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 1959
Jan 3, 1959 → Dec 26, 1959 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Paul Anka111
- 2Connie Francis108
- 3Bobby Darin105
- 4Ricky Nelson100
- 5Frankie Avalon86
- 6The Everly Brothers84
- 7Elvis Presley81
- 8Lloyd Price79
- 9Fats Domino72
- 10The Coasters72
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Anka | 111 | 2.14% | 3.55% | 3.03% | 4 | 23 | 52 |
| 2 | Connie Francis | 108 | 2.08% | 4.10% | 2.87% | 4 | 21 | 51 |
| 3 | Bobby Darin | 105 | 2.02% | 3.67% | 3.09% | 15 | 24 | 49 |
| 4 | Ricky Nelson | 100 | 1.93% | 3.96% | 3.10% | 9 | 19 | 48 |
| 5 | Frankie Avalon | 86 | 1.65% | 3.05% | 2.26% | 0 | 15 | 52 |
| 6 | The Everly Brothers | 84 | 1.62% | 3.23% | 3.04% | 2 | 12 | 51 |
| 7 | Elvis Presley | 81 | 1.56% | 3.84% | 2.90% | 3 | 17 | 41 |
| 8 | Lloyd Price | 79 | 1.51% | 3.29% | 2.31% | 5 | 15 | 45 |
| 9 | Fats Domino | 72 | 1.39% | 2.86% | 1.92% | 1 | 6 | 49 |
| 10 | The Coasters | 72 | 1.38% | 3.00% | 1.83% | 0 | 6 | 45 |
| 11 | Brook Benton | 67 | 1.28% | 2.35% | 1.64% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 12 | The Platters | 66 | 1.27% | 3.38% | 2.32% | 4 | 10 | 45 |
| 13 | The Fleetwoods | 65 | 1.26% | 3.40% | 1.95% | 2 | 12 | 34 |
| 14 | Russ Conway | 57 | 1.09% | 1.75% | 1.46% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 15 | Fabian | 55 | 1.05% | 2.95% | 1.68% | 0 | 1 | 47 |
| 16 | Conway Twitty | 51 | 0.99% | 2.84% | 2.34% | 0 | 2 | 41 |
| 17 | The Kingston Trio | 48 | 0.93% | 3.09% | 2.33% | 0 | 2 | 46 |
| 18 | Pat Boone | 48 | 0.92% | 2.10% | 1.35% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 19 | Johnny Mathis | 48 | 0.92% | 2.14% | 1.52% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 20 | Johnny And The Hurricanes | 47 | 0.91% | 2.50% | 1.90% | 0 | 2 | 35 |
| 21 | Jackie Wilson | 46 | 0.89% | 1.99% | 1.34% | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| 22 | The Browns | 45 | 0.86% | 3.17% | 2.03% | 2 | 9 | 22 |
| 23 | Neil Sedaka | 44 | 0.85% | 2.87% | 1.58% | 0 | 3 | 40 |
| 24 | The Crests | 44 | 0.85% | 2.37% | 1.53% | 0 | 1 | 48 |
| 25 | Andy Williams | 44 | 0.85% | 2.14% | 1.33% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 26 | Johnny Horton | 41 | 0.80% | 3.17% | 2.00% | 0 | 8 | 25 |
| 27 | Cliff Richard and The Drifters | 41 | 0.78% | 1.57% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| 28 | Buddy Holly | 39 | 0.75% | 2.75% | 1.50% | 0 | 2 | 38 |
| 29 | Ritchie Valens | 39 | 0.75% | 3.25% | 2.13% | 0 | 9 | 24 |
| 30 | Marty Wilde | 38 | 0.74% | 1.42% | 1.02% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 31 | Lonnie Donegan | 38 | 0.72% | 1.40% | 1.01% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 32 | The Drifters | 37 | 0.71% | 2.40% | 1.38% | 0 | 2 | 30 |
| 33 | Lloyd Price and His Orchestra | 37 | 0.70% | 2.41% | 1.60% | 0 | 4 | 28 |
| 34 | Chris Barber's Jazz Band | 36 | 0.69% | 3.07% | 1.65% | 0 | 6 | 28 |
| 35 | Tommy Edwards | 35 | 0.68% | 2.68% | 2.92% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 36 | Dee Clark | 34 | 0.65% | 1.58% | 0.92% | 0 | 0 | 46 |
| 37 | Perry Como | 32 | 0.62% | 1.76% | 1.45% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 38 | Dinah Washington | 32 | 0.61% | 1.95% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 39 | Sammy Turner | 31 | 0.60% | 2.32% | 1.37% | 0 | 1 | 26 |
| 40 | Sarah Vaughan | 31 | 0.60% | 2.63% | 1.54% | 0 | 2 | 24 |
| 41 | LaVern Baker | 31 | 0.59% | 2.06% | 1.23% | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 42 | The Jordanaires | 31 | 0.59% | 1.87% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 43 | David Seville And The Chipmunks | 30 | 0.59% | 2.32% | 1.15% | 0 | 1 | 24 |
| 44 | Dion & The Belmonts | 30 | 0.58% | 2.40% | 1.45% | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 45 | Bobby Rydell | 30 | 0.57% | 2.10% | 1.48% | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 46 | Sandy Nelson | 28 | 0.54% | 2.67% | 1.65% | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| 47 | Duane Eddy And The Rebels | 27 | 0.53% | 1.89% | 1.23% | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 48 | Clyde McPhatter | 27 | 0.52% | 2.08% | 1.50% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 49 | Dodie Stevens | 27 | 0.51% | 2.34% | 1.46% | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| 50 | Jimmie Rodgers | 27 | 0.51% | 2.26% | 1.43% | 0 | 0 | 37 |