35% | 0 | 5 | 31 |
| 8 | James A. Michener | 149 | 3.71% | 14.53% | 9.70% | 5 | 11 | 11 |
| 9 | John le Carré | 148 | 3.71% | 11.01% | 9.23% | 0 | 11 | 21 |
| 10 | Graham Greene | 140 | 3.51% | 11.01% | 6.63% | 0 | 9 | 20 |
| 11 | Joseph Wambaugh | 113 | 2.82% | 11.01% | 6.05% | 0 | 7 | 18 |
| 12 | Herman Wouk | 112 | 2.81% | 14.53% | 8.37% | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| 13 | Howard Fast | 107 | 2.67% | 11.01% | 4.90% | 0 | 5 | 19 |
| 14 | William F. Buckley Jr | 84 | 2.11% | 9.58% | 5.58% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 15 | Mario Puzo | 84 | 2.10% | 11.01% | 6.22% | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 16 | John Irving | 78 | 1.96% | 9.58% | 5.11% | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| 17 | Irwin Shaw | 75 | 1.87% | 8.34% | 5.98% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 18 | M.M. Kaye | 75 | 1.86% | 11.01% | 5.53% | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 19 | Belva Plain | 72 | 1.81% | 8.34% | 4.63% | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| 20 | Harold Robbins | 67 | 1.67% | 6.32% | 4.46% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 21 | John Fowles | 65 | 1.62% | 9.58% | 7.10% | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| 22 | James Jones | 63 | 1.57% | 8.34% | 4.08% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 23 | Richard Adams | 56 | 1.40% | 6.32% | 3.25% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 24 | Terence H. White | 52 | 1.31% | 7.26% | 4.73% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 25 | Ken Follett | 49 | 1.24% | 5.50% | 2.82% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 26 | Anton Myrer | 47 | 1.17% | 6.32% | 3.31% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 27 | Anais Nin | 46 | 1.15% | 4.79% | 4.67% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 28 | John D. MacDonald | 44 | 1.11% | 7.26% | 3.15% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 29 | Sylvia Tenenbaum | 44 | 1.11% | 5.50% | 2.47% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 30 | Mary Higgins Clark | 43 | 1.07% | 5.50% | 2.48% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 31 | Taylor Caldwell | 42 | 1.06% | 8.34% | 3.35% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 32 | Helen MacInnes | 41 | 1.03% | 7.26% | 2.89% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 33 | Robert S. Elegant | 38 | 0.95% | 5.50% | 4.67% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 34 | Gore Vidal | 37 | 0.94% | 6.32% | 2.55% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 35 | Allistair MacLean | 28 | 0.69% | 4.17% | 1.75% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 | Lawrence Sanders | 24 | 0.60% | 3.63% | 3.68% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 37 | James Carroll | 21 | 0.53% | 4.79% | 1.78% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 38 | Judy Blume | 20 | 0.49% | 4.17% | 1.49% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 39 | Harry Kemelman | 15 | 0.38% | 3.16% | 1.12% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 40 | Mary Gordon | 10 | 0.26% | 2.09% | 0.81% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 41 | J.D. Gilman | 9 | 0.23% | 1.38% | 0.69% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 42 | John Clive | 9 | 0.23% | 1.38% | 0.69% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | John Cheever | 7 | 0.18% | 4.17% | 1.30% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 44 | Helen Van Slyke | 2 | 0.05% | 2.09% | 0.23% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 | Marvin Kalb | 1 | 0.03% | 1.38% | 0.15% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 | Ted Koppel | 1 | 0.03% | 1.38% | 0.15% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 47 | Dorothy Uhnak | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.68% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Erica Jong | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.27% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Erich Segal | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.72% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Jeffrey Archer | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.20% | 0 | 0 | 0 |