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 1980
Jan 5, 1980 → Dec 27, 1980 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Queen92
- 2Kenny Rogers82
- 3Diana Ross77
- 4Air Supply76
- 5Blondie70
- 6Billy Joel69
- 7Michael Jackson68
- 8Christopher Cross66
- 9Bob Seger55
- 10The Spinners54
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Queen | 92 | 1.76% | 3.30% | 2.46% | 0 | 20 | 50 |
| 2 | Kenny Rogers | 82 | 1.57% | 3.39% | 2.34% | 4 | 14 | 49 |
| 3 | Diana Ross | 77 | 1.48% | 3.98% | 3.29% | 15 | 19 | 28 |
| 4 | Air Supply | 76 | 1.46% | 2.81% | 2.17% | 0 | 12 | 47 |
| 5 | Blondie | 70 | 1.34% | 3.58% | 2.52% | 11 | 14 | 39 |
| 6 | Billy Joel | 69 | 1.33% | 3.19% | 2.41% | 2 | 14 | 39 |
| 7 | Michael Jackson | 68 | 1.31% | 3.50% | 2.72% | 3 | 14 | 33 |
| 8 | Christopher Cross | 66 | 1.28% | 2.46% | 1.81% | 0 | 9 | 46 |
| 9 | Bob Seger | 55 | 1.05% | 2.73% | 1.78% | 0 | 2 | 45 |
| 10 | The Spinners | 54 | 1.04% | 2.36% | 1.79% | 0 | 3 | 38 |
| 11 | Dr. Hook | 53 | 1.02% | 2.68% | 1.98% | 0 | 8 | 47 |
| 12 | Donna Summer | 52 | 0.99% | 2.62% | 1.88% | 0 | 4 | 39 |
| 13 | Barbra Streisand | 51 | 0.98% | 3.75% | 2.58% | 1 | 12 | 29 |
| 14 | Cliff Richard | 51 | 0.98% | 2.27% | 1.55% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 15 | Kool & The Gang | 48 | 0.93% | 2.45% | 1.85% | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 16 | Olivia Newton-John | 47 | 0.91% | 2.91% | 2.07% | 4 | 10 | 40 |
| 17 | Stevie Wonder | 45 | 0.87% | 2.50% | 1.74% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 18 | Rupert Holmes | 44 | 0.85% | 2.89% | 2.06% | 1 | 9 | 35 |
| 19 | Electric Light Orchestra | 41 | 0.79% | 2.07% | 1.52% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 20 | Boz Scaggs | 41 | 0.79% | 1.76% | 1.30% | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 21 | Robbie Dupree | 41 | 0.78% | 2.19% | 1.49% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 22 | Pink Floyd | 41 | 0.78% | 2.45% | 1.90% | 0 | 7 | 27 |
| 23 | Ambrosia | 41 | 0.78% | 2.30% | 1.49% | 0 | 3 | 32 |
| 24 | Kenny Loggins | 40 | 0.77% | 2.01% | 1.28% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 25 | Linda Ronstadt | 40 | 0.77% | 2.11% | 1.58% | 0 | 1 | 33 |
| 26 | Pat Benatar | 39 | 0.75% | 1.88% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 27 | The Rolling Stones | 37 | 0.72% | 2.47% | 1.63% | 0 | 3 | 26 |
| 28 | Elton John | 37 | 0.71% | 2.39% | 1.78% | 0 | 8 | 26 |
| 29 | Bette Midler | 36 | 0.69% | 2.30% | 1.60% | 0 | 4 | 40 |
| 30 | George Benson | 35 | 0.68% | 2.69% | 1.84% | 0 | 8 | 23 |
| 31 | Irene Cara | 35 | 0.67% | 2.58% | 1.59% | 0 | 3 | 29 |
| 32 | Kim Carnes | 35 | 0.67% | 1.80% | 1.44% | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 33 | Gary Numan | 35 | 0.66% | 2.75% | 1.64% | 2 | 5 | 36 |
| 34 | Eagles | 34 | 0.65% | 2.13% | 1.81% | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 35 | Jermaine Jackson | 33 | 0.64% | 2.47% | 1.59% | 1 | 3 | 28 |
| 36 | Dan Fogelberg | 33 | 0.63% | 2.62% | 1.50% | 1 | 4 | 27 |
| 37 | Paul McCartney And Wings | 33 | 0.63% | 2.46% | 1.72% | 2 | 8 | 21 |
| 38 | Stephanie Mills | 33 | 0.63% | 3.09% | 1.79% | 0 | 4 | 27 |
| 39 | Andy Gibb | 32 | 0.63% | 2.29% | 1.42% | 0 | 2 | 28 |
| 40 | Neil Diamond | 32 | 0.61% | 2.86% | 1.46% | 0 | 2 | 28 |
| 41 | Captain & Tennille | 31 | 0.59% | 2.46% | 1.91% | 0 | 6 | 22 |
| 42 | Eddie Rabbitt | 30 | 0.59% | 2.15% | 1.38% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 43 | Daryl Hall John Oates | 30 | 0.58% | 1.71% | 1.21% | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| 44 | Pretenders | 30 | 0.57% | 1.92% | 1.31% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 45 | Leo Sayer | 28 | 0.55% | 2.41% | 1.55% | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| 46 | The Pointer Sisters | 28 | 0.54% | 2.42% | 1.47% | 0 | 1 | 23 |
| 47 | The Police | 28 | 0.54% | 2.52% | 1.27% | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| 48 | Commodores | 28 | 0.53% | 2.48% | 2.61% | 0 | 2 | 34 |
| 49 | Anne Murray | 27 | 0.52% | 1.69% | 1.28% | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| 50 | Smokey Robinson | 26 | 0.51% | 2.23% | 1.61% | 0 | 0 | 24 |