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 1990
Jan 7, 1990 → Dec 30, 1990 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Stephen King487
- 2Dr. Seuss355
- 3Scott Turow291
- 4Danielle Steel283
- 5Rosamunde Pilcher228
- 6Robert Ludlum209
- 7Sidney Sheldon191
- 8Tom Clancy188
- 9Jean M. Auel161
- 10P.D. James140
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen King | 487 | 9.37% | 19.76% | 13.02% | 13 | 35 | 44 |
| 2 | Dr. Seuss | 355 | 6.83% | 14.53% | 10.11% | 1 | 21 | 45 |
| 3 | Scott Turow | 291 | 5.60% | 14.53% | 11.00% | 11 | 20 | 29 |
| 4 | Danielle Steel | 283 | 5.44% | 14.53% | 10.16% | 2 | 19 | 33 |
| 5 | Rosamunde Pilcher | 228 | 4.38% | 14.53% | 8.42% | 4 | 15 | 26 |
| 6 | Robert Ludlum | 209 | 4.02% | 14.53% | 8.36% | 5 | 11 | 26 |
| 7 | Sidney Sheldon | 191 | 3.67% | 14.53% | 8.39% | 2 | 12 | 19 |
| 8 | Tom Clancy | 188 | 3.62% | 12.64% | 10.59% | 0 | 11 | 27 |
| 9 | Jean M. Auel | 161 | 3.09% | 14.72% | 10.52% | 9 | 11 | 11 |
| 10 | P.D. James | 140 | 2.70% | 14.53% | 7.89% | 3 | 10 | 16 |
| 11 | Dean R. Koontz | 134 | 2.58% | 14.53% | 7.17% | 2 | 9 | 15 |
| 12 | Clive Cussler | 111 | 2.13% | 11.01% | 5.67% | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| 13 | Jackie Collins | 103 | 1.98% | 12.75% | 6.12% | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| 14 | Tony Hillerman | 94 | 1.81% | 11.01% | 5.75% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 15 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 94 | 1.80% | 12.64% | 5.99% | 0 | 7 | 11 |
| 16 | James A. Michener | 94 | 1.80% | 12.64% | 7.80% | 0 | 5 | 15 |
| 17 | Dick Francis | 93 | 1.79% | 11.01% | 5.08% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 18 | Anne Rice | 92 | 1.77% | 12.74% | 6.77% | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 19 | Dominick Dunne | 89 | 1.71% | 7.26% | 4.35% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 20 | Thomas Pynchon | 88 | 1.70% | 12.64% | 4.80% | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| 21 | Judith Michael | 83 | 1.60% | 12.64% | 5.18% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 22 | Tom Robbins | 75 | 1.45% | 9.58% | 4.21% | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 23 | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | 60 | 1.16% | 11.13% | 4.06% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 24 | Terry Brooks | 59 | 1.13% | 9.58% | 4.08% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 25 | Jack Higgins | 58 | 1.11% | 9.58% | 3.61% | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 26 | Janet Dailey | 55 | 1.06% | 9.58% | 3.63% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 27 | LaVyrle Spencer | 55 | 1.06% | 8.34% | 3.69% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 28 | Jimmy Buffett | 53 | 1.03% | 7.26% | 4.36% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 29 | Joseph Wambaugh | 52 | 1.00% | 8.34% | 3.21% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 30 | W. E. B. Griffin | 50 | 0.95% | 8.34% | 3.15% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 31 | Arthur Hailey | 48 | 0.92% | 8.34% | 3.45% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 32 | Chris Van Allsburg | 43 | 0.83% | 11.15% | 3.36% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 33 | Kurt Vonnegut | 43 | 0.83% | 9.75% | 3.17% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 34 | Len Deighton | 42 | 0.80% | 8.51% | 2.54% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 35 | Colleen McCullough | 42 | 0.80% | 6.39% | 2.97% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 36 | Judith Krantz | 38 | 0.73% | 8.45% | 3.39% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 37 | Robin Cook | 38 | 0.73% | 9.58% | 2.78% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 38 | Sue Miller | 35 | 0.67% | 5.50% | 2.38% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 39 | Umberto Eco | 34 | 0.66% | 8.34% | 6.38% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 40 | Nelson DeMille | 33 | 0.64% | 4.79% | 2.01% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 41 | Larry McMurtry | 32 | 0.62% | 7.33% | 2.49% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 42 | Robert B. Parker | 32 | 0.61% | 7.26% | 2.44% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 | Elmore Leonard | 30 | 0.58% | 8.34% | 2.45% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 44 | John Updike | 28 | 0.55% | 5.55% | 2.18% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 45 | Lawrence Sanders | 28 | 0.54% | 4.79% | 2.10% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | David Eddings | 27 | 0.53% | 6.32% | 2.32% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Carrie Fisher | 26 | 0.50% | 7.35% | 2.07% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 48 | Alexandra Day | 24 | 0.47% | 9.67% | 2.35% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 49 | Stephen Coonts | 24 | 0.46% | 5.50% | 2.05% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 50 | Louis L'Amour | 23 | 0.45% | 5.50% | 1.96% | 0 | 0 | 6 |