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 1963
Jan 5, 1963 → Dec 28, 1963 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Roy Orbison78
- 2The Beach Boys71
- 3The Crystals68
- 4Brenda Lee66
- 5Bobby Vinton64
- 6Peter, Paul & Mary63
- 7Lesley Gore63
- 8The 4 Seasons60
- 9Paul and Paula59
- 10Chubby Checker54
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roy Orbison | 78 | 1.51% | 3.71% | 2.31% | 6 | 10 | 44 |
| 2 | The Beach Boys | 71 | 1.37% | 2.98% | 1.96% | 4 | 14 | 43 |
| 3 | The Crystals | 68 | 1.31% | 3.09% | 2.11% | 2 | 9 | 46 |
| 4 | Brenda Lee | 66 | 1.27% | 2.87% | 2.02% | 1 | 7 | 51 |
| 5 | Bobby Vinton | 64 | 1.23% | 2.62% | 1.89% | 1 | 9 | 47 |
| 6 | Peter, Paul & Mary | 63 | 1.21% | 2.37% | 1.70% | 0 | 4 | 48 |
| 7 | Lesley Gore | 63 | 1.21% | 3.23% | 2.26% | 8 | 14 | 33 |
| 8 | The 4 Seasons | 60 | 1.16% | 2.73% | 2.34% | 1 | 8 | 45 |
| 9 | Paul and Paula | 59 | 1.14% | 3.10% | 2.23% | 4 | 12 | 38 |
| 10 | Chubby Checker | 54 | 1.04% | 2.67% | 2.44% | 0 | 2 | 45 |
| 11 | The Chiffons | 53 | 1.02% | 2.85% | 1.89% | 0 | 8 | 43 |
| 12 | The Beatles | 53 | 1.01% | 1.82% | 1.29% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 13 | Ray Charles | 52 | 0.99% | 2.82% | 2.15% | 1 | 7 | 45 |
| 14 | Sam Cooke | 51 | 0.98% | 2.21% | 1.33% | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 15 | Cliff Richard | 51 | 0.97% | 1.45% | 1.13% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 16 | Rick Nelson | 50 | 0.97% | 2.56% | 1.37% | 0 | 4 | 42 |
| 17 | Andy Williams | 50 | 0.96% | 3.97% | 2.28% | 7 | 9 | 27 |
| 18 | Elvis Presley | 50 | 0.95% | 2.21% | 1.93% | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| 19 | Skeeter Davis | 48 | 0.92% | 2.86% | 1.70% | 0 | 6 | 35 |
| 20 | Bobby Vee | 47 | 0.91% | 2.69% | 1.94% | 2 | 8 | 40 |
| 21 | Jan & Dean | 46 | 0.88% | 2.47% | 1.59% | 0 | 3 | 39 |
| 22 | Frank Ifield | 44 | 0.85% | 1.65% | 1.67% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 23 | The Shadows | 41 | 0.79% | 1.24% | 0.90% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 24 | Gene Pitney | 41 | 0.79% | 1.77% | 1.28% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 25 | Dion | 41 | 0.78% | 2.59% | 1.73% | 0 | 3 | 33 |
| 26 | Del Shannon | 40 | 0.78% | 2.64% | 1.60% | 0 | 2 | 45 |
| 27 | Ruby And The Romantics | 39 | 0.76% | 2.69% | 1.46% | 0 | 4 | 41 |
| 28 | The Orlons | 39 | 0.75% | 2.29% | 1.48% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 29 | The Tymes | 39 | 0.74% | 2.92% | 1.76% | 0 | 4 | 26 |
| 30 | Steve Lawrence | 38 | 0.73% | 2.44% | 1.50% | 0 | 5 | 43 |
| 31 | Al Martino | 38 | 0.73% | 2.29% | 1.21% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 32 | Bobby Darin | 37 | 0.72% | 2.31% | 1.55% | 0 | 1 | 43 |
| 33 | Gerry And The Pacemakers | 37 | 0.70% | 1.52% | 1.06% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 34 | The Rooftop Singers | 37 | 0.70% | 2.99% | 1.74% | 5 | 7 | 28 |
| 35 | The Cascades | 36 | 0.69% | 2.93% | 1.85% | 1 | 7 | 24 |
| 36 | The Drifters | 36 | 0.69% | 2.13% | 1.21% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 37 | The Miracles | 35 | 0.68% | 1.94% | 1.05% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 38 | Nat King Cole | 35 | 0.68% | 2.06% | 1.90% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 39 | Little Peggy March | 35 | 0.68% | 2.46% | 1.45% | 0 | 5 | 32 |
| 40 | Trini Lopez | 35 | 0.67% | 2.95% | 1.55% | 1 | 5 | 23 |
| 41 | Martha & The Vandellas | 34 | 0.66% | 2.22% | 1.36% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 42 | Tommy Roe | 34 | 0.64% | 2.55% | 1.58% | 1 | 5 | 28 |
| 43 | Kyu Sakamoto | 33 | 0.63% | 2.71% | 1.73% | 1 | 7 | 21 |
| 44 | The Surfaris | 33 | 0.63% | 3.09% | 1.70% | 3 | 6 | 22 |
| 45 | The Shirelles | 32 | 0.61% | 2.41% | 1.31% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 46 | Mary Wells | 30 | 0.58% | 1.99% | 1.26% | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 47 | Billy Fury | 30 | 0.58% | 1.06% | 0.81% | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| 48 | Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs | 30 | 0.57% | 2.58% | 1.71% | 0 | 9 | 15 |
| 49 | Connie Francis | 30 | 0.57% | 1.43% | 0.94% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 50 | Ned Miller | 30 | 0.57% | 2.36% | 1.23% | 0 | 0 | 27 |