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 1990
Jan 6, 1990 → Dec 29, 1990 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Janet Jackson111
- 2Madonna88
- 3Phil Collins87
- 4Wilson Phillips82
- 5New Kids On The Block78
- 6Michael Bolton72
- 7Roxette71
- 8Bell Biv DeVoe68
- 9Taylor Dayne64
- 10Mariah Carey63
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janet Jackson | 111 | 2.14% | 2.99% | 2.47% | 4 | 19 | 52 |
| 2 | Madonna | 88 | 1.70% | 3.30% | 2.58% | 13 | 21 | 45 |
| 3 | Phil Collins | 87 | 1.66% | 2.78% | 2.07% | 2 | 7 | 52 |
| 4 | Wilson Phillips | 82 | 1.58% | 3.26% | 2.27% | 1 | 14 | 42 |
| 5 | New Kids On The Block | 78 | 1.49% | 3.54% | 3.05% | 4 | 13 | 51 |
| 6 | Michael Bolton | 72 | 1.38% | 2.83% | 2.16% | 0 | 10 | 46 |
| 7 | Roxette | 71 | 1.37% | 3.47% | 2.47% | 5 | 11 | 46 |
| 8 | Bell Biv DeVoe | 68 | 1.31% | 2.75% | 2.24% | 0 | 12 | 39 |
| 9 | Taylor Dayne | 64 | 1.23% | 2.55% | 1.81% | 0 | 4 | 46 |
| 10 | Mariah Carey | 63 | 1.21% | 3.12% | 2.28% | 4 | 15 | 31 |
| 11 | M.C. Hammer | 58 | 1.12% | 2.46% | 1.86% | 0 | 1 | 36 |
| 12 | Heart | 56 | 1.09% | 2.90% | 1.83% | 0 | 7 | 42 |
| 13 | Snap! | 55 | 1.06% | 2.81% | 2.04% | 0 | 8 | 41 |
| 14 | Depeche Mode | 53 | 1.02% | 1.94% | 1.45% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 15 | Lisa Stansfield | 51 | 0.98% | 2.34% | 1.69% | 0 | 1 | 44 |
| 16 | Seduction | 48 | 0.92% | 2.46% | 1.59% | 0 | 2 | 43 |
| 17 | Poison | 48 | 0.92% | 2.29% | 1.77% | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 18 | Johnny Gill | 47 | 0.90% | 2.61% | 1.66% | 0 | 2 | 34 |
| 19 | Technotronic | 46 | 0.88% | 2.48% | 1.92% | 0 | 4 | 46 |
| 20 | After 7 | 45 | 0.87% | 2.23% | 1.50% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 21 | Aerosmith | 44 | 0.85% | 2.56% | 1.60% | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| 22 | Sinead O'Connor | 44 | 0.84% | 2.46% | 1.79% | 0 | 6 | 36 |
| 23 | Jon Bon Jovi | 44 | 0.84% | 2.90% | 1.72% | 1 | 6 | 24 |
| 24 | The B-52s | 42 | 0.81% | 3.35% | 2.18% | 4 | 6 | 29 |
| 25 | Alannah Myles | 41 | 0.79% | 3.14% | 1.88% | 4 | 7 | 32 |
| 26 | Sweet Sensation | 41 | 0.79% | 2.46% | 1.64% | 0 | 1 | 38 |
| 27 | En Vogue | 40 | 0.78% | 2.64% | 1.82% | 0 | 4 | 28 |
| 28 | Stevie B | 39 | 0.75% | 2.46% | 1.64% | 0 | 4 | 43 |
| 29 | George Michael | 39 | 0.75% | 2.68% | 1.84% | 1 | 7 | 20 |
| 30 | Maxi Priest | 37 | 0.72% | 2.47% | 1.62% | 0 | 3 | 31 |
| 31 | The Righteous Brothers | 37 | 0.72% | 3.40% | 1.99% | 4 | 5 | 19 |
| 32 | Vanilla Ice | 36 | 0.69% | 3.10% | 2.07% | 2 | 11 | 17 |
| 33 | Elton John | 35 | 0.68% | 2.06% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 34 | Black Box | 35 | 0.67% | 2.41% | 1.37% | 0 | 2 | 36 |
| 35 | Motley Crue | 34 | 0.65% | 2.02% | 1.27% | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| 36 | Nelson | 34 | 0.65% | 2.50% | 1.48% | 1 | 3 | 26 |
| 37 | Billy Idol | 32 | 0.62% | 2.50% | 1.53% | 0 | 1 | 32 |
| 38 | Babyface | 32 | 0.62% | 2.06% | 1.31% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 39 | Rod Stewart | 32 | 0.61% | 2.85% | 1.69% | 1 | 5 | 34 |
| 40 | Bad English | 31 | 0.60% | 2.14% | 1.59% | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| 41 | Deee-Lite | 31 | 0.60% | 2.70% | 1.63% | 0 | 3 | 21 |
| 42 | UB40 | 31 | 0.59% | 2.38% | 1.42% | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| 43 | Jane Child | 30 | 0.57% | 2.38% | 1.46% | 0 | 3 | 25 |
| 44 | Billy Joel | 30 | 0.57% | 2.06% | 1.78% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 45 | Richard Marx | 29 | 0.55% | 1.92% | 1.66% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 46 | Michel'le | 28 | 0.54% | 2.05% | 1.17% | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 47 | Calloway | 28 | 0.53% | 2.37% | 1.43% | 0 | 2 | 30 |
| 48 | Whitney Houston | 28 | 0.53% | 2.87% | 1.86% | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| 49 | Linear | 27 | 0.53% | 2.13% | 1.33% | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 50 | Warrant | 27 | 0.53% | 1.90% | 0.93% | 0 | 0 | 34 |