Eras
Who was the most powerful artist 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.
Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart combined, weighted · UK Singles Chart data ends Aug 1, 2025 · How it works
Each week an artist's share is the weighted mean of their Power Share across Billboard Hot 100 ×1 and UK Singles Chart ×0.45 (weights ∝ √population, US = 1). The divisor is every chart's weight, so a number one is worth the same share in any era — and a week before every chart exists, or after one's data ends, sums to less than 100.
UK Singles Chart data runs to Aug 1, 2025; later weeks combine the Billboard Hot 100 only, so their shares — and the most recent years' Era Power — are lower than a full week's would be.
Leader of every year
Column height = the leader's average Power Share over the period. Click a column to explore that range.
- The Beatles4 periods
- Madonna3 periods
- Frankie Laine2 periods
- Elvis Presley2 periods
- Michael Jackson2 periods
- Elton John2 periods
- Bee Gees2 periods
- TLC2 periods
- Destiny's Child2 periods
- Bruno Mars2 periods
- The Weeknd2 periods
- Drake2 periods
- Bing Crosby1 period
- Ruby Murray1 period
- Bill Haley And His Comets1 period
- The Everly Brothers1 period
- Paul Anka1 period
- Connie Francis1 period
- Chubby Checker1 period
- Roy Orbison1 period
- The Monkees1 period
- Creedence Clearwater Revival1 period
- Jackson 51 period
- Carpenters1 period
- Eagles1 period
- Fleetwood Mac1 period
- Donna Summer1 period
- Queen1 period
- Daryl Hall John Oates1 period
- John Cougar1 period
- Lionel Richie1 period
- George Michael1 period
- Bobby Brown1 period
- Janet Jackson1 period
- Mariah Carey1 period
- Boyz II Men1 period
- Whitney Houston1 period
- Ace Of Base1 period
- Celine Dion1 period
- Spice Girls1 period
- Savage Garden1 period
- Ashanti1 period
- 50 Cent1 period
- Usher1 period
- Kelly Clarkson1 period
- Chris Brown1 period
- Fergie1 period
- Rihanna1 period
- Lady Gaga1 period
- Ke$ha1 period
- Flo Rida1 period
- Sam Smith1 period
- Ed Sheeran1 period
- Post Malone1 period
- Olivia Rodrigo1 period
- Harry Styles1 period
- Taylor Swift1 period
- Sabrina Carpenter1 period
- Morgan Wallen1 period
- Ella Langley1 period
Leaders in 1952
Nov 15, 1952 → Dec 27, 1952 · 7 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Bing Crosby7
- 2Al Martino7
- 3Jo Stafford7
- 4Vera Lynn7
- 5Frankie Laine6
- 6Nat King Cole6
- 7Guy Mitchell6
- 8Rosemary Clooney6
- 9Mario Lanza6
- 10Doris Day4
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bing Crosby | 7 | 1.05% | 1.19% | 0.59% | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | Al Martino | 7 | 1.05% | 1.72% | 0.56% | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| 3 | Jo Stafford | 7 | 1.02% | 1.12% | 0.57% | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| 4 | Vera Lynn | 7 | 0.95% | 1.53% | 0.49% | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 5 | Frankie Laine | 6 | 0.92% | 1.19% | 0.49% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | Nat King Cole | 6 | 0.91% | 1.09% | 0.51% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Guy Mitchell | 6 | 0.87% | 1.11% | 0.47% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Rosemary Clooney | 6 | 0.86% | 1.07% | 0.46% | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 9 | Mario Lanza | 6 | 0.79% | 1.01% | 0.43% | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 | Doris Day | 4 | 0.52% | 1.10% | 0.27% | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | Kay Starr | 3 | 0.44% | 0.80% | 0.28% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 12 | Ray Martin | 3 | 0.42% | 0.77% | 0.26% | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 | Mantovani | 1 | 0.19% | 0.66% | 0.14% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads | 1 | 0.18% | 0.64% | 0.13% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Louis Armstrong | 1 | 0.18% | 0.61% | 0.13% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | Tony Brent | 1 | 0.17% | 0.59% | 0.12% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Jane Wyman | 1 | 0.10% | 0.38% | 0.07% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | Max Bygraves | 1 | 0.10% | 0.67% | 0.07% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Winifred Atwell | 1 | 0.10% | 0.67% | 0.07% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Johnnie Ray | 1 | 0.09% | 0.65% | 0.07% | 0 | 0 | 1 |