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 2010
Jan 3, 2010 → Dec 26, 2010 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Kathryn Stockett485
- 2Stieg Larsson369
- 3James Patterson252
- 4Dan Brown143
- 5Nicholas Sparks134
- 6Jonathan Franzen106
- 7John Grisham105
- 8David Baldacci100
- 9Stephen King86
- 10Ken Follett84
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kathryn Stockett | 485 | 9.32% | 14.53% | 12.41% | 8 | 38 | 52 |
| 2 | Stieg Larsson | 369 | 7.10% | 14.53% | 11.43% | 9 | 29 | 40 |
| 3 | James Patterson | 252 | 4.84% | 14.53% | 7.79% | 2 | 13 | 44 |
| 4 | Dan Brown | 143 | 2.75% | 14.53% | 11.60% | 3 | 10 | 16 |
| 5 | Nicholas Sparks | 134 | 2.57% | 14.53% | 5.46% | 1 | 6 | 21 |
| 6 | Jonathan Franzen | 106 | 2.04% | 14.53% | 6.49% | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 7 | John Grisham | 105 | 2.02% | 14.53% | 7.02% | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| 8 | David Baldacci | 100 | 1.92% | 14.53% | 4.13% | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 9 | Stephen King | 86 | 1.65% | 12.64% | 6.08% | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| 10 | Ken Follett | 84 | 1.62% | 14.53% | 4.78% | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 11 | Janet Evanovich | 84 | 1.62% | 14.53% | 4.27% | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| 12 | Lee Child | 84 | 1.61% | 14.53% | 3.55% | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 13 | Charlaine Harris | 83 | 1.60% | 14.53% | 5.56% | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| 14 | Jodi Picoult | 81 | 1.56% | 14.53% | 5.55% | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 15 | Vince Flynn | 60 | 1.16% | 14.53% | 4.23% | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 16 | Glenn Beck | 59 | 1.14% | 14.53% | 4.04% | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 17 | Maxine Paetro | 58 | 1.11% | 7.26% | 2.93% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 18 | Clive Cussler | 57 | 1.10% | 5.50% | 1.89% | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 19 | David Sedaris | 56 | 1.08% | 8.34% | 3.43% | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 20 | Carl Hiaasen | 54 | 1.04% | 12.64% | 4.06% | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 21 | Stuart Woods | 54 | 1.04% | 12.64% | 3.18% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 22 | John Sandford | 52 | 1.00% | 12.64% | 2.81% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 23 | Nelson DeMille | 52 | 0.99% | 12.64% | 3.54% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 24 | Danielle Steel | 51 | 0.98% | 9.58% | 2.37% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 25 | Harlan Coben | 50 | 0.96% | 14.53% | 4.20% | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 26 | Justin Cronin | 49 | 0.95% | 11.01% | 3.41% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 27 | Scott Turow | 48 | 0.92% | 11.01% | 3.47% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 28 | Nora Roberts | 48 | 0.91% | 14.53% | 3.62% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 29 | Daniel Silva | 47 | 0.90% | 14.53% | 3.57% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 30 | J. D. Robb | 46 | 0.88% | 14.53% | 3.06% | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 31 | Laurell K. Hamilton | 45 | 0.86% | 12.64% | 2.60% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 32 | Jennifer Weiner | 44 | 0.85% | 12.64% | 3.50% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 33 | Seth Grahame-Smith | 44 | 0.84% | 9.58% | 3.33% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 34 | Jim Butcher | 44 | 0.84% | 14.53% | 2.85% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 35 | Mary Higgins Clark | 41 | 0.79% | 14.53% | 3.16% | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 36 | Robert B. Parker | 39 | 0.76% | 9.58% | 2.19% | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 37 | Kristin Hannah | 36 | 0.69% | 9.71% | 3.00% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 38 | Michael Ledwidge | 36 | 0.69% | 7.36% | 2.50% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 39 | Michael Connelly | 35 | 0.67% | 14.53% | 3.03% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 40 | Emily Giffin | 33 | 0.64% | 12.64% | 2.73% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 41 | Philippa Gregory | 33 | 0.64% | 12.64% | 2.73% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 42 | Karl Marlantes | 33 | 0.63% | 6.32% | 2.03% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 | Robert Crais | 33 | 0.63% | 12.64% | 2.86% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 44 | Brandon Sanderson | 32 | 0.62% | 7.26% | 1.92% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 45 | Douglas Preston | 32 | 0.62% | 9.58% | 1.97% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 46 | Jan Karon | 31 | 0.59% | 12.64% | 2.47% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 47 | Elizabeth Kostova | 30 | 0.58% | 9.58% | 2.52% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 48 | J. R. Ward | 29 | 0.56% | 12.64% | 2.36% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 49 | Sandra Brown | 29 | 0.56% | 12.64% | 2.53% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 50 | Terry McMillan | 28 | 0.53% | 9.58% | 2.06% | 0 | 1 | 6 |