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 1982
Jan 3, 1982 → Dec 26, 1982 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Robert Ludlum392
- 2John Jakes284
- 3Stephen King243
- 4Colleen McCullough222
- 5Jeffrey Archer208
- 6Ken Follett206
- 7Sidney Sheldon191
- 8James A. Michener183
- 9Bette Bao Lord176
- 10Jean M. Auel173
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Ludlum | 392 | 7.53% | 14.53% | 12.50% | 16 | 25 | 39 |
| 2 | John Jakes | 284 | 5.47% | 14.53% | 9.70% | 3 | 17 | 33 |
| 3 | Stephen King | 243 | 4.68% | 14.53% | 10.04% | 3 | 13 | 34 |
| 4 | Colleen McCullough | 222 | 4.26% | 14.53% | 12.40% | 7 | 15 | 23 |
| 5 | Jeffrey Archer | 208 | 4.00% | 14.53% | 9.49% | 5 | 14 | 22 |
| 6 | Ken Follett | 206 | 3.96% | 14.53% | 8.66% | 1 | 15 | 23 |
| 7 | Sidney Sheldon | 191 | 3.68% | 14.53% | 9.89% | 4 | 12 | 17 |
| 8 | James A. Michener | 183 | 3.51% | 14.53% | 11.12% | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| 9 | Bette Bao Lord | 176 | 3.38% | 12.64% | 7.80% | 0 | 11 | 24 |
| 10 | Jean M. Auel | 173 | 3.33% | 12.64% | 8.69% | 0 | 16 | 17 |
| 11 | John Irving | 170 | 3.26% | 14.53% | 11.88% | 1 | 8 | 25 |
| 12 | Stephen R. Donaldson | 165 | 3.17% | 12.64% | 7.31% | 0 | 11 | 21 |
| 13 | William Kotzwinkle | 158 | 3.04% | 12.64% | 8.13% | 0 | 14 | 18 |
| 14 | Danielle Steel | 144 | 2.76% | 8.34% | 4.63% | 0 | 3 | 28 |
| 15 | William F. Buckley Jr | 115 | 2.21% | 12.64% | 6.73% | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| 16 | Belva Plain | 113 | 2.18% | 9.58% | 6.08% | 0 | 9 | 16 |
| 17 | Thomas Thompson | 112 | 2.16% | 12.64% | 5.70% | 0 | 8 | 18 |
| 18 | Andrew M. Greeley | 112 | 2.15% | 9.58% | 4.88% | 0 | 2 | 24 |
| 19 | Anton Myrer | 100 | 1.93% | 11.01% | 5.85% | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 20 | Dick Francis | 92 | 1.77% | 11.01% | 4.80% | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| 21 | Saul Bellow | 88 | 1.70% | 11.01% | 5.78% | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| 22 | James Clavell | 87 | 1.68% | 11.01% | 10.19% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 23 | John D. MacDonald | 86 | 1.65% | 11.01% | 5.38% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 24 | Lawrence Sanders | 81 | 1.56% | 11.01% | 5.00% | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 25 | Isaac Asimov | 79 | 1.51% | 11.01% | 5.49% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 | Cynthia Freeman | 69 | 1.34% | 9.58% | 5.81% | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 27 | John Gardner | 68 | 1.31% | 7.26% | 3.88% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 28 | Arthur C. Clarke | 67 | 1.29% | 12.64% | 5.62% | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 29 | John Updike | 67 | 1.29% | 9.58% | 4.81% | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| 30 | Shirley Conran | 66 | 1.28% | 7.26% | 3.99% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 31 | Gail Godwin | 66 | 1.28% | 5.50% | 3.25% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 32 | Anne Tyler | 64 | 1.22% | 5.50% | 3.02% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 33 | Judith Krantz | 55 | 1.06% | 12.64% | 4.56% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 34 | Howard Fast | 47 | 0.91% | 5.50% | 4.60% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 35 | Robin Cook | 41 | 0.80% | 6.32% | 2.78% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 36 | Robert A. Heinlein | 37 | 0.71% | 5.50% | 2.46% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 | David Niven | 35 | 0.68% | 4.79% | 2.04% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 38 | Kit Williams | 34 | 0.65% | 6.32% | 3.27% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 39 | Paul Theroux | 32 | 0.61% | 6.32% | 2.31% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 40 | Jack Higgins | 31 | 0.60% | 5.50% | 2.29% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 | Martin Cruz Smith | 31 | 0.59% | 8.34% | 6.35% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 42 | Kurt Vonnegut | 29 | 0.56% | 5.50% | 2.34% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 | Douglas Adams | 28 | 0.54% | 5.50% | 2.24% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 44 | Helen Van Slyke | 25 | 0.48% | 3.16% | 1.34% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 45 | James Elward | 25 | 0.48% | 3.16% | 1.34% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 46 | Judith Guest | 24 | 0.46% | 4.79% | 1.66% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 47 | Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey | 23 | 0.44% | 3.63% | 1.79% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Helen MacInnes | 23 | 0.43% | 5.50% | 1.83% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 | Gerald A. Browne | 20 | 0.39% | 4.17% | 1.60% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 | Thomas Harris | 20 | 0.39% | 3.16% | 1.45% | 0 | 0 | 8 |