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 1986
Jan 5, 1986 → Dec 28, 1986 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Robert Ludlum306
- 2Jean M. Auel306
- 3Danielle Steel285
- 4Garrison Keillor280
- 5Tom Clancy274
- 6Stephen King246
- 7Louis L'Amour198
- 8Judith Krantz196
- 9John le Carré195
- 10Ken Follett184
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Ludlum | 306 | 5.89% | 14.53% | 10.22% | 8 | 19 | 32 |
| 2 | Jean M. Auel | 306 | 5.89% | 14.65% | 11.05% | 6 | 21 | 41 |
| 3 | Danielle Steel | 285 | 5.48% | 14.53% | 9.53% | 4 | 19 | 35 |
| 4 | Garrison Keillor | 280 | 5.39% | 14.53% | 12.18% | 1 | 22 | 30 |
| 5 | Tom Clancy | 274 | 5.27% | 14.53% | 10.86% | 4 | 22 | 22 |
| 6 | Stephen King | 246 | 4.74% | 14.53% | 11.71% | 12 | 17 | 20 |
| 7 | Louis L'Amour | 198 | 3.80% | 14.53% | 8.22% | 4 | 14 | 24 |
| 8 | Judith Krantz | 196 | 3.78% | 14.53% | 8.39% | 2 | 12 | 24 |
| 9 | John le Carré | 195 | 3.75% | 14.53% | 9.13% | 5 | 12 | 22 |
| 10 | Ken Follett | 184 | 3.54% | 14.53% | 7.78% | 2 | 11 | 24 |
| 11 | Jeffrey Archer | 155 | 2.98% | 12.64% | 7.93% | 0 | 12 | 17 |
| 12 | James A. Michener | 124 | 2.38% | 12.75% | 9.99% | 0 | 9 | 17 |
| 13 | Jackie Collins | 119 | 2.29% | 11.01% | 6.39% | 0 | 9 | 16 |
| 14 | James Clavell | 106 | 2.03% | 14.53% | 8.03% | 4 | 8 | 8 |
| 15 | Dick Francis | 104 | 2.00% | 12.64% | 6.16% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 16 | Sue Miller | 104 | 1.99% | 9.58% | 4.09% | 0 | 1 | 24 |
| 17 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 102 | 1.97% | 11.01% | 5.65% | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| 18 | Pat Conroy | 100 | 1.93% | 9.58% | 6.05% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 19 | Ernest Hemingway | 99 | 1.90% | 8.34% | 4.94% | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| 20 | Karleen Koen | 94 | 1.80% | 9.58% | 4.62% | 0 | 4 | 17 |
| 21 | Clive Cussler | 91 | 1.75% | 9.58% | 5.51% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 22 | Carl Sagan | 85 | 1.63% | 9.66% | 7.93% | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 23 | Lawrence Sanders | 82 | 1.58% | 9.58% | 4.63% | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 24 | Margaret Atwood | 79 | 1.52% | 8.34% | 3.96% | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| 25 | P.D. James | 77 | 1.49% | 9.58% | 5.76% | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 26 | John Updike | 64 | 1.23% | 9.58% | 3.74% | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| 27 | Isaac Asimov | 59 | 1.14% | 6.32% | 3.99% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 28 | Belva Plain | 57 | 1.10% | 7.26% | 3.44% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 29 | Sally Quinn | 52 | 1.00% | 9.58% | 3.61% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 30 | Anne Tyler | 52 | 0.99% | 6.32% | 4.73% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 31 | Louise Erdrich | 48 | 0.92% | 5.50% | 2.54% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 32 | Cynthia Freeman | 46 | 0.89% | 8.34% | 3.09% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 33 | Stephen Coonts | 44 | 0.85% | 6.32% | 3.42% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 34 | William J. Caunitz | 36 | 0.69% | 5.50% | 2.48% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 35 | Judith Michael | 35 | 0.68% | 5.50% | 2.63% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 36 | Stephen Birmingham | 35 | 0.67% | 6.32% | 2.54% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 37 | Robert B. Parker | 34 | 0.66% | 6.32% | 2.37% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 38 | Gerald A. Browne | 33 | 0.64% | 4.79% | 2.11% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 39 | Kurt Vonnegut | 32 | 0.62% | 7.26% | 5.50% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 40 | Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey | 31 | 0.59% | 6.32% | 2.25% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 | Harold Robbins | 30 | 0.58% | 5.50% | 2.14% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 42 | Andrew M. Greeley | 29 | 0.56% | 6.32% | 2.35% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 43 | Len Deighton | 25 | 0.48% | 4.79% | 2.07% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 44 | John D. MacDonald | 25 | 0.48% | 3.63% | 1.78% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 45 | Maureen Strange Foster | 25 | 0.48% | 3.63% | 1.72% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 46 | Patti Davis | 25 | 0.48% | 3.63% | 1.72% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 47 | Patrick Suskind | 25 | 0.48% | 4.17% | 1.87% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 48 | L. Ron Hubbard | 24 | 0.47% | 4.17% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 49 | Marek Halter | 22 | 0.42% | 7.26% | 1.74% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 50 | Anne McCaffrey | 21 | 0.41% | 4.79% | 1.61% | 0 | 0 | 7 |