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 1991
Jan 6, 1991 → Dec 29, 1991 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1John Grisham369
- 2Danielle Steel279
- 3Dr. Seuss227
- 4Tom Clancy225
- 5Mary Higgins Clark207
- 6Stephen King188
- 7Amy Tan181
- 8Alexandra Ripley174
- 9Timothy Zahn170
- 10Jean M. Auel154
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Grisham | 369 | 7.10% | 12.64% | 11.30% | 0 | 27 | 42 |
| 2 | Danielle Steel | 279 | 5.37% | 14.53% | 9.83% | 8 | 19 | 25 |
| 3 | Dr. Seuss | 227 | 4.37% | 14.53% | 7.58% | 1 | 8 | 46 |
| 4 | Tom Clancy | 225 | 4.33% | 14.53% | 9.53% | 7 | 19 | 19 |
| 5 | Mary Higgins Clark | 207 | 3.97% | 14.53% | 8.76% | 6 | 15 | 22 |
| 6 | Stephen King | 188 | 3.62% | 15.59% | 13.51% | 2 | 14 | 17 |
| 7 | Amy Tan | 181 | 3.48% | 14.53% | 9.30% | 7 | 12 | 18 |
| 8 | Alexandra Ripley | 174 | 3.35% | 14.53% | 10.89% | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 9 | Timothy Zahn | 170 | 3.27% | 14.53% | 8.13% | 1 | 11 | 19 |
| 10 | Jean M. Auel | 154 | 2.96% | 14.74% | 11.67% | 0 | 10 | 18 |
| 11 | Sidney Sheldon | 154 | 2.95% | 12.64% | 7.73% | 0 | 8 | 20 |
| 12 | Dean R. Koontz | 147 | 2.83% | 14.63% | 8.01% | 3 | 10 | 16 |
| 13 | David Eddings | 128 | 2.46% | 14.53% | 6.05% | 3 | 9 | 17 |
| 14 | John le Carré | 112 | 2.15% | 14.72% | 7.14% | 2 | 8 | 12 |
| 15 | Jeffrey Archer | 108 | 2.08% | 11.01% | 5.45% | 0 | 5 | 18 |
| 16 | Ken Follett | 101 | 1.95% | 9.58% | 5.79% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 17 | Sue Grafton | 88 | 1.69% | 12.64% | 4.97% | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| 18 | Terry Brooks | 86 | 1.66% | 12.64% | 5.89% | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| 19 | LaVyrle Spencer | 81 | 1.56% | 12.64% | 5.28% | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| 20 | Jack Higgins | 72 | 1.38% | 11.01% | 4.94% | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| 21 | Anne Tyler | 70 | 1.34% | 11.01% | 4.91% | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 22 | Anne Rice | 69 | 1.32% | 11.15% | 7.96% | 0 | 4 | 14 |
| 23 | Judith McNaught | 69 | 1.32% | 8.34% | 4.05% | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| 24 | A. S. Byatt | 69 | 1.32% | 6.32% | 3.79% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 25 | Dick Francis | 68 | 1.31% | 11.01% | 4.86% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 | Peter Benchley | 67 | 1.30% | 9.58% | 4.44% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 27 | W. E. B. Griffin | 63 | 1.21% | 11.01% | 4.26% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 28 | Susan Isaacs | 60 | 1.16% | 9.58% | 4.06% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 29 | Anne Rivers Siddons | 58 | 1.12% | 8.34% | 3.56% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 30 | Judith Krantz | 56 | 1.08% | 11.18% | 5.63% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 31 | Josephine Hart | 56 | 1.08% | 8.34% | 3.66% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 32 | Maeve Binchy | 56 | 1.07% | 7.26% | 3.37% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 33 | Elmore Leonard | 52 | 1.00% | 11.01% | 3.92% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 34 | Rosamunde Pilcher | 48 | 0.92% | 9.58% | 3.57% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 35 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 47 | 0.91% | 8.34% | 3.17% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 36 | Michael Crichton | 44 | 0.84% | 7.36% | 3.90% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 37 | Mario Puzo | 43 | 0.83% | 9.65% | 3.15% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 38 | James A. Michener | 42 | 0.81% | 8.34% | 2.74% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 39 | Frederick Forsyth | 42 | 0.80% | 7.26% | 2.93% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 40 | Robert B. Parker | 41 | 0.78% | 9.58% | 3.08% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 41 | Janet Dailey | 39 | 0.75% | 9.58% | 3.13% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 42 | Anne McCaffrey | 37 | 0.72% | 7.26% | 2.58% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Martha Grimes | 36 | 0.69% | 7.26% | 2.65% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 44 | Louis L'Amour | 35 | 0.67% | 7.26% | 2.45% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 45 | Chris Van Allsburg | 32 | 0.62% | 9.71% | 4.20% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 46 | Larry Bond | 29 | 0.56% | 6.32% | 2.36% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 47 | Judith Michael | 29 | 0.56% | 6.32% | 2.30% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Milan Kundera | 29 | 0.56% | 4.79% | 2.10% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 49 | Eugenia Price | 29 | 0.55% | 6.32% | 2.36% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 50 | Lawrence Sanders | 27 | 0.53% | 6.32% | 2.00% | 0 | 0 | 7 |