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 1998
Jan 4, 1998 → Dec 27, 1998 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Danielle Steel288
- 2Charles Frazier272
- 3Arthur Golden255
- 4John Grisham224
- 5Wally Lamb202
- 6Tom Clancy196
- 7Mary Higgins Clark185
- 8Nicholas Sparks184
- 9Toni Morrison175
- 10Anne Rice174
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danielle Steel | 288 | 5.54% | 14.53% | 9.61% | 3 | 20 | 33 |
| 2 | Charles Frazier | 272 | 5.24% | 14.91% | 13.63% | 4 | 16 | 36 |
| 3 | Arthur Golden | 255 | 4.91% | 8.34% | 5.80% | 0 | 2 | 51 |
| 4 | John Grisham | 224 | 4.32% | 14.53% | 9.66% | 9 | 11 | 27 |
| 5 | Wally Lamb | 202 | 3.88% | 14.53% | 9.40% | 3 | 16 | 19 |
| 6 | Tom Clancy | 196 | 3.77% | 14.53% | 9.31% | 7 | 12 | 19 |
| 7 | Mary Higgins Clark | 185 | 3.56% | 14.53% | 7.67% | 4 | 14 | 21 |
| 8 | Nicholas Sparks | 184 | 3.53% | 9.58% | 6.62% | 0 | 9 | 28 |
| 9 | Toni Morrison | 175 | 3.37% | 14.53% | 9.23% | 3 | 13 | 18 |
| 10 | Anne Rice | 174 | 3.34% | 12.64% | 6.37% | 0 | 9 | 23 |
| 11 | Judy Blume | 172 | 3.31% | 12.64% | 7.71% | 0 | 11 | 22 |
| 12 | Anna Quindlen | 157 | 3.03% | 12.64% | 7.76% | 0 | 13 | 20 |
| 13 | John Irving | 141 | 2.71% | 14.53% | 6.91% | 3 | 6 | 20 |
| 14 | Stephen King | 138 | 2.65% | 14.53% | 8.30% | 4 | 11 | 12 |
| 15 | James Patterson | 128 | 2.47% | 12.64% | 7.59% | 0 | 9 | 15 |
| 16 | David Baldacci | 127 | 2.45% | 12.79% | 5.93% | 0 | 9 | 16 |
| 17 | Helen Fielding | 107 | 2.06% | 11.01% | 5.50% | 0 | 6 | 17 |
| 18 | Patricia Cornwell | 104 | 2.01% | 14.53% | 6.65% | 3 | 7 | 11 |
| 19 | Tom Wolfe | 87 | 1.68% | 14.53% | 7.26% | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 20 | Sue Grafton | 83 | 1.60% | 14.53% | 6.43% | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 21 | P.D. James | 82 | 1.58% | 11.01% | 6.00% | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| 22 | Sidney Sheldon | 76 | 1.46% | 12.64% | 5.53% | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 23 | Tony Hillerman | 73 | 1.40% | 12.64% | 4.91% | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| 24 | Nicholas Evans | 72 | 1.39% | 12.64% | 5.25% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 25 | Dean Koontz | 70 | 1.34% | 11.01% | 4.84% | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 26 | Richard Paul Evans | 68 | 1.30% | 13.41% | 7.21% | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| 27 | Barbara Kingsolver | 63 | 1.21% | 8.34% | 4.44% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 28 | Nora Roberts | 61 | 1.18% | 9.58% | 2.73% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 29 | Robert Jordan | 57 | 1.09% | 14.53% | 4.14% | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 30 | Jewel Kilcher | 52 | 0.99% | 6.32% | 2.88% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 31 | Sandra Brown | 48 | 0.92% | 11.01% | 3.44% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 32 | Arundhati Roy | 47 | 0.90% | 7.35% | 4.66% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 33 | ! by Fannie Flagg | 44 | 0.84% | 9.58% | 2.98% | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 34 | Cormac McCarthy | 43 | 0.82% | 12.64% | 3.38% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 35 | Anne Rivers Siddons | 39 | 0.74% | 7.26% | 2.58% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 | Lilian Jackson Braun | 38 | 0.72% | 8.34% | 3.09% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 37 | John Sandford | 36 | 0.70% | 11.01% | 2.97% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 38 | Michael Connelly | 36 | 0.69% | 8.34% | 2.65% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 39 | Richard North Patterson | 35 | 0.67% | 9.58% | 3.03% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 40 | Jeff Shaara | 28 | 0.54% | 5.50% | 2.19% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 | ! by Jackie Collins | 28 | 0.53% | 8.34% | 2.23% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 42 | Anne Tyler | 27 | 0.52% | 6.32% | 2.13% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 43 | Dr. Seuss | 27 | 0.52% | 9.58% | 2.60% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 44 | LaVyrle Spencer | 27 | 0.51% | 6.39% | 2.21% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 | W. E. B. Griffin | 27 | 0.51% | 7.26% | 2.13% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 | Robin Cook | 25 | 0.48% | 7.26% | 2.15% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Dick Francis | 25 | 0.48% | 6.32% | 2.04% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 48 | Jeffrey Archer | 25 | 0.48% | 7.26% | 1.93% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 | Patrick O'Brian | 25 | 0.47% | 8.34% | 2.14% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 50 | Ted Hughes | 23 | 0.44% | 6.32% | 1.99% | 0 | 0 | 5 |