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 1983
Jan 2, 1983 → Dec 25, 1983 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1James A. Michener461
- 2Stephen King412
- 3John le Carré343
- 4Umberto Eco311
- 5Joan D. Vinge254
- 6Danielle Steel203
- 7Stephen R. Donaldson169
- 8Jackie Collins160
- 9Nora Ephron158
- 10Judith Krantz157
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James A. Michener | 461 | 8.86% | 14.69% | 13.30% | 20 | 30 | 43 |
| 2 | Stephen King | 412 | 7.93% | 16.22% | 10.76% | 6 | 25 | 49 |
| 3 | John le Carré | 343 | 6.59% | 14.53% | 11.66% | 12 | 22 | 34 |
| 4 | Umberto Eco | 311 | 5.99% | 14.53% | 10.81% | 5 | 25 | 27 |
| 5 | Joan D. Vinge | 254 | 4.88% | 14.53% | 10.20% | 8 | 15 | 29 |
| 6 | Danielle Steel | 203 | 3.91% | 12.79% | 8.53% | 0 | 13 | 26 |
| 7 | Stephen R. Donaldson | 169 | 3.25% | 12.64% | 7.52% | 0 | 12 | 23 |
| 8 | Jackie Collins | 160 | 3.07% | 9.58% | 7.37% | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| 9 | Nora Ephron | 158 | 3.04% | 11.01% | 6.48% | 0 | 9 | 29 |
| 10 | Judith Krantz | 157 | 3.03% | 14.53% | 10.00% | 1 | 12 | 16 |
| 11 | Jean M. Auel | 157 | 3.02% | 9.58% | 8.79% | 0 | 9 | 30 |
| 12 | Arthur C. Clarke | 155 | 2.98% | 12.64% | 9.50% | 0 | 12 | 17 |
| 13 | Sidney Sheldon | 150 | 2.88% | 12.64% | 9.40% | 0 | 10 | 21 |
| 14 | Judith Rossner | 137 | 2.63% | 11.01% | 7.01% | 0 | 12 | 18 |
| 15 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 137 | 2.63% | 9.58% | 6.03% | 0 | 8 | 23 |
| 16 | Isaac Asimov | 133 | 2.55% | 9.58% | 6.90% | 0 | 4 | 20 |
| 17 | Louis L'Amour | 116 | 2.23% | 12.64% | 5.25% | 0 | 8 | 19 |
| 18 | Trevanian | 109 | 2.09% | 8.34% | 5.12% | 0 | 2 | 19 |
| 19 | Norman Mailer | 82 | 1.58% | 7.26% | 4.21% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 20 | Dick Francis | 82 | 1.57% | 7.26% | 4.30% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 21 | Joseph Wambaugh | 81 | 1.55% | 11.01% | 4.71% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 22 | William Kotzwinkle | 77 | 1.48% | 11.01% | 8.72% | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| 23 | Lawrence Sanders | 73 | 1.41% | 8.34% | 4.11% | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 24 | Robin Cook | 68 | 1.30% | 9.58% | 4.38% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 25 | Stephen Birmingham | 65 | 1.24% | 7.33% | 3.75% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 26 | Andrew M. Greeley | 63 | 1.22% | 6.32% | 3.51% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 27 | Mark Helprin | 61 | 1.18% | 7.26% | 3.52% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 28 | Douglas Adams | 59 | 1.14% | 6.32% | 4.29% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 | Bill Adler | 57 | 1.09% | 5.50% | 3.17% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 30 | Thomas Chastain | 57 | 1.09% | 5.50% | 3.17% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 31 | Bette Midler | 51 | 0.99% | 8.34% | 3.93% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 32 | Fred Mustard Stewart | 49 | 0.95% | 7.26% | 3.08% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | Peter Straub | 47 | 0.91% | 8.34% | 3.38% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 34 | Marion Zimmer Bradley | 45 | 0.87% | 6.32% | 2.61% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 35 | Len Deighton | 42 | 0.81% | 4.79% | 2.80% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 36 | John Gardner | 38 | 0.73% | 4.79% | 2.43% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 37 | Mary Stewart | 33 | 0.63% | 6.32% | 2.76% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 38 | Jacqueline Briskin | 26 | 0.51% | 4.79% | 2.10% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 39 | Anne McCaffrey | 26 | 0.49% | 7.26% | 2.21% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 40 | Kurt Vonnegut | 24 | 0.46% | 4.17% | 2.88% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 | Arnaud de Borchgrave | 21 | 0.40% | 2.42% | 1.29% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 42 | Robert Moss | 21 | 0.40% | 2.42% | 1.29% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 43 | Judith Guest | 16 | 0.31% | 2.75% | 2.03% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | Malcolm Bosse | 16 | 0.30% | 3.63% | 1.29% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 | Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey | 16 | 0.30% | 3.16% | 2.08% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 | Robert Ludlum | 13 | 0.25% | 3.16% | 3.98% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Michael Ende | 12 | 0.23% | 3.63% | 1.11% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 48 | Phyllis A. Whitney | 12 | 0.23% | 3.16% | 1.04% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 49 | Morris West | 11 | 0.21% | 2.75% | 0.99% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 50 | Rita Mae Brown | 10 | 0.19% | 3.16% | 0.88% | 0 | 0 | 4 |