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 1999
Jan 3, 1999 → Dec 26, 1999 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1J. K. Rowling823
- 2Stephen King261
- 3John Grisham254
- 4Danielle Steel237
- 5Patricia Cornwell199
- 6Thomas Harris175
- 7Janet Fitch165
- 8Maeve Binchy152
- 9Tom Wolfe126
- 10Barbara Kingsolver115
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J. K. Rowling | 823 | 15.83% | 31.04% | 27.79% | 26 | 30 | 52 |
| 2 | Stephen King | 261 | 5.01% | 14.53% | 9.20% | 1 | 12 | 39 |
| 3 | John Grisham | 254 | 4.89% | 14.53% | 9.65% | 9 | 14 | 30 |
| 4 | Danielle Steel | 237 | 4.56% | 14.53% | 7.17% | 1 | 18 | 27 |
| 5 | Patricia Cornwell | 199 | 3.83% | 15.24% | 7.58% | 3 | 15 | 20 |
| 6 | Thomas Harris | 175 | 3.36% | 15.04% | 8.84% | 2 | 12 | 17 |
| 7 | Janet Fitch | 165 | 3.18% | 13.09% | 8.22% | 0 | 13 | 18 |
| 8 | Maeve Binchy | 152 | 2.93% | 11.01% | 4.86% | 0 | 11 | 23 |
| 9 | Tom Wolfe | 126 | 2.42% | 14.53% | 10.24% | 4 | 10 | 13 |
| 10 | Barbara Kingsolver | 115 | 2.20% | 12.64% | 6.60% | 0 | 3 | 20 |
| 11 | James Patterson | 111 | 2.13% | 12.25% | 6.34% | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| 12 | Mary Higgins Clark | 111 | 2.13% | 14.53% | 6.59% | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| 13 | Terry Brooks | 104 | 2.00% | 14.53% | 6.46% | 4 | 6 | 11 |
| 14 | Melinda Haynes | 95 | 1.82% | 11.30% | 5.45% | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| 15 | Nicholas Sparks | 86 | 1.66% | 10.77% | 5.50% | 0 | 10 | 11 |
| 16 | David Baldacci | 85 | 1.64% | 11.01% | 5.37% | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| 17 | Nora Roberts | 81 | 1.56% | 12.64% | 4.70% | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 18 | Jerry B. Jenkins | 81 | 1.55% | 7.01% | 3.18% | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 19 | Tim LaHaye | 81 | 1.55% | 7.01% | 3.18% | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 20 | Sandra Brown | 80 | 1.53% | 15.30% | 4.23% | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| 21 | Anne Rice | 79 | 1.52% | 12.64% | 5.25% | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| 22 | Jan Karon | 72 | 1.39% | 12.64% | 4.50% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 23 | Dean Koontz | 71 | 1.36% | 12.64% | 4.95% | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 24 | Scott Turow | 66 | 1.26% | 10.74% | 3.87% | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| 25 | W. E. B. Griffin | 60 | 1.16% | 12.64% | 3.94% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 26 | Jonathan Kellerman | 58 | 1.12% | 11.01% | 3.99% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 27 | Melissa Bank | 54 | 1.03% | 6.58% | 3.28% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 28 | Sue Grafton | 53 | 1.01% | 9.37% | 3.44% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 29 | John le Carré | 49 | 0.94% | 11.01% | 3.63% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 30 | John Sandford | 49 | 0.94% | 9.58% | 3.61% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 31 | David Guterson | 47 | 0.91% | 9.58% | 3.11% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 32 | Dr. Seuss | 45 | 0.87% | 9.80% | 3.49% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 33 | Michael Crichton | 43 | 0.83% | 10.77% | 3.98% | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 34 | Julie Garwood | 41 | 0.80% | 11.01% | 3.78% | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 35 | Richard Paul Evans | 36 | 0.69% | 5.37% | 1.99% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 36 | Tom Clancy | 33 | 0.64% | 11.01% | 8.21% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 37 | Maria Shriver | 33 | 0.64% | 8.34% | 2.64% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 38 | Catherine Coulter | 33 | 0.63% | 7.62% | 2.65% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 39 | Tami Hoag | 33 | 0.63% | 9.58% | 2.36% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 40 | E. Lynn Harris | 32 | 0.61% | 7.26% | 2.26% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 | Richard North Patterson | 31 | 0.59% | 7.65% | 2.60% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 42 | Robert B. Parker | 30 | 0.58% | 8.34% | 1.73% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 43 | Lilian Jackson Braun | 30 | 0.58% | 7.26% | 2.36% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 44 | Elmore Leonard | 29 | 0.57% | 9.58% | 2.37% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 45 | Tony Hillerman | 26 | 0.50% | 5.38% | 2.29% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 26 | 0.50% | 7.26% | 1.88% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 47 | Elizabeth George | 26 | 0.49% | 6.66% | 2.20% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 48 | Michael Connelly | 24 | 0.47% | 4.79% | 2.03% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 | Dick Francis | 23 | 0.45% | 6.17% | 1.95% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 50 | Ian McEwan | 23 | 0.44% | 4.79% | 1.70% | 0 | 0 | 8 |