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 1992
Jan 5, 1992 → Dec 27, 1992 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1John Grisham491
- 2Stephen King338
- 3Danielle Steel278
- 4Terry McMillan239
- 5Michael Crichton175
- 6Alexandra Ripley174
- 7Dr. Seuss166
- 8Uncredited152
- 9Sidney Sheldon134
- 10Robert Ludlum128
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Grisham | 491 | 9.43% | 14.53% | 12.27% | 12 | 34 | 47 |
| 2 | Stephen King | 338 | 6.51% | 18.16% | 10.36% | 13 | 22 | 33 |
| 3 | Danielle Steel | 278 | 5.34% | 14.74% | 8.19% | 6 | 17 | 31 |
| 4 | Terry McMillan | 239 | 4.60% | 12.64% | 9.81% | 0 | 18 | 26 |
| 5 | Michael Crichton | 175 | 3.37% | 14.53% | 8.59% | 2 | 12 | 21 |
| 6 | Alexandra Ripley | 174 | 3.34% | 14.53% | 12.36% | 4 | 10 | 22 |
| 7 | Dr. Seuss | 166 | 3.19% | 14.53% | 7.91% | 3 | 6 | 34 |
| 8 | Uncredited | 152 | 2.92% | 11.01% | 6.76% | 0 | 8 | 23 |
| 9 | Sidney Sheldon | 134 | 2.58% | 14.53% | 6.59% | 1 | 8 | 15 |
| 10 | Robert Ludlum | 128 | 2.46% | 12.64% | 6.37% | 0 | 8 | 19 |
| 11 | Anne Rice | 127 | 2.44% | 14.91% | 8.28% | 4 | 10 | 10 |
| 12 | Mary Higgins Clark | 124 | 2.38% | 12.64% | 6.20% | 0 | 6 | 18 |
| 13 | ? by Jimmy Buffett | 120 | 2.30% | 14.53% | 6.85% | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| 14 | Nick Bantock | 110 | 2.12% | 13.41% | 6.28% | 0 | 5 | 18 |
| 15 | Timothy Zahn | 109 | 2.09% | 12.64% | 5.87% | 0 | 8 | 15 |
| 16 | Clive Cussler | 103 | 1.98% | 12.64% | 6.18% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 17 | Dean R. Koontz | 99 | 1.90% | 14.53% | 6.81% | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| 18 | Robert James Waller | 96 | 1.85% | 7.47% | 4.53% | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 19 | Alice Walker | 88 | 1.70% | 9.58% | 5.32% | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| 20 | Nicholson Baker | 85 | 1.63% | 11.01% | 5.32% | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| 21 | Sue Grafton | 80 | 1.54% | 12.64% | 4.99% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 22 | Toni Morrison | 80 | 1.54% | 9.58% | 4.63% | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| 23 | Terry Brooks | 79 | 1.51% | 11.01% | 5.31% | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| 24 | Judith Krantz | 77 | 1.49% | 12.64% | 5.26% | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 25 | James A. Michener | 70 | 1.34% | 11.33% | 5.63% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 26 | Donna Tartt | 69 | 1.32% | 11.13% | 5.08% | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 27 | Anne Rivers Siddons | 68 | 1.31% | 9.58% | 4.38% | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 28 | Dick Francis | 66 | 1.27% | 11.20% | 4.13% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 29 | Douglas Adams | 64 | 1.22% | 11.30% | 4.33% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 30 | Patricia D. Cornwell | 55 | 1.06% | 8.34% | 3.95% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 31 | Robert Harris | 55 | 1.06% | 8.34% | 3.65% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 32 | Tom Clancy | 54 | 1.03% | 9.58% | 9.54% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 33 | Susan Sontag | 50 | 0.97% | 9.58% | 3.65% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 34 | LaVyrle Spencer | 47 | 0.91% | 9.58% | 3.52% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 35 | W. E. B. Griffin | 46 | 0.88% | 11.01% | 3.52% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 36 | Sandra Brown | 41 | 0.78% | 7.26% | 2.55% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 | Nelson DeMille | 38 | 0.72% | 8.58% | 3.07% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 38 | Jonathan Kellerman | 37 | 0.71% | 7.26% | 2.70% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 39 | Ken Follett | 34 | 0.65% | 8.34% | 6.25% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 40 | Ivana Trump | 34 | 0.65% | 7.26% | 2.67% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 41 | Margaret Wander Bonanno | 33 | 0.63% | 7.26% | 2.74% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 42 | Jude Deveraux | 31 | 0.60% | 6.32% | 2.34% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 | Robin Cook | 30 | 0.58% | 8.34% | 2.61% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 44 | Lilian Jackson Braun | 28 | 0.54% | 4.79% | 1.44% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 45 | Robert Jordan | 26 | 0.51% | 6.43% | 2.32% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 | Jack Higgins | 25 | 0.48% | 6.32% | 2.00% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 47 | Erich Segal | 25 | 0.47% | 5.50% | 1.95% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 48 | Joseph Wambaugh | 25 | 0.47% | 6.32% | 2.16% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 49 | Peter David | 24 | 0.47% | 6.32% | 2.08% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 50 | Dale Brown | 24 | 0.45% | 6.32% | 1.99% | 0 | 0 | 5 |