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 2009
Jan 4, 2009 → Dec 27, 2009 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1James Patterson245
- 2Kathryn Stockett244
- 3Stephenie Meyer227
- 4John Grisham199
- 5Dan Brown174
- 6Charlaine Harris148
- 7Janet Evanovich127
- 8David Baldacci116
- 9Nicholas Sparks111
- 10Patricia Cornwell105
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Patterson | 245 | 4.70% | 14.53% | 6.92% | 2 | 12 | 42 |
| 2 | Kathryn Stockett | 244 | 4.69% | 11.09% | 8.47% | 0 | 19 | 37 |
| 3 | Stephenie Meyer | 227 | 4.36% | 12.64% | 9.17% | 0 | 18 | 28 |
| 4 | John Grisham | 199 | 3.82% | 14.53% | 8.14% | 5 | 13 | 20 |
| 5 | Dan Brown | 174 | 3.35% | 14.63% | 10.19% | 8 | 13 | 13 |
| 6 | Charlaine Harris | 148 | 2.84% | 14.53% | 5.01% | 1 | 5 | 30 |
| 7 | Janet Evanovich | 127 | 2.45% | 14.53% | 5.23% | 5 | 8 | 14 |
| 8 | David Baldacci | 116 | 2.23% | 14.53% | 4.76% | 1 | 7 | 20 |
| 9 | Nicholas Sparks | 111 | 2.13% | 14.53% | 5.32% | 1 | 6 | 18 |
| 10 | Patricia Cornwell | 105 | 2.02% | 14.53% | 6.62% | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| 11 | Pat Conroy | 89 | 1.71% | 14.53% | 6.10% | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 12 | David Wroblewski | 89 | 1.71% | 11.01% | 8.67% | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| 13 | Jodi Picoult | 86 | 1.66% | 14.53% | 5.85% | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 14 | Michael Connelly | 79 | 1.53% | 14.53% | 3.91% | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| 15 | Stephen King | 74 | 1.42% | 14.53% | 4.80% | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| 16 | Maxine Paetro | 69 | 1.34% | 7.26% | 3.63% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 17 | John Sandford | 68 | 1.31% | 14.53% | 3.83% | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 18 | Clive Cussler | 67 | 1.29% | 6.32% | 2.14% | 0 | 2 | 20 |
| 19 | Stieg Larsson | 66 | 1.26% | 14.53% | 4.21% | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 20 | J. D. Robb | 61 | 1.18% | 14.53% | 3.84% | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 21 | W. E. B. Griffin | 59 | 1.14% | 14.53% | 4.23% | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 22 | Jennifer Weiner | 57 | 1.10% | 14.53% | 4.32% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 23 | Dean Koontz | 57 | 1.10% | 14.53% | 3.04% | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 24 | Mary Higgins Clark | 57 | 1.10% | 14.53% | 4.35% | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 25 | Vince Flynn | 56 | 1.07% | 12.64% | 3.55% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 26 | Lisa See | 53 | 1.03% | 9.58% | 3.47% | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 27 | Stuart Woods | 53 | 1.02% | 11.01% | 2.26% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 28 | Danielle Steel | 48 | 0.92% | 9.58% | 2.62% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 | Richard Russo | 44 | 0.84% | 12.64% | 3.31% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 30 | Alexander McCall Smith | 44 | 0.84% | 12.64% | 3.12% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 31 | Lee Child | 43 | 0.83% | 14.53% | 3.53% | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 32 | Harlan Coben | 43 | 0.82% | 14.53% | 3.54% | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 33 | Robert B. Parker | 41 | 0.79% | 9.65% | 2.11% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 34 | Nora Roberts | 41 | 0.79% | 14.53% | 3.39% | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 35 | Michael Ledwidge | 41 | 0.79% | 6.32% | 2.81% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 | Philippa Gregory | 41 | 0.79% | 12.64% | 3.46% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 37 | Jonathan Kellerman | 40 | 0.76% | 14.53% | 2.68% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 38 | Annie Barrows | 39 | 0.75% | 3.63% | 2.15% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 39 | Mary Ann Shaffer | 39 | 0.75% | 3.63% | 2.15% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 40 | Diana Gabaldon | 38 | 0.73% | 12.64% | 3.13% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 41 | Catherine Coulter | 38 | 0.72% | 14.53% | 3.38% | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 42 | Maeve Binchy | 37 | 0.72% | 11.01% | 2.94% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 43 | Eric Van Lustbader | 37 | 0.72% | 12.64% | 3.37% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 44 | Daniel Silva | 37 | 0.71% | 14.53% | 3.22% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 45 | James Rollins | 36 | 0.70% | 12.64% | 3.00% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 46 | Jim Butcher | 36 | 0.69% | 14.53% | 2.81% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 47 | Katherine Howe | 33 | 0.63% | 12.64% | 2.69% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 48 | Barbara Kingsolver | 33 | 0.63% | 8.34% | 2.55% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 49 | Laurell K. Hamilton | 33 | 0.63% | 14.53% | 2.41% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 50 | Wally Lamb | 30 | 0.58% | 5.50% | 3.97% | 0 | 0 | 7 |