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 1966
Jan 1, 1966 → Dec 31, 1966 · 53 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1The Beatles111
- 2The Beach Boys105
- 3The Rolling Stones93
- 4The Lovin' Spoonful92
- 5The Mamas & The Papas82
- 6Herman's Hermits81
- 7The Supremes77
- 8Simon & Garfunkel73
- 9Nancy Sinatra59
- 10Petula Clark59
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Beatles | 111 | 2.10% | 4.93% | 3.43% | 16 | 20 | 40 |
| 2 | The Beach Boys | 105 | 1.97% | 3.51% | 2.55% | 8 | 20 | 53 |
| 3 | The Rolling Stones | 93 | 1.75% | 3.50% | 2.49% | 4 | 18 | 43 |
| 4 | The Lovin' Spoonful | 92 | 1.74% | 3.32% | 2.60% | 0 | 16 | 50 |
| 5 | The Mamas & The Papas | 82 | 1.54% | 3.47% | 2.47% | 4 | 11 | 51 |
| 6 | Herman's Hermits | 81 | 1.52% | 3.01% | 2.00% | 0 | 8 | 46 |
| 7 | The Supremes | 77 | 1.45% | 3.39% | 2.38% | 1 | 12 | 42 |
| 8 | Simon & Garfunkel | 73 | 1.38% | 2.70% | 2.15% | 0 | 7 | 47 |
| 9 | Nancy Sinatra | 59 | 1.12% | 3.52% | 2.04% | 5 | 10 | 40 |
| 10 | Petula Clark | 59 | 1.11% | 2.99% | 1.83% | 0 | 7 | 40 |
| 11 | The Hollies | 59 | 1.11% | 2.58% | 1.80% | 0 | 3 | 47 |
| 12 | Frank Sinatra | 58 | 1.09% | 3.49% | 2.03% | 0 | 9 | 40 |
| 13 | Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass | 55 | 1.03% | 3.10% | 2.04% | 0 | 6 | 40 |
| 14 | The Kinks | 54 | 1.02% | 2.22% | 1.38% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 15 | The Righteous Brothers | 53 | 1.00% | 2.85% | 1.99% | 0 | 8 | 46 |
| 16 | The Troggs | 53 | 1.00% | 3.66% | 2.29% | 6 | 8 | 35 |
| 17 | Gary Lewis And The Playboys | 52 | 0.99% | 2.30% | 1.66% | 0 | 4 | 44 |
| 18 | Dusty Springfield | 51 | 0.96% | 2.88% | 1.80% | 0 | 4 | 45 |
| 19 | The Temptations | 51 | 0.95% | 2.39% | 1.63% | 0 | 1 | 42 |
| 20 | Johnny Rivers | 49 | 0.92% | 2.43% | 1.47% | 0 | 1 | 40 |
| 21 | Four Tops | 49 | 0.92% | 3.48% | 2.07% | 4 | 7 | 41 |
| 22 | Stevie Wonder | 48 | 0.90% | 2.79% | 1.41% | 0 | 4 | 40 |
| 23 | Percy Sledge | 46 | 0.87% | 3.26% | 1.75% | 0 | 6 | 35 |
| 24 | Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels | 42 | 0.79% | 2.21% | 1.40% | 0 | 1 | 37 |
| 25 | Elvis Presley | 41 | 0.77% | 2.17% | 1.17% | 0 | 0 | 46 |
| 26 | Bob Dylan | 41 | 0.77% | 3.15% | 1.69% | 0 | 4 | 36 |
| 27 | Paul Revere & The Raiders | 40 | 0.75% | 1.54% | 1.06% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 28 | Lee Dorsey | 39 | 0.73% | 2.72% | 1.31% | 0 | 3 | 42 |
| 29 | Wilson Pickett | 39 | 0.73% | 2.47% | 1.25% | 0 | 1 | 42 |
| 30 | The Yardbirds | 38 | 0.72% | 1.96% | 1.38% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 31 | Donovan | 38 | 0.71% | 3.34% | 1.85% | 2 | 5 | 21 |
| 32 | The Mindbenders | 37 | 0.70% | 2.78% | 1.62% | 0 | 1 | 37 |
| 33 | Peter And Gordon | 37 | 0.69% | 2.28% | 1.31% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 34 | The Association | 36 | 0.68% | 2.46% | 1.56% | 0 | 4 | 30 |
| 35 | Crispian St. Peters | 35 | 0.67% | 2.20% | 1.40% | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| 36 | The Outsiders | 35 | 0.65% | 2.15% | 1.12% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 37 | Chris Montez | 34 | 0.64% | 1.45% | 1.07% | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 38 | Lou Christie | 33 | 0.61% | 2.98% | 1.59% | 0 | 5 | 25 |
| 39 | The Monkees | 32 | 0.61% | 2.98% | 1.83% | 0 | 6 | 17 |
| 40 | Roy Orbison | 32 | 0.60% | 1.23% | 0.78% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 41 | Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich | 32 | 0.60% | 1.05% | 0.71% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 42 | Tommy James And The Shondells | 32 | 0.60% | 2.68% | 1.46% | 0 | 4 | 26 |
| 43 | Tommy Roe | 32 | 0.59% | 2.05% | 1.27% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 44 | The Young Rascals | 31 | 0.59% | 2.46% | 1.41% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 45 | Cher | 31 | 0.58% | 3.31% | 1.69% | 3 | 5 | 27 |
| 46 | The Vogues | 31 | 0.58% | 2.23% | 1.59% | 0 | 1 | 34 |
| 47 | Ronnie Dove | 31 | 0.58% | 1.35% | 0.85% | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 48 | The New Vaudeville Band | 31 | 0.58% | 2.96% | 1.95% | 0 | 8 | 17 |
| 49 | The Dave Clark Five | 30 | 0.57% | 2.14% | 1.77% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 50 | ? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians | 30 | 0.56% | 2.44% | 1.55% | 0 | 3 | 18 |