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 2012
Jan 1, 2012 → Dec 30, 2012 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Gillian Flynn317
- 2John Grisham287
- 3James Patterson264
- 4Stephen King166
- 5George R. R. Martin161
- 6David Baldacci129
- 7Vince Flynn125
- 8Janet Evanovich120
- 9J. K. Rowling111
- 10P.D. James97
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gillian Flynn | 317 | 5.98% | 14.53% | 11.02% | 9 | 24 | 28 |
| 2 | John Grisham | 287 | 5.41% | 14.53% | 8.33% | 6 | 21 | 32 |
| 3 | James Patterson | 264 | 4.98% | 12.64% | 7.66% | 0 | 14 | 50 |
| 4 | Stephen King | 166 | 3.13% | 14.53% | 8.41% | 3 | 9 | 24 |
| 5 | George R. R. Martin | 161 | 3.04% | 8.34% | 5.59% | 0 | 2 | 40 |
| 6 | David Baldacci | 129 | 2.44% | 14.53% | 5.29% | 1 | 9 | 17 |
| 7 | Vince Flynn | 125 | 2.35% | 14.53% | 5.94% | 3 | 9 | 15 |
| 8 | Janet Evanovich | 120 | 2.27% | 14.53% | 4.63% | 2 | 9 | 15 |
| 9 | J. K. Rowling | 111 | 2.09% | 14.62% | 6.47% | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| 10 | P.D. James | 97 | 1.83% | 11.30% | 6.31% | 1 | 9 | 12 |
| 11 | Danielle Steel | 87 | 1.65% | 12.64% | 3.02% | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| 12 | Ken Follett | 83 | 1.56% | 14.53% | 4.64% | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| 13 | John Sandford | 81 | 1.53% | 14.53% | 4.23% | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 14 | Mitch Albom | 78 | 1.48% | 14.53% | 4.72% | 1 | 5 | 13 |
| 15 | Maxine Paetro | 77 | 1.46% | 7.45% | 3.19% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 16 | Jodi Picoult | 67 | 1.27% | 14.53% | 5.28% | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 17 | Dean Koontz | 63 | 1.19% | 14.53% | 3.12% | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 18 | William Landay | 63 | 1.19% | 11.01% | 4.18% | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 19 | Charlaine Harris | 62 | 1.16% | 14.53% | 4.95% | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| 20 | Emily Giffin | 61 | 1.15% | 12.64% | 4.64% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 21 | Clive Cussler | 59 | 1.11% | 7.26% | 2.06% | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| 22 | Stieg Larsson | 55 | 1.03% | 9.58% | 4.31% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 23 | Lee Child | 54 | 1.01% | 14.53% | 4.22% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 24 | Patricia Cornwell | 53 | 1.01% | 9.58% | 2.85% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 25 | M. L. Stedman | 51 | 0.96% | 9.58% | 3.90% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 26 | Nelson DeMille | 51 | 0.96% | 14.53% | 4.03% | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 27 | J. D. Robb | 49 | 0.93% | 14.59% | 3.02% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 28 | Mary Higgins Clark | 47 | 0.89% | 14.53% | 3.70% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 29 | Debbie Macomber | 46 | 0.86% | 12.64% | 3.09% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 30 | Deborah Harkness | 45 | 0.85% | 14.53% | 3.02% | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 31 | Daniel Silva | 43 | 0.82% | 14.53% | 3.31% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 32 | Alan Furst | 43 | 0.81% | 12.64% | 3.41% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 33 | Hilary Mantel | 42 | 0.78% | 11.01% | 2.91% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 34 | Harlan Coben | 39 | 0.73% | 14.53% | 3.18% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 35 | Anne Rice | 39 | 0.73% | 11.12% | 2.99% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 36 | Elizabeth George | 38 | 0.72% | 14.63% | 3.39% | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 37 | Nora Roberts | 38 | 0.72% | 12.64% | 3.14% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 38 | Michael Connelly | 38 | 0.72% | 12.64% | 2.74% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 39 | Mark Greaney | 38 | 0.72% | 7.26% | 1.82% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Tom Clancy | 38 | 0.72% | 7.26% | 1.94% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 41 | Michael Ledwidge | 38 | 0.71% | 6.32% | 2.04% | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 42 | Brad Thor | 37 | 0.70% | 9.58% | 2.90% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 43 | Nicholas Sparks | 35 | 0.66% | 7.26% | 6.06% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 44 | Richard Ford | 34 | 0.64% | 8.34% | 2.71% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 45 | Robert Crais | 33 | 0.63% | 14.53% | 2.94% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 46 | Barbara Kingsolver | 33 | 0.63% | 11.01% | 2.50% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 47 | Adriana Trigiani | 32 | 0.60% | 8.34% | 2.50% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 48 | Junot Díaz | 32 | 0.60% | 7.26% | 2.56% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 | Stuart Woods | 32 | 0.60% | 9.58% | 1.97% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 50 | Kristin Hannah | 31 | 0.59% | 14.53% | 2.49% | 1 | 1 | 5 |