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 2022
Jan 2, 2022 → Dec 25, 2022 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1John Grisham318
- 2Matt Haig267
- 3David Baldacci239
- 4James Patterson222
- 5Stephen King176
- 6Laura Dave164
- 7Bonnie Garmus143
- 8Lucy Foley142
- 9Amor Towles135
- 10Nicholas Sparks134
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Grisham | 318 | 6.12% | 14.69% | 9.82% | 8 | 21 | 33 |
| 2 | Matt Haig | 267 | 5.13% | 14.53% | 9.04% | 2 | 12 | 41 |
| 3 | David Baldacci | 239 | 4.61% | 14.53% | 8.30% | 7 | 17 | 28 |
| 4 | James Patterson | 222 | 4.27% | 11.06% | 6.60% | 0 | 12 | 42 |
| 5 | Stephen King | 176 | 3.39% | 14.53% | 9.23% | 3 | 14 | 17 |
| 6 | Laura Dave | 164 | 3.15% | 11.01% | 6.30% | 0 | 5 | 33 |
| 7 | Bonnie Garmus | 143 | 2.75% | 14.53% | 5.72% | 1 | 3 | 31 |
| 8 | Lucy Foley | 142 | 2.73% | 14.53% | 6.47% | 2 | 8 | 21 |
| 9 | Amor Towles | 135 | 2.60% | 11.01% | 8.55% | 0 | 11 | 20 |
| 10 | Nicholas Sparks | 134 | 2.59% | 14.53% | 7.29% | 1 | 10 | 18 |
| 11 | Elin Hilderbrand | 133 | 2.56% | 14.63% | 7.44% | 4 | 10 | 13 |
| 12 | Danielle Steel | 103 | 1.98% | 14.53% | 3.14% | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| 13 | Nita Prose | 93 | 1.79% | 14.53% | 5.81% | 1 | 6 | 12 |
| 14 | Jodi Picoult | 90 | 1.72% | 12.64% | 4.23% | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| 15 | Dolly Parton | 84 | 1.62% | 7.26% | 4.27% | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 16 | Mitch Albom | 69 | 1.33% | 12.64% | 7.16% | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 17 | Janet Evanovich | 68 | 1.31% | 12.64% | 3.01% | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| 18 | Rebecca Serle | 66 | 1.27% | 12.64% | 3.48% | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| 19 | Nora Roberts | 62 | 1.20% | 14.69% | 3.48% | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 20 | John Sandford | 62 | 1.19% | 14.53% | 3.20% | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 21 | Gabrielle Zevin | 58 | 1.11% | 11.01% | 3.37% | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 22 | Daniel Silva | 56 | 1.08% | 14.53% | 4.56% | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 23 | Ruth Ware | 54 | 1.03% | 12.64% | 4.04% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 24 | Amanda Gorman | 52 | 1.00% | 14.53% | 5.09% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 25 | Emily St | 51 | 0.97% | 12.64% | 3.86% | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 26 | Barbara Kingsolver | 51 | 0.97% | 12.64% | 3.72% | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 27 | Jennifer Weiner | 50 | 0.97% | 12.87% | 3.90% | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 28 | Sarah J. Maas | 50 | 0.96% | 14.53% | 3.68% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 29 | J. D. Robb | 49 | 0.94% | 14.53% | 2.74% | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 30 | C. J. Box | 48 | 0.92% | 12.64% | 3.16% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 31 | Emily Giffin | 45 | 0.86% | 12.79% | 3.49% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 32 | Colleen Hoover | 41 | 0.79% | 14.53% | 2.80% | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 33 | Anthony Doerr | 39 | 0.75% | 7.26% | 4.85% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 34 | Taylor Jenkins Reid | 39 | 0.74% | 14.53% | 3.22% | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 35 | Lisa Scottoline | 38 | 0.73% | 12.64% | 3.14% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 36 | Michael Connelly | 37 | 0.71% | 14.53% | 2.81% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 37 | Celeste Ng | 36 | 0.70% | 8.34% | 2.30% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 38 | Maxine Paetro | 35 | 0.68% | 7.41% | 2.71% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 39 | Alex Kiester | 33 | 0.63% | 7.26% | 2.26% | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Ashley Flowers | 33 | 0.63% | 7.26% | 2.26% | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 41 | Geraldine Brooks | 32 | 0.62% | 11.06% | 2.27% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 42 | Gillian McAllister | 31 | 0.60% | 12.64% | 2.55% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 43 | Jennifer Finney Boylan | 31 | 0.59% | 5.50% | 1.95% | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 44 | Holly Black | 30 | 0.58% | 12.90% | 2.40% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 45 | Nina de Gramont | 30 | 0.57% | 8.34% | 2.48% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 46 | Riley Sager | 28 | 0.53% | 11.09% | 2.40% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 47 | Louise Penny | 27 | 0.51% | 14.53% | 2.46% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 48 | Alaina Urquhart | 26 | 0.51% | 12.64% | 2.27% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 49 | Kyle Mills | 26 | 0.51% | 11.01% | 2.33% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 50 | Brad Thor | 26 | 0.50% | 12.64% | 2.24% | 0 | 1 | 4 |