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 1978
Jan 7, 1978 → Dec 30, 1978 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Bee Gees122
- 2Andy Gibb110
- 3Donna Summer79
- 4Billy Joel74
- 5Olivia Newton-John73
- 6Barry Manilow71
- 7Foreigner60
- 8Chic57
- 9Commodores56
- 10Gerry Rafferty54
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bee Gees | 122 | 2.34% | 5.53% | 4.62% | 22 | 27 | 40 |
| 2 | Andy Gibb | 110 | 2.12% | 3.31% | 2.72% | 4 | 23 | 52 |
| 3 | Donna Summer | 79 | 1.53% | 3.32% | 2.32% | 6 | 10 | 52 |
| 4 | Billy Joel | 74 | 1.43% | 2.92% | 1.87% | 0 | 9 | 52 |
| 5 | Olivia Newton-John | 73 | 1.41% | 3.42% | 2.50% | 2 | 11 | 40 |
| 6 | Barry Manilow | 71 | 1.36% | 2.63% | 1.80% | 0 | 6 | 48 |
| 7 | Foreigner | 60 | 1.16% | 2.63% | 1.99% | 0 | 6 | 43 |
| 8 | Chic | 57 | 1.09% | 3.34% | 1.74% | 3 | 9 | 35 |
| 9 | Commodores | 56 | 1.08% | 3.56% | 2.49% | 7 | 10 | 37 |
| 10 | Gerry Rafferty | 54 | 1.05% | 2.36% | 1.79% | 0 | 8 | 46 |
| 11 | The Rolling Stones | 53 | 1.02% | 2.78% | 1.88% | 0 | 8 | 31 |
| 12 | ABBA | 53 | 1.01% | 2.76% | 1.72% | 0 | 4 | 41 |
| 13 | Electric Light Orchestra | 52 | 1.00% | 2.27% | 1.59% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 14 | Heatwave | 50 | 0.97% | 2.65% | 1.79% | 0 | 6 | 44 |
| 15 | Wings | 50 | 0.97% | 2.98% | 1.91% | 0 | 9 | 41 |
| 16 | John Travolta | 49 | 0.95% | 2.34% | 1.58% | 0 | 2 | 40 |
| 17 | Boney M | 46 | 0.89% | 1.92% | 1.34% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 18 | Earth, Wind & Fire | 45 | 0.87% | 2.01% | 1.10% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 19 | Eric Clapton | 45 | 0.87% | 2.31% | 1.72% | 0 | 4 | 42 |
| 20 | Player | 44 | 0.85% | 2.46% | 1.75% | 0 | 4 | 40 |
| 21 | A Taste Of Honey | 44 | 0.84% | 2.98% | 2.09% | 0 | 10 | 25 |
| 22 | Exile | 43 | 0.83% | 3.27% | 2.11% | 2 | 7 | 26 |
| 23 | Rod Stewart | 43 | 0.82% | 2.83% | 1.97% | 0 | 6 | 36 |
| 24 | Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band | 42 | 0.82% | 2.20% | 1.47% | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 25 | Paul Davis | 41 | 0.78% | 2.02% | 1.56% | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| 26 | Samantha Sang | 39 | 0.75% | 3.09% | 2.12% | 0 | 10 | 24 |
| 27 | Steely Dan | 38 | 0.73% | 1.76% | 1.09% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 28 | Linda Ronstadt | 38 | 0.73% | 3.28% | 2.43% | 0 | 2 | 40 |
| 29 | Yvonne Elliman | 37 | 0.72% | 3.26% | 2.04% | 1 | 8 | 27 |
| 30 | Frankie Valli | 37 | 0.71% | 2.93% | 1.85% | 0 | 2 | 26 |
| 31 | Nick Gilder | 36 | 0.70% | 2.54% | 1.79% | 0 | 5 | 30 |
| 32 | Little River Band | 36 | 0.69% | 2.28% | 1.49% | 0 | 2 | 35 |
| 33 | Queen | 34 | 0.65% | 2.54% | 1.83% | 0 | 1 | 32 |
| 34 | Dan Hill | 33 | 0.64% | 2.64% | 1.70% | 0 | 5 | 31 |
| 35 | Atlanta Rhythm Section | 33 | 0.63% | 1.99% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 36 | Darts | 32 | 0.62% | 1.05% | 0.80% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 37 | John Paul Young | 32 | 0.62% | 1.99% | 1.44% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 38 | Anne Murray | 32 | 0.62% | 2.44% | 1.66% | 0 | 4 | 25 |
| 39 | The O'Jays | 32 | 0.61% | 2.94% | 1.74% | 4 | 7 | 31 |
| 40 | Raydio | 31 | 0.60% | 2.59% | 1.59% | 0 | 4 | 32 |
| 41 | Jefferson Starship | 31 | 0.59% | 1.96% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 42 | Alicia Bridges | 31 | 0.59% | 2.30% | 1.67% | 0 | 6 | 26 |
| 43 | Jackson Browne | 31 | 0.59% | 1.95% | 1.24% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 44 | Pablo Cruise | 31 | 0.59% | 2.06% | 1.26% | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 45 | Meat Loaf | 30 | 0.58% | 1.94% | 1.21% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 46 | Bonnie Tyler | 30 | 0.58% | 2.28% | 1.48% | 0 | 3 | 27 |
| 47 | Kansas | 29 | 0.56% | 2.08% | 1.46% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 48 | Crystal Gayle | 29 | 0.56% | 2.42% | 2.09% | 0 | 1 | 33 |
| 49 | Chuck Mangione | 26 | 0.51% | 2.21% | 1.43% | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| 50 | Village People | 26 | 0.50% | 3.01% | 1.56% | 0 | 4 | 26 |