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 1996
Jan 7, 1996 → Dec 29, 1996 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1James Redfield462
- 2Danielle Steel291
- 3John Grisham260
- 4Mary Higgins Clark228
- 5Anonymous220
- 6Tom Clancy199
- 7Nicholas Evans188
- 8Terry McMillan183
- 9Shel Silverstein173
- 10Jacquelyn Mitchard157
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Redfield | 462 | 8.89% | 18.61% | 12.67% | 5 | 31 | 49 |
| 2 | Danielle Steel | 291 | 5.60% | 14.53% | 9.64% | 4 | 17 | 33 |
| 3 | John Grisham | 260 | 5.00% | 14.86% | 10.79% | 5 | 18 | 23 |
| 4 | Mary Higgins Clark | 228 | 4.39% | 14.97% | 8.14% | 3 | 14 | 29 |
| 5 | Anonymous | 220 | 4.24% | 14.53% | 10.18% | 9 | 14 | 25 |
| 6 | Tom Clancy | 199 | 3.83% | 14.82% | 8.81% | 5 | 15 | 18 |
| 7 | Nicholas Evans | 188 | 3.62% | 14.53% | 9.53% | 1 | 14 | 22 |
| 8 | Terry McMillan | 183 | 3.52% | 14.97% | 8.57% | 0 | 11 | 21 |
| 9 | Shel Silverstein | 173 | 3.33% | 11.26% | 6.57% | 0 | 8 | 27 |
| 10 | Jacquelyn Mitchard | 157 | 3.03% | 14.78% | 9.31% | 6 | 11 | 14 |
| 11 | Patricia Cornwell | 125 | 2.41% | 14.91% | 7.39% | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| 12 | Stephen King | 120 | 2.31% | 14.69% | 6.59% | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 13 | Richard Paul Evans | 107 | 2.05% | 14.53% | 8.98% | 2 | 5 | 17 |
| 14 | Dean Koontz | 106 | 2.05% | 14.53% | 7.00% | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| 15 | Anne Rice | 105 | 2.02% | 14.86% | 6.92% | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| 16 | David Baldacci | 103 | 1.99% | 12.64% | 5.54% | 0 | 5 | 17 |
| 17 | Mario Puzo | 96 | 1.85% | 11.30% | 6.16% | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| 18 | James Patterson | 95 | 1.82% | 12.89% | 4.77% | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| 19 | LaVyrle Spencer | 89 | 1.71% | 12.64% | 5.94% | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| 20 | Michael Crichton | 84 | 1.63% | 14.53% | 10.10% | 1 | 5 | 13 |
| 21 | Jane Mendelsohn | 73 | 1.40% | 7.43% | 4.12% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 22 | Richard Bachman | 72 | 1.39% | 12.79% | 4.46% | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 23 | Sandra Brown | 64 | 1.22% | 11.30% | 4.14% | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 24 | Scott Turow | 61 | 1.17% | 12.64% | 4.03% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 25 | Sue Grafton | 57 | 1.10% | 12.64% | 4.67% | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 26 | Nicholas Sparks | 57 | 1.09% | 8.34% | 4.09% | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 27 | Robert Jordan | 56 | 1.08% | 12.89% | 3.97% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 28 | Clive Cussler | 53 | 1.02% | 11.01% | 4.62% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 | Elizabeth George | 53 | 1.01% | 12.64% | 3.92% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 30 | Robin Cook | 52 | 1.01% | 9.58% | 3.98% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 31 | Dr. Seuss | 51 | 0.97% | 8.51% | 2.83% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 32 | Jonathan Kellerman | 49 | 0.94% | 8.34% | 3.31% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 33 | E. Lynn Harris | 42 | 0.82% | 7.26% | 2.91% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 34 | Jeff Shaara | 42 | 0.81% | 4.92% | 2.68% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 35 | W. E. B. Griffin | 41 | 0.80% | 9.58% | 3.17% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 36 | Susan Isaacs | 39 | 0.75% | 5.63% | 2.51% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 | Terry Brooks | 37 | 0.71% | 11.01% | 2.76% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 38 | Dick Francis | 37 | 0.70% | 7.35% | 2.92% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 39 | Ken Follett | 36 | 0.70% | 7.26% | 2.69% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 40 | Tami Hoag | 34 | 0.65% | 8.34% | 2.51% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 41 | Julie Garwood | 34 | 0.65% | 7.43% | 2.39% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 42 | John Sandford | 33 | 0.63% | 8.53% | 2.58% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 43 | Nora Roberts | 32 | 0.62% | 11.01% | 2.56% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 44 | Steve Perry | 31 | 0.60% | 8.34% | 2.50% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 45 | Judith Krantz | 31 | 0.60% | 9.58% | 2.56% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 46 | John le Carré | 30 | 0.58% | 6.32% | 2.29% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 47 | Jeffrey Archer | 30 | 0.58% | 5.63% | 2.13% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 48 | Steve Martini | 29 | 0.55% | 6.32% | 2.08% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 49 | Tony Hillerman | 28 | 0.55% | 11.01% | 2.67% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 50 | Lawrence Sanders | 27 | 0.52% | 7.26% | 2.13% | 0 | 0 | 6 |