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 2000
Jan 2, 2000 → Dec 31, 2000 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1J. K. Rowling690
- 2Danielle Steel301
- 3John Grisham280
- 4James Patterson164
- 5Tom Clancy156
- 6Mary Higgins Clark147
- 7Nicholas Sparks142
- 8Jerry B. Jenkins110
- 9Tim LaHaye110
- 10Nelson DeMille101
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J. K. Rowling | 690 | 13.01% | 30.78% | 29.00% | 28 | 29 | 29 |
| 2 | Danielle Steel | 301 | 5.68% | 16.06% | 9.31% | 5 | 22 | 29 |
| 3 | John Grisham | 280 | 5.29% | 15.93% | 10.35% | 0 | 16 | 31 |
| 4 | James Patterson | 164 | 3.10% | 13.35% | 6.87% | 4 | 11 | 18 |
| 5 | Tom Clancy | 156 | 2.94% | 14.53% | 7.87% | 5 | 9 | 17 |
| 6 | Mary Higgins Clark | 147 | 2.77% | 15.64% | 6.76% | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| 7 | Nicholas Sparks | 142 | 2.69% | 14.53% | 5.80% | 2 | 7 | 25 |
| 8 | Jerry B. Jenkins | 110 | 2.08% | 7.67% | 3.87% | 0 | 7 | 23 |
| 9 | Tim LaHaye | 110 | 2.08% | 7.67% | 3.87% | 0 | 9 | 23 |
| 10 | Nelson DeMille | 101 | 1.91% | 12.25% | 5.69% | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| 11 | Robert Morgan | 101 | 1.91% | 10.58% | 5.82% | 0 | 9 | 13 |
| 12 | John Sandford | 100 | 1.89% | 15.41% | 5.11% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 13 | Rosamunde Pilcher | 96 | 1.80% | 14.53% | 6.08% | 3 | 6 | 11 |
| 14 | Patricia Cornwell | 94 | 1.77% | 14.53% | 6.23% | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 15 | Christina Schwarz | 92 | 1.74% | 14.53% | 5.28% | 1 | 5 | 12 |
| 16 | Isabel Allende | 88 | 1.67% | 10.44% | 5.56% | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| 17 | Sandra Brown | 85 | 1.60% | 12.64% | 4.99% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 18 | Elizabeth Berg | 79 | 1.50% | 11.01% | 5.37% | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| 19 | Michael Crichton | 79 | 1.50% | 10.77% | 6.20% | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| 20 | Tawni O'Dell | 71 | 1.35% | 13.33% | 5.48% | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 21 | Toni Morrison | 71 | 1.33% | 11.54% | 4.44% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 22 | Mario Puzo | 69 | 1.30% | 12.64% | 5.06% | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 23 | Clive Cussler | 67 | 1.27% | 10.77% | 4.69% | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| 24 | Nora Roberts | 67 | 1.26% | 13.70% | 4.53% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 25 | Sidney Sheldon | 63 | 1.19% | 12.64% | 4.74% | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 26 | Barbara Kingsolver | 63 | 1.18% | 11.01% | 4.45% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 27 | Dean Koontz | 62 | 1.18% | 10.77% | 4.19% | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 28 | Tami Hoag | 62 | 1.17% | 12.64% | 4.54% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 29 | E. Lynn Harris | 62 | 1.16% | 12.64% | 4.45% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 30 | Anne Rice | 58 | 1.09% | 12.64% | 3.75% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 31 | Carl Hiaasen | 57 | 1.08% | 8.08% | 3.92% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 32 | David Baldacci | 54 | 1.01% | 8.34% | 3.95% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 33 | Catherine Coulter | 51 | 0.96% | 12.64% | 3.79% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 34 | Janet Evanovich | 51 | 0.96% | 15.57% | 3.40% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 35 | Robert Jordan | 47 | 0.89% | 14.53% | 3.64% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 36 | Robert Ludlum | 45 | 0.86% | 9.58% | 3.53% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 37 | Julie Garwood | 40 | 0.76% | 11.01% | 3.15% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 38 | Seamus Heaney | 40 | 0.75% | 5.95% | 2.87% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 39 | Steve Martin | 40 | 0.75% | 9.58% | 2.52% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 40 | Helen Fielding | 38 | 0.72% | 6.88% | 2.69% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 41 | Terry Goodkind | 38 | 0.72% | 12.64% | 2.90% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 42 | Jonathan Kellerman | 38 | 0.71% | 6.18% | 2.43% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 43 | Margaret Atwood | 36 | 0.68% | 7.26% | 2.72% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | Carol Higgins Clark | 35 | 0.65% | 5.50% | 2.64% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 45 | James Lee Burke | 34 | 0.63% | 7.26% | 2.71% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 | Linda Howard | 31 | 0.59% | 8.34% | 2.43% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 47 | Steve Martini | 31 | 0.58% | 6.08% | 2.40% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 48 | Faye Kellerman | 31 | 0.58% | 9.58% | 2.58% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 49 | Anne Rivers Siddons | 30 | 0.57% | 7.26% | 2.35% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 50 | Dick Francis | 30 | 0.56% | 8.34% | 2.50% | 0 | 1 | 5 |