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 1988
Jan 3, 1988 → Dec 25, 1988 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Tom Wolfe456
- 2Tom Clancy376
- 3Danielle Steel326
- 4Robert Ludlum270
- 5James A. Michener263
- 6Gabriel Garcia Marquez213
- 7Rosamunde Pilcher191
- 8Stephen King180
- 9Judith Krantz152
- 10Scott Turow149
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Wolfe | 456 | 8.77% | 14.53% | 12.24% | 8 | 34 | 48 |
| 2 | Tom Clancy | 376 | 7.23% | 14.53% | 11.78% | 12 | 24 | 37 |
| 3 | Danielle Steel | 326 | 6.27% | 14.53% | 10.85% | 7 | 23 | 37 |
| 4 | Robert Ludlum | 270 | 5.18% | 14.53% | 10.88% | 8 | 18 | 27 |
| 5 | James A. Michener | 263 | 5.06% | 14.53% | 9.51% | 5 | 17 | 28 |
| 6 | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | 213 | 4.10% | 12.64% | 7.81% | 0 | 12 | 31 |
| 7 | Rosamunde Pilcher | 191 | 3.67% | 7.26% | 4.39% | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 8 | Stephen King | 180 | 3.46% | 16.48% | 12.36% | 3 | 13 | 18 |
| 9 | Judith Krantz | 152 | 2.93% | 12.64% | 7.87% | 0 | 10 | 19 |
| 10 | Scott Turow | 149 | 2.87% | 12.64% | 10.68% | 0 | 10 | 17 |
| 11 | Clive Cussler | 122 | 2.34% | 11.01% | 5.90% | 0 | 8 | 18 |
| 12 | Anne Rice | 120 | 2.30% | 14.53% | 7.85% | 3 | 9 | 10 |
| 13 | Jackie Collins | 117 | 2.25% | 12.64% | 5.95% | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| 14 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 116 | 2.24% | 12.64% | 6.65% | 0 | 9 | 13 |
| 15 | Anne Tyler | 114 | 2.19% | 12.64% | 6.66% | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| 16 | Arthur C. Clarke | 91 | 1.74% | 9.58% | 5.50% | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| 17 | Sidney Sheldon | 87 | 1.68% | 14.53% | 7.27% | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 18 | Dominick Dunne | 87 | 1.67% | 9.58% | 4.98% | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 19 | Judith Michael | 85 | 1.64% | 9.58% | 4.73% | 0 | 3 | 16 |
| 20 | Erich Segal | 79 | 1.52% | 9.58% | 5.20% | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| 21 | Dick Francis | 79 | 1.52% | 11.01% | 4.97% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 22 | Jonathan Winters | 70 | 1.34% | 9.58% | 4.51% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 23 | Larry McMurtry | 69 | 1.33% | 11.01% | 4.54% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 24 | Richard Bach | 68 | 1.30% | 11.01% | 5.14% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 25 | Stephen Coonts | 67 | 1.30% | 9.58% | 4.08% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 | Toni Morrison | 62 | 1.19% | 6.32% | 4.66% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 27 | Diane Duane | 59 | 1.14% | 9.58% | 4.29% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 28 | David Eddings | 58 | 1.12% | 7.26% | 2.40% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 | Chris Van Allsburg | 58 | 1.11% | 11.01% | 3.65% | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 30 | Dean R. Koontz | 55 | 1.05% | 7.26% | 3.65% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 31 | Robert B. Parker | 51 | 0.97% | 7.26% | 3.21% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 32 | Elmore Leonard | 48 | 0.92% | 6.32% | 2.96% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | Thomas Flanagan | 47 | 0.91% | 9.58% | 3.28% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 34 | Tony Hillerman | 46 | 0.88% | 6.32% | 2.90% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 35 | Leon Uris | 44 | 0.84% | 7.26% | 3.26% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 36 | Wilhelm Grimm | 43 | 0.83% | 8.34% | 3.71% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 37 | Garrison Keillor | 43 | 0.82% | 11.12% | 8.38% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 38 | Len Deighton | 41 | 0.79% | 5.50% | 2.51% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 39 | Lawrence Sanders | 40 | 0.78% | 7.26% | 2.99% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 40 | Belva Plain | 39 | 0.74% | 5.50% | 2.30% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 41 | Thomas Harris | 36 | 0.69% | 7.26% | 2.71% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 42 | Cynthia Freeman | 34 | 0.65% | 6.32% | 2.50% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Peter Straub | 30 | 0.58% | 7.26% | 2.13% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 44 | Susan Isaacs | 30 | 0.57% | 4.79% | 2.22% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 45 | William F. Buckley Jr | 27 | 0.52% | 4.79% | 2.03% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | Robin Cook | 27 | 0.52% | 4.17% | 1.92% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 47 | John Jakes | 26 | 0.49% | 5.56% | 5.77% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Isaac Asimov | 25 | 0.48% | 4.17% | 1.74% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 49 | Anne McCaffrey | 23 | 0.44% | 4.17% | 1.80% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 | Joan Collins | 21 | 0.40% | 5.50% | 1.77% | 0 | 0 | 6 |