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 2017
Jan 1, 2017 → Dec 31, 2017 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1John Grisham407
- 2James Patterson275
- 3Danielle Steel221
- 4Paula Hawkins160
- 5David Baldacci159
- 6Amor Towles153
- 7Michael Connelly137
- 8Dan Brown135
- 9Lee Child132
- 10Colson Whitehead131
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Grisham | 407 | 7.68% | 14.53% | 9.94% | 11 | 30 | 38 |
| 2 | James Patterson | 275 | 5.18% | 14.53% | 7.94% | 1 | 15 | 46 |
| 3 | Danielle Steel | 221 | 4.16% | 14.53% | 5.72% | 4 | 12 | 30 |
| 4 | Paula Hawkins | 160 | 3.01% | 14.65% | 7.95% | 4 | 11 | 17 |
| 5 | David Baldacci | 159 | 3.00% | 14.60% | 5.69% | 1 | 10 | 21 |
| 6 | Amor Towles | 153 | 2.88% | 7.26% | 4.61% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 7 | Michael Connelly | 137 | 2.58% | 14.53% | 5.89% | 3 | 8 | 19 |
| 8 | Dan Brown | 135 | 2.55% | 14.53% | 8.75% | 4 | 10 | 11 |
| 9 | Lee Child | 132 | 2.48% | 14.53% | 5.10% | 1 | 9 | 18 |
| 10 | Colson Whitehead | 131 | 2.47% | 12.94% | 8.23% | 2 | 10 | 19 |
| 11 | Neil Gaiman | 127 | 2.40% | 14.59% | 7.13% | 2 | 9 | 14 |
| 12 | Nicholas Sparks | 105 | 1.98% | 14.53% | 9.58% | 1 | 9 | 11 |
| 13 | Ken Follett | 91 | 1.71% | 14.53% | 5.31% | 1 | 7 | 14 |
| 14 | John Sandford | 79 | 1.49% | 14.55% | 3.56% | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 15 | J. D. Robb | 69 | 1.30% | 12.64% | 3.97% | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 16 | George Saunders | 68 | 1.29% | 14.62% | 4.85% | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 | Debbie Macomber | 68 | 1.28% | 14.53% | 3.11% | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 18 | Jodi Picoult | 67 | 1.27% | 7.26% | 5.53% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 19 | Elin Hilderbrand | 63 | 1.19% | 12.64% | 4.23% | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| 20 | Janet Evanovich | 63 | 1.19% | 12.64% | 4.07% | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 21 | Nora Roberts | 60 | 1.13% | 14.53% | 3.40% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 22 | Stuart Woods | 56 | 1.05% | 11.06% | 2.59% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 23 | Michael Crichton | 53 | 1.01% | 12.64% | 3.96% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 24 | David Lagercrantz | 53 | 0.99% | 12.64% | 3.66% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 25 | Ruth Ware | 52 | 0.98% | 11.01% | 3.80% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 26 | Daniel Silva | 52 | 0.98% | 14.53% | 4.04% | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 27 | Mary Higgins Clark | 51 | 0.95% | 12.64% | 3.58% | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 28 | Sue Grafton | 49 | 0.93% | 14.53% | 3.73% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 29 | Stephen King | 48 | 0.91% | 7.26% | 2.64% | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| 30 | Celeste Ng | 47 | 0.90% | 6.32% | 2.60% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 31 | Tom Hanks | 47 | 0.90% | 11.01% | 3.06% | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 32 | C. J. Box | 47 | 0.88% | 12.64% | 2.43% | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 33 | Nelson DeMille | 44 | 0.84% | 14.53% | 3.37% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 34 | Owen King | 43 | 0.81% | 7.26% | 2.59% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 35 | Greg Iles | 42 | 0.80% | 14.53% | 3.48% | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 36 | Clive Cussler | 42 | 0.79% | 7.26% | 1.51% | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| 37 | John le Carré | 40 | 0.76% | 14.53% | 3.15% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 38 | Brad Thor | 40 | 0.74% | 11.01% | 3.26% | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 39 | David Ellis | 39 | 0.74% | 7.31% | 2.94% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 40 | J. P. Delaney | 39 | 0.74% | 11.01% | 2.90% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 41 | Lisa Wingate | 39 | 0.74% | 3.63% | 1.99% | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 42 | Sandra Brown | 35 | 0.67% | 14.53% | 3.09% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 43 | Kyle Mills | 35 | 0.66% | 11.01% | 2.96% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 44 | Jonathan Kellerman | 35 | 0.66% | 9.58% | 2.87% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 45 | Lisa Scottoline | 34 | 0.65% | 9.65% | 2.03% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 46 | Stephenie Meyer | 34 | 0.64% | 6.41% | 2.70% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 47 | Andy Weir | 34 | 0.64% | 8.34% | 3.02% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 48 | Dean Koontz | 34 | 0.64% | 12.64% | 2.46% | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 49 | Candice Fox | 34 | 0.64% | 7.43% | 2.62% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 | Harlan Coben | 34 | 0.64% | 12.64% | 2.78% | 1 | 2 | 5 |