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 1984
Jan 1, 1984 → Dec 30, 1984 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Robert Ludlum354
- 2Stephen King312
- 3Helen Hooven Santmyer291
- 4Danielle Steel238
- 5Dr. Seuss231
- 6Gore Vidal223
- 7Frederick Forsyth215
- 8Leon Uris190
- 9James A. Michener170
- 10Jeffrey Archer154
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Ludlum | 354 | 6.67% | 14.53% | 11.43% | 13 | 25 | 34 |
| 2 | Stephen King | 312 | 5.89% | 14.53% | 13.07% | 8 | 26 | 34 |
| 3 | Helen Hooven Santmyer | 291 | 5.49% | 14.53% | 10.60% | 7 | 18 | 29 |
| 4 | Danielle Steel | 238 | 4.49% | 14.53% | 8.99% | 4 | 14 | 32 |
| 5 | Dr. Seuss | 231 | 4.36% | 12.64% | 7.26% | 0 | 12 | 37 |
| 6 | Gore Vidal | 223 | 4.21% | 12.64% | 8.60% | 0 | 15 | 28 |
| 7 | Frederick Forsyth | 215 | 4.06% | 14.53% | 9.87% | 8 | 15 | 20 |
| 8 | Leon Uris | 190 | 3.59% | 12.64% | 7.66% | 0 | 13 | 24 |
| 9 | James A. Michener | 170 | 3.21% | 14.53% | 12.48% | 2 | 13 | 21 |
| 10 | Jeffrey Archer | 154 | 2.91% | 14.53% | 8.42% | 3 | 10 | 17 |
| 11 | Judy Blume | 140 | 2.64% | 12.64% | 7.19% | 0 | 9 | 18 |
| 12 | Umberto Eco | 131 | 2.47% | 11.01% | 10.80% | 0 | 8 | 20 |
| 13 | John Jakes | 122 | 2.31% | 12.64% | 8.11% | 4 | 11 | 11 |
| 14 | Louis L'Amour | 118 | 2.23% | 12.64% | 6.09% | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| 15 | Frank Herbert | 117 | 2.22% | 11.01% | 5.63% | 0 | 6 | 20 |
| 16 | Susan Isaacs | 106 | 2.00% | 11.01% | 5.48% | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| 17 | Arthur Hailey | 99 | 1.88% | 11.01% | 5.88% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 18 | Bill Adler | 90 | 1.71% | 7.26% | 5.02% | 0 | 1 | 22 |
| 19 | Thomas Chastain | 90 | 1.71% | 7.26% | 5.02% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 20 | Clive Cussler | 87 | 1.64% | 8.34% | 4.91% | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| 21 | Dick Francis | 86 | 1.63% | 12.64% | 5.25% | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| 22 | Joseph Heller | 86 | 1.62% | 12.64% | 5.19% | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| 23 | Len Deighton | 78 | 1.48% | 9.58% | 4.81% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 24 | Mario Puzo | 78 | 1.47% | 12.64% | 6.41% | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| 25 | Peter Straub | 73 | 1.37% | 7.26% | 4.97% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 26 | John Updike | 67 | 1.26% | 8.34% | 3.79% | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 27 | Norman Mailer | 66 | 1.25% | 9.58% | 4.40% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 28 | Andrew M. Greeley | 65 | 1.22% | 7.26% | 4.10% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 29 | Belva Plain | 60 | 1.12% | 8.34% | 3.93% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 30 | William F. Buckley Jr | 56 | 1.05% | 7.26% | 3.66% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 31 | Mary Stewart | 56 | 1.05% | 8.34% | 4.75% | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 32 | Robert A. Heinlein | 50 | 0.94% | 7.26% | 3.09% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | Susan Howatch | 49 | 0.93% | 5.50% | 3.08% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 34 | Mary Higgins Clark | 48 | 0.92% | 9.58% | 3.73% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 35 | Joan Rivers | 48 | 0.91% | 8.34% | 4.02% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 36 | Anne McCaffrey | 44 | 0.83% | 7.26% | 3.83% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 37 | Eric Van Lustbader | 39 | 0.73% | 5.50% | 2.78% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 38 | John D. MacDonald | 38 | 0.72% | 7.26% | 2.83% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 39 | Clare Francis | 38 | 0.72% | 5.50% | 2.44% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 40 | Isaac Asimov | 34 | 0.65% | 7.26% | 4.35% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 41 | E. T. A. Hoffmann | 34 | 0.63% | 9.58% | 3.12% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 42 | Harold Robbins | 32 | 0.61% | 7.26% | 2.33% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Gary Jennings | 30 | 0.57% | 4.79% | 1.93% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 44 | Dan Jenkins | 29 | 0.55% | 6.32% | 2.34% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 45 | Michael Ende | 27 | 0.52% | 4.79% | 2.48% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | Judith Michael | 24 | 0.46% | 3.63% | 1.71% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 47 | Janet Dailey | 24 | 0.45% | 4.79% | 1.85% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | John Gardner | 24 | 0.45% | 4.79% | 1.81% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 49 | Alice Adams | 23 | 0.43% | 4.17% | 1.70% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 50 | Bette Midler | 22 | 0.42% | 5.50% | 4.19% | 0 | 0 | 6 |