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 2008
Jan 6, 2008 → Dec 28, 2008 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Stephenie Meyer241
- 2James Patterson225
- 3David Wroblewski222
- 4John Grisham176
- 5Khaled Hosseini146
- 6Janet Evanovich138
- 7David Baldacci118
- 8Stephen King114
- 9Nicholas Sparks110
- 10Ken Follett95
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephenie Meyer | 241 | 4.64% | 14.53% | 8.08% | 2 | 19 | 31 |
| 2 | James Patterson | 225 | 4.32% | 14.53% | 9.39% | 3 | 9 | 36 |
| 3 | David Wroblewski | 222 | 4.27% | 14.53% | 8.83% | 2 | 17 | 27 |
| 4 | John Grisham | 176 | 3.39% | 14.53% | 10.29% | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| 5 | Khaled Hosseini | 146 | 2.82% | 14.53% | 10.91% | 2 | 10 | 19 |
| 6 | Janet Evanovich | 138 | 2.66% | 14.59% | 5.60% | 4 | 9 | 15 |
| 7 | David Baldacci | 118 | 2.27% | 14.53% | 4.51% | 3 | 6 | 18 |
| 8 | Stephen King | 114 | 2.18% | 14.53% | 4.91% | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| 9 | Nicholas Sparks | 110 | 2.12% | 14.53% | 5.58% | 2 | 5 | 16 |
| 10 | Ken Follett | 95 | 1.83% | 9.58% | 7.10% | 0 | 6 | 16 |
| 11 | Emily Giffin | 84 | 1.61% | 12.64% | 4.83% | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 12 | John Sandford | 73 | 1.41% | 12.64% | 3.53% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 13 | Jodi Picoult | 73 | 1.41% | 14.53% | 5.30% | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 14 | Sophie Kinsella | 68 | 1.31% | 12.64% | 4.97% | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 15 | Dean Koontz | 65 | 1.25% | 14.53% | 4.97% | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| 16 | Geraldine Brooks | 64 | 1.22% | 12.64% | 4.35% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 17 | Jhumpa Lahiri | 63 | 1.20% | 14.53% | 4.66% | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 18 | Jonathan Kellerman | 61 | 1.17% | 14.53% | 3.39% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 19 | Eric Van Lustbader | 61 | 1.17% | 12.64% | 4.57% | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 20 | Lauren Weisberger | 59 | 1.14% | 9.62% | 3.48% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 21 | Daniel Silva | 57 | 1.10% | 14.53% | 4.46% | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 22 | Nora Roberts | 55 | 1.06% | 14.53% | 4.27% | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 23 | Mary Higgins Clark | 54 | 1.04% | 14.53% | 4.02% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 24 | Patricia Cornwell | 54 | 1.03% | 14.53% | 3.42% | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 25 | J. D. Robb | 53 | 1.01% | 12.64% | 3.17% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 26 | Danielle Steel | 53 | 1.01% | 9.58% | 2.30% | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 27 | Brad Thor | 52 | 1.00% | 14.53% | 4.01% | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 28 | Vince Flynn | 51 | 0.98% | 14.53% | 3.73% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 | Michael Connelly | 49 | 0.95% | 14.53% | 3.89% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 30 | Annie Barrows | 49 | 0.94% | 5.50% | 2.95% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 31 | Mary Ann Shaffer | 49 | 0.94% | 5.50% | 2.95% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 32 | Stuart Woods | 49 | 0.94% | 9.58% | 2.54% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 33 | Sue Grafton | 45 | 0.87% | 11.01% | 5.10% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 34 | Nelson DeMille | 45 | 0.86% | 14.53% | 3.26% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 35 | Maxine Paetro | 44 | 0.85% | 6.32% | 2.94% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 36 | Laurell K. Hamilton | 43 | 0.83% | 14.53% | 2.47% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 37 | Harlan Coben | 42 | 0.81% | 14.53% | 3.56% | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 38 | Candace Bushnell | 41 | 0.79% | 11.01% | 3.25% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 39 | Lee Child | 40 | 0.78% | 14.53% | 3.33% | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 40 | Robert B. Parker | 40 | 0.77% | 9.58% | 2.36% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 41 | Howard Roughan | 40 | 0.77% | 7.32% | 2.74% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 42 | Philippa Gregory | 39 | 0.76% | 12.64% | 3.13% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 43 | Sandra Brown | 39 | 0.75% | 14.53% | 3.21% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 44 | Wally Lamb | 39 | 0.74% | 9.58% | 3.26% | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 45 | Brad Meltzer | 38 | 0.73% | 12.64% | 3.17% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 46 | Debbie Macomber | 37 | 0.71% | 11.01% | 2.08% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 47 | Sherrilyn Kenyon | 36 | 0.70% | 14.53% | 3.18% | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 48 | W. E. B. Griffin | 35 | 0.67% | 11.01% | 2.53% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 49 | Sue Miller | 35 | 0.67% | 6.32% | 2.66% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 | Joel C. Rosenberg | 34 | 0.65% | 9.58% | 2.57% | 0 | 1 | 6 |