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 2004
Jan 4, 2004 → Dec 26, 2004 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Dan Brown882
- 2Mitch Albom538
- 3James Patterson222
- 4John Grisham170
- 5Stephen King166
- 6Danielle Steel130
- 7Patricia Cornwell103
- 8Carl Hiaasen95
- 9Janet Evanovich91
- 10Dustin Thomason90
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Brown | 882 | 16.97% | 21.49% | 19.20% | 42 | 52 | 52 |
| 2 | Mitch Albom | 538 | 10.36% | 14.53% | 11.39% | 2 | 43 | 52 |
| 3 | James Patterson | 222 | 4.28% | 14.82% | 6.91% | 1 | 15 | 31 |
| 4 | John Grisham | 170 | 3.27% | 15.04% | 9.64% | 0 | 12 | 18 |
| 5 | Stephen King | 166 | 3.20% | 14.97% | 6.73% | 2 | 9 | 21 |
| 6 | Danielle Steel | 130 | 2.49% | 12.93% | 4.51% | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| 7 | Patricia Cornwell | 103 | 1.99% | 14.91% | 6.00% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 8 | Carl Hiaasen | 95 | 1.82% | 12.90% | 5.97% | 0 | 7 | 11 |
| 9 | Janet Evanovich | 91 | 1.75% | 14.91% | 4.07% | 1 | 5 | 12 |
| 10 | Dustin Thomason | 90 | 1.73% | 6.55% | 3.68% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 11 | Ian Caldwell | 90 | 1.73% | 6.55% | 3.68% | 0 | 2 | 22 |
| 12 | Mary Higgins Clark | 79 | 1.52% | 11.30% | 4.73% | 0 | 5 | 13 |
| 13 | Philip Roth | 74 | 1.42% | 12.64% | 4.65% | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 14 | Nora Roberts | 71 | 1.37% | 20.56% | 5.94% | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| 15 | Anne Tyler | 70 | 1.34% | 9.69% | 4.23% | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 16 | Sue Grafton | 66 | 1.26% | 14.77% | 4.97% | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| 17 | Dean Koontz | 65 | 1.25% | 9.88% | 2.95% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 18 | Laurell K. Hamilton | 63 | 1.21% | 12.75% | 2.67% | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 19 | Clive Cussler | 63 | 1.21% | 9.73% | 4.73% | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 20 | J. D. Robb | 62 | 1.19% | 11.15% | 3.39% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 21 | Susanna Clarke | 59 | 1.13% | 11.30% | 3.85% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 22 | Tim LaHaye | 58 | 1.11% | 7.43% | 3.19% | 0 | 4 | 14 |
| 23 | Jerry B. Jenkins | 55 | 1.05% | 7.43% | 3.16% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 24 | David Baldacci | 55 | 1.05% | 14.85% | 4.25% | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 25 | Plum Sykes | 49 | 0.94% | 6.55% | 2.86% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 26 | John le Carré | 48 | 0.93% | 11.13% | 3.15% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 27 | Karen Joy Fowler | 47 | 0.91% | 6.52% | 2.82% | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| 28 | Michael Connelly | 46 | 0.89% | 12.98% | 3.58% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 29 | John Sandford | 44 | 0.84% | 13.03% | 3.69% | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 30 | Brad Meltzer | 42 | 0.81% | 11.20% | 3.15% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 31 | Sandra Brown | 42 | 0.81% | 12.98% | 3.49% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 32 | Robert Jordan | 41 | 0.79% | 11.12% | 3.02% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 33 | Alexander McCall Smith | 37 | 0.70% | 6.49% | 1.84% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 34 | Andrew Gross | 36 | 0.69% | 7.46% | 2.67% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 35 | Vince Flynn | 36 | 0.68% | 6.49% | 2.48% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 36 | Tom Wolfe | 35 | 0.67% | 11.01% | 2.92% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 37 | ? by Sidney Sheldon | 35 | 0.67% | 11.30% | 2.96% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 38 | ! by W. E. B. Griffin | 34 | 0.64% | 9.68% | 2.82% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 39 | ? by Sophie Kinsella | 33 | 0.63% | 7.48% | 2.62% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 40 | Sarah Dunant | 32 | 0.62% | 4.92% | 2.24% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 41 | Jonathan Kellerman | 32 | 0.61% | 8.56% | 2.10% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 42 | Robert B. Parker | 31 | 0.60% | 7.43% | 1.97% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 43 | Edward Rutherfurd | 30 | 0.57% | 5.67% | 2.37% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 44 | Nelson DeMille | 29 | 0.56% | 14.53% | 2.76% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 45 | Iris Johansen | 29 | 0.56% | 7.43% | 1.78% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 46 | Julie Garwood | 28 | 0.54% | 13.03% | 2.43% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 47 | Daniel Silva | 28 | 0.54% | 8.56% | 2.34% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 48 | Tracy Chevalier | 27 | 0.53% | 5.60% | 2.02% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 49 | Anita Shreve | 27 | 0.52% | 5.63% | 2.15% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 50 | Stuart Woods | 25 | 0.48% | 8.54% | 1.74% | 0 | 1 | 5 |