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 1993
Jan 3, 1993 → Dec 26, 1993 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Robert James Waller794
- 2John Grisham450
- 3Laura Esquivel261
- 4Nick Bantock232
- 5Stephen King229
- 6Tom Clancy189
- 7Danielle Steel158
- 8Anne Rice157
- 9Dean Koontz142
- 10Scott Turow129
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert James Waller | 794 | 15.26% | 24.03% | 20.09% | 42 | 49 | 52 |
| 2 | John Grisham | 450 | 8.65% | 14.63% | 11.51% | 4 | 33 | 48 |
| 3 | Laura Esquivel | 261 | 5.02% | 11.08% | 8.26% | 0 | 13 | 37 |
| 4 | Nick Bantock | 232 | 4.46% | 18.01% | 8.96% | 1 | 11 | 33 |
| 5 | Stephen King | 229 | 4.40% | 19.32% | 12.67% | 2 | 16 | 21 |
| 6 | Tom Clancy | 189 | 3.63% | 14.53% | 8.67% | 2 | 15 | 18 |
| 7 | Danielle Steel | 158 | 3.04% | 13.11% | 8.63% | 0 | 9 | 23 |
| 8 | Anne Rice | 157 | 3.02% | 12.81% | 8.49% | 0 | 13 | 18 |
| 9 | Dean Koontz | 142 | 2.74% | 14.93% | 6.63% | 1 | 8 | 17 |
| 10 | Scott Turow | 129 | 2.48% | 12.64% | 6.88% | 0 | 9 | 16 |
| 11 | Richard North Patterson | 99 | 1.91% | 11.20% | 6.07% | 0 | 7 | 11 |
| 12 | Mary Higgins Clark | 93 | 1.79% | 11.01% | 5.11% | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| 13 | John le Carré | 91 | 1.75% | 11.01% | 5.18% | 0 | 5 | 13 |
| 14 | Robert Ludlum | 88 | 1.68% | 11.01% | 5.20% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 15 | Terry Brooks | 86 | 1.66% | 12.81% | 6.03% | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| 16 | Barbara Kingsolver | 82 | 1.58% | 7.26% | 4.10% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 17 | Timothy Zahn | 81 | 1.55% | 11.01% | 4.64% | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 18 | James Clavell | 80 | 1.53% | 9.58% | 4.64% | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| 19 | Alan Lightman | 79 | 1.51% | 8.34% | 4.20% | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 20 | Larry McMurtry | 77 | 1.48% | 11.01% | 4.74% | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 21 | James Patterson | 73 | 1.41% | 9.71% | 4.94% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 22 | Tony Hillerman | 69 | 1.32% | 11.15% | 4.17% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 23 | Sue Grafton | 66 | 1.26% | 11.01% | 4.23% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 24 | Patricia D. Cornwell | 62 | 1.19% | 8.34% | 3.76% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 25 | Ken Follett | 56 | 1.07% | 8.81% | 3.60% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 26 | Dr. Seuss | 55 | 1.05% | 9.58% | 3.99% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 27 | W. E. B. Griffin | 53 | 1.01% | 9.73% | 4.07% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 28 | Jackie Collins | 52 | 1.01% | 11.01% | 3.75% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 29 | Dominick Dunne | 49 | 0.94% | 8.34% | 3.22% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 30 | Cormac McCarthy | 46 | 0.88% | 4.79% | 2.66% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 31 | Nelson DeMille | 44 | 0.84% | 7.59% | 4.36% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 32 | Terry McMillan | 44 | 0.84% | 5.59% | 4.14% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 33 | LaVyrle Spencer | 42 | 0.81% | 8.45% | 3.37% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 34 | Dick Francis | 40 | 0.77% | 6.67% | 3.27% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 35 | Jonathan Kellerman | 39 | 0.76% | 8.45% | 3.10% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 36 | Jeffrey Archer | 39 | 0.75% | 8.34% | 2.87% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 37 | Robert Jordan | 36 | 0.69% | 7.67% | 2.93% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 38 | James A. Michener | 34 | 0.66% | 11.41% | 6.82% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 39 | Carl Hiaasen | 33 | 0.64% | 5.54% | 2.61% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 40 | P.D. James | 33 | 0.64% | 9.65% | 2.51% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 41 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 29 | 0.55% | 4.79% | 2.16% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 42 | Michael Crichton writing as Jeffery Hudson | 28 | 0.54% | 4.17% | 2.04% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 43 | Susan Isaacs | 26 | 0.50% | 5.50% | 1.98% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | Judith McNaught | 26 | 0.49% | 7.26% | 2.02% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 | Robin Cook | 25 | 0.48% | 7.34% | 2.15% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 | Kathy Tyers | 23 | 0.44% | 8.74% | 2.05% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 47 | Carmen Carter | 23 | 0.43% | 7.26% | 2.05% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 48 | Kaye Gibbons | 22 | 0.42% | 3.63% | 1.60% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 49 | Anne Rivers Siddons | 21 | 0.41% | 3.63% | 1.64% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 | Herman Wouk | 20 | 0.38% | 8.74% | 2.02% | 0 | 2 | 3 |