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 1985
Jan 6, 1985 → Dec 29, 1985 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Stephen King330
- 2Sidney Sheldon330
- 3Tom Clancy266
- 4Danielle Steel266
- 5Garrison Keillor231
- 6Richard Bachman191
- 7John Irving177
- 8Jackie Collins154
- 9James A. Michener153
- 10Louis L'Amour148
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen King | 330 | 6.35% | 14.53% | 10.66% | 10 | 19 | 41 |
| 2 | Sidney Sheldon | 330 | 6.34% | 14.53% | 10.89% | 9 | 18 | 36 |
| 3 | Tom Clancy | 266 | 5.12% | 12.64% | 9.80% | 0 | 19 | 29 |
| 4 | Danielle Steel | 266 | 5.12% | 14.53% | 8.12% | 4 | 19 | 33 |
| 5 | Garrison Keillor | 231 | 4.44% | 14.53% | 11.36% | 5 | 17 | 18 |
| 6 | Richard Bachman | 191 | 3.68% | 14.53% | 9.00% | 4 | 10 | 25 |
| 7 | John Irving | 177 | 3.40% | 14.53% | 8.15% | 1 | 12 | 21 |
| 8 | Jackie Collins | 154 | 2.96% | 14.53% | 7.74% | 2 | 9 | 18 |
| 9 | James A. Michener | 153 | 2.95% | 14.72% | 9.15% | 6 | 12 | 12 |
| 10 | Louis L'Amour | 148 | 2.85% | 14.53% | 6.98% | 1 | 9 | 19 |
| 11 | Herman Wouk | 147 | 2.82% | 11.01% | 6.12% | 0 | 10 | 24 |
| 12 | Mario Puzo | 145 | 2.79% | 14.53% | 10.48% | 4 | 10 | 16 |
| 13 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 138 | 2.65% | 14.53% | 6.31% | 1 | 7 | 19 |
| 14 | Lawrence Sanders | 132 | 2.54% | 12.64% | 7.38% | 0 | 10 | 15 |
| 15 | Larry McMurtry | 113 | 2.18% | 9.58% | 5.21% | 0 | 4 | 20 |
| 16 | Carl Sagan | 111 | 2.14% | 11.01% | 6.95% | 0 | 11 | 12 |
| 17 | Elmore Leonard | 110 | 2.11% | 12.64% | 5.52% | 0 | 5 | 18 |
| 18 | Frank Herbert | 99 | 1.91% | 12.64% | 5.43% | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| 19 | Dominick Dunne | 95 | 1.82% | 8.34% | 4.98% | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| 20 | Anne Tyler | 94 | 1.81% | 9.58% | 4.87% | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| 21 | Douglas Adams | 92 | 1.76% | 11.01% | 6.41% | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| 22 | Jean M. Auel | 85 | 1.64% | 14.62% | 7.06% | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 23 | Joan Rivers | 83 | 1.59% | 9.58% | 6.74% | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| 24 | Kurt Vonnegut | 76 | 1.45% | 8.45% | 5.01% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 25 | Erich Segal | 73 | 1.40% | 9.58% | 3.58% | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 26 | John D. MacDonald | 73 | 1.40% | 11.01% | 4.16% | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| 27 | Joseph Wambaugh | 71 | 1.37% | 8.34% | 4.17% | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| 28 | John Jakes | 67 | 1.28% | 11.01% | 8.66% | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| 29 | Peter Straub | 61 | 1.17% | 7.26% | 5.63% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 30 | Dick Francis | 58 | 1.12% | 8.34% | 3.52% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 31 | Gail Godwin | 54 | 1.04% | 8.34% | 3.49% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 32 | William F. Buckley Jr | 49 | 0.93% | 7.26% | 3.10% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | Frederick Forsyth | 46 | 0.89% | 8.34% | 8.49% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 34 | Cynthia Freeman | 45 | 0.86% | 7.26% | 3.49% | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 35 | Michael Korda | 39 | 0.75% | 5.50% | 2.62% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 36 | Helen Hooven Santmyer | 39 | 0.75% | 7.26% | 7.15% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 37 | Tom Robbins | 37 | 0.70% | 6.32% | 3.02% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 38 | John Fowles | 37 | 0.70% | 7.26% | 2.52% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 39 | Robert B. Parker | 35 | 0.68% | 7.26% | 2.48% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Len Deighton | 33 | 0.64% | 5.50% | 2.11% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 41 | E. L. Doctorow | 32 | 0.62% | 6.32% | 2.58% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 42 | Robin Cook | 31 | 0.59% | 4.79% | 2.23% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Robert Moss | 31 | 0.59% | 7.26% | 2.52% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 44 | Marguerite Duras | 30 | 0.57% | 4.79% | 2.25% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 45 | Dan Jenkins | 28 | 0.53% | 4.79% | 3.08% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | Colleen McCullough | 27 | 0.52% | 4.17% | 1.89% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 47 | Robert A. Heinlein | 26 | 0.50% | 5.50% | 2.16% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Anita Brookner | 26 | 0.49% | 4.17% | 1.75% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 49 | Larry Collins | 25 | 0.49% | 4.79% | 1.74% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 50 | Jacqueline Briskin | 25 | 0.48% | 5.50% | 1.96% | 0 | 0 | 7 |