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 2005
Jan 2, 2005 → Dec 25, 2005 · 51 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Dan Brown498
- 2Nicholas Sparks251
- 3James Patterson249
- 4Mitch Albom200
- 5Sue Monk Kidd194
- 6Elizabeth Kostova191
- 7John Grisham138
- 8Danielle Steel124
- 9Michael Connelly100
- 10Michael Crichton97
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Brown | 498 | 9.76% | 14.53% | 14.02% | 9 | 39 | 50 |
| 2 | Nicholas Sparks | 251 | 4.93% | 14.65% | 8.15% | 8 | 19 | 25 |
| 3 | James Patterson | 249 | 4.89% | 14.53% | 6.31% | 3 | 20 | 39 |
| 4 | Mitch Albom | 200 | 3.92% | 14.53% | 11.00% | 1 | 10 | 34 |
| 5 | Sue Monk Kidd | 194 | 3.79% | 14.53% | 7.89% | 1 | 15 | 24 |
| 6 | Elizabeth Kostova | 191 | 3.75% | 14.53% | 9.62% | 5 | 14 | 19 |
| 7 | John Grisham | 138 | 2.70% | 14.53% | 7.78% | 6 | 11 | 14 |
| 8 | Danielle Steel | 124 | 2.44% | 11.01% | 4.07% | 2 | 7 | 20 |
| 9 | Michael Connelly | 100 | 1.96% | 14.82% | 4.57% | 1 | 5 | 13 |
| 10 | Michael Crichton | 97 | 1.90% | 12.64% | 6.44% | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| 11 | Matthew Stover | 80 | 1.57% | 12.64% | 5.04% | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| 12 | Patricia Cornwell | 79 | 1.55% | 14.69% | 6.01% | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| 13 | Dean Koontz | 76 | 1.49% | 9.58% | 3.10% | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 14 | Janet Evanovich | 67 | 1.32% | 14.53% | 5.19% | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 15 | Maxine Paetro | 60 | 1.18% | 7.26% | 3.81% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 16 | Gregory Maguire | 58 | 1.13% | 12.64% | 3.33% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 17 | Robert Jordan | 57 | 1.12% | 14.69% | 4.03% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 18 | Nora Roberts | 57 | 1.12% | 16.55% | 4.31% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 19 | Mary Higgins Clark | 56 | 1.10% | 14.53% | 4.47% | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 20 | David Baldacci | 55 | 1.08% | 11.13% | 4.12% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 21 | Jan Karon | 54 | 1.06% | 12.64% | 4.65% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 22 | Howard Roughan | 52 | 1.01% | 7.26% | 3.58% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 23 | Andrew Gross | 51 | 0.99% | 7.30% | 3.37% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 24 | Terry McMillan | 50 | 0.98% | 12.64% | 3.88% | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 25 | Jimmy Buffett | 47 | 0.91% | 9.58% | 3.97% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 26 | Ian McEwan | 46 | 0.91% | 11.01% | 3.44% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 27 | Sandra Brown | 46 | 0.91% | 14.53% | 3.59% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 28 | J. D. Robb | 46 | 0.90% | 9.58% | 2.67% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 | Catherine Coulter | 45 | 0.88% | 14.53% | 3.74% | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 30 | John Irving | 45 | 0.88% | 11.07% | 3.47% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 31 | W. E. B. Griffin | 44 | 0.86% | 8.34% | 3.47% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 32 | Terry Goodkind | 44 | 0.86% | 11.01% | 3.17% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 33 | Nelson DeMille | 43 | 0.84% | 8.34% | 4.62% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 34 | Clive Cussler | 41 | 0.81% | 7.26% | 2.10% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 35 | Robert B. Parker | 41 | 0.80% | 11.01% | 1.83% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 36 | Diana Gabaldon | 40 | 0.78% | 14.53% | 3.27% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 37 | Jerry B. Jenkins | 40 | 0.78% | 7.26% | 2.44% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 38 | Tim LaHaye | 40 | 0.78% | 7.26% | 2.45% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 39 | Alexander McCall Smith | 39 | 0.76% | 7.26% | 2.47% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Vince Flynn | 38 | 0.75% | 11.10% | 2.94% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 41 | E. L. Doctorow | 38 | 0.75% | 9.58% | 3.01% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 42 | Sophie Kinsella | 38 | 0.74% | 8.34% | 2.85% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 43 | Anne Rice | 38 | 0.74% | 9.58% | 2.98% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 44 | John Sandford | 37 | 0.73% | 11.01% | 3.10% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 45 | Jennifer Weiner | 37 | 0.72% | 12.64% | 3.03% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 46 | Rebecca Wells | 37 | 0.72% | 11.01% | 2.84% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 47 | Nick Hornby | 36 | 0.71% | 8.34% | 2.67% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 48 | Curtis Sittenfeld | 35 | 0.69% | 6.32% | 2.59% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 49 | George R. R. Martin | 32 | 0.63% | 14.53% | 2.59% | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 50 | Tom Wolfe | 32 | 0.62% | 5.50% | 3.32% | 0 | 0 | 9 |