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 2026
Jan 4, 2026 → Sep 20, 2026 · 38 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Virginia Evans392
- 2Matt Dinniman358
- 3Caro Claire Burke293
- 4Kathryn Stockett205
- 5Ann Patchett163
- 6James Patterson129
- 7John Grisham105
- 8SenLinYu97
- 9Carley Fortune68
- 10Dan Brown66
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia Evans | 392 | 10.32% | 14.93% | 11.73% | 8 | 23 | 38 |
| 2 | Matt Dinniman | 358 | 9.41% | 19.84% | 11.59% | 6 | 21 | 38 |
| 3 | Caro Claire Burke | 293 | 7.70% | 16.60% | 12.16% | 5 | 22 | 22 |
| 4 | Kathryn Stockett | 205 | 5.40% | 15.97% | 11.03% | 2 | 14 | 18 |
| 5 | Ann Patchett | 163 | 4.28% | 14.83% | 8.75% | 1 | 13 | 14 |
| 6 | James Patterson | 129 | 3.38% | 9.67% | 4.66% | 0 | 3 | 29 |
| 7 | John Grisham | 105 | 2.77% | 14.69% | 9.40% | 1 | 5 | 15 |
| 8 | SenLinYu | 97 | 2.54% | 12.87% | 7.85% | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 | Carley Fortune | 68 | 1.78% | 14.75% | 4.46% | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 10 | Dan Brown | 66 | 1.74% | 12.79% | 9.63% | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 11 | Alice Feeney | 65 | 1.70% | 11.12% | 4.33% | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 12 | Danielle Steel | 60 | 1.57% | 12.77% | 2.55% | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 13 | Alex Aster | 56 | 1.48% | 14.90% | 3.93% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 14 | Callie Hart | 50 | 1.32% | 11.66% | 7.48% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 15 | Abby Jimenez | 48 | 1.26% | 16.12% | 3.41% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 16 | Tayari Jones | 42 | 1.11% | 11.18% | 3.29% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 | Jennette McCurdy | 38 | 0.99% | 12.64% | 3.33% | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Viola Davis | 35 | 0.93% | 7.60% | 2.50% | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 19 | David Baldacci | 34 | 0.91% | 14.67% | 3.01% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 20 | Thomas Schlesser | 33 | 0.87% | 9.73% | 3.90% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 21 | Laura Dave | 32 | 0.85% | 12.64% | 2.61% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 22 | Devney Perry | 32 | 0.84% | 14.53% | 2.82% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | C. J. Box | 31 | 0.83% | 14.74% | 2.73% | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 24 | Freida McFadden | 30 | 0.80% | 6.43% | 4.30% | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 25 | Riley Sager | 29 | 0.75% | 15.61% | 2.46% | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 26 | H.M. Wolfe | 28 | 0.74% | 15.73% | 2.62% | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 27 | Maggie O'Farrell | 28 | 0.74% | 11.24% | 2.31% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 28 | Christopher Buehlman | 28 | 0.73% | 9.68% | 2.30% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 29 | Sarah A. Parker | 28 | 0.73% | 16.04% | 2.54% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 30 | Sable Sorensen | 26 | 0.67% | 12.84% | 2.01% | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 31 | Jenny Jackson | 26 | 0.67% | 10.60% | 2.06% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 32 | George Saunders | 25 | 0.66% | 14.53% | 2.03% | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 33 | Sheila Masterson | 24 | 0.64% | 15.78% | 2.23% | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 34 | Ashley Elston | 22 | 0.57% | 12.64% | 1.83% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 35 | Matt Haig | 22 | 0.57% | 10.03% | 1.82% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 36 | Mary Kubica | 22 | 0.57% | 11.01% | 1.86% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 37 | Liane Moriarty | 21 | 0.56% | 14.94% | 2.16% | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 38 | Dana Perino | 21 | 0.55% | 11.06% | 2.14% | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 39 | Brian Sitts | 20 | 0.52% | 5.66% | 1.66% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 40 | Daniel Silva | 18 | 0.48% | 15.45% | 1.83% | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 41 | Brooke Averick | 18 | 0.48% | 13.23% | 1.82% | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 42 | Brynne Weaver | 17 | 0.45% | 14.85% | 1.73% | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 43 | Rebecca Yarros | 16 | 0.43% | 8.34% | 3.35% | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 44 | Carissa Broadbent | 16 | 0.41% | 8.96% | 1.06% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 45 | Lisa Jewell | 15 | 0.41% | 10.18% | 1.57% | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 46 | Michael Connelly | 15 | 0.41% | 12.15% | 1.63% | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 47 | Mitch Albom | 15 | 0.41% | 4.22% | 2.76% | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 48 | Nora Roberts | 15 | 0.40% | 11.52% | 1.60% | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 49 | Rachel Gillig | 15 | 0.39% | 14.96% | 1.64% | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 50 | John Sandford | 15 | 0.39% | 11.01% | 1.47% | 0 | 1 | 2 |