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 1997
Jan 4, 1997 → Dec 27, 1997 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Spice Girls134
- 2Jewel94
- 3R. Kelly80
- 4Toni Braxton79
- 5Backstreet Boys77
- 6Puff Daddy73
- 7En Vogue70
- 8Mark Morrison66
- 9Dru Hill65
- 10Hanson63
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spice Girls | 134 | 2.57% | 3.86% | 2.81% | 10 | 37 | 52 |
| 2 | Jewel | 94 | 1.81% | 2.36% | 2.08% | 0 | 7 | 52 |
| 3 | R. Kelly | 80 | 1.54% | 3.05% | 2.35% | 0 | 12 | 48 |
| 4 | Toni Braxton | 79 | 1.52% | 4.05% | 3.61% | 8 | 22 | 36 |
| 5 | Backstreet Boys | 77 | 1.47% | 3.32% | 2.58% | 8 | 17 | 47 |
| 6 | Puff Daddy | 73 | 1.41% | 2.29% | 1.88% | 0 | 4 | 52 |
| 7 | En Vogue | 70 | 1.34% | 3.35% | 2.50% | 1 | 11 | 51 |
| 8 | Mark Morrison | 66 | 1.27% | 2.37% | 2.01% | 0 | 9 | 46 |
| 9 | Dru Hill | 65 | 1.26% | 2.21% | 1.78% | 0 | 2 | 47 |
| 10 | Hanson | 63 | 1.20% | 3.55% | 2.31% | 8 | 12 | 34 |
| 11 | LeAnn Rimes | 59 | 1.13% | 2.81% | 2.38% | 1 | 18 | 28 |
| 12 | The Notorious B.I.G. | 56 | 1.07% | 2.44% | 1.58% | 2 | 7 | 36 |
| 13 | Savage Garden | 56 | 1.07% | 2.35% | 1.69% | 0 | 2 | 44 |
| 14 | 112 | 54 | 1.04% | 1.91% | 1.48% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 15 | Duncan Sheik | 50 | 0.97% | 1.45% | 1.22% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 16 | Third Eye Blind | 50 | 0.96% | 2.31% | 1.79% | 0 | 7 | 26 |
| 17 | Robyn | 49 | 0.95% | 2.47% | 1.66% | 0 | 3 | 31 |
| 18 | Meredith Brooks | 49 | 0.94% | 3.30% | 2.12% | 0 | 10 | 32 |
| 19 | No Mercy | 48 | 0.92% | 2.88% | 2.34% | 0 | 10 | 45 |
| 20 | Monica | 48 | 0.92% | 2.57% | 1.66% | 0 | 5 | 32 |
| 21 | Az Yet | 47 | 0.91% | 2.07% | 1.44% | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| 22 | Elton John | 45 | 0.87% | 3.57% | 2.52% | 11 | 12 | 26 |
| 23 | Paula Cole | 44 | 0.85% | 2.15% | 1.41% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 24 | The Verve Pipe | 44 | 0.84% | 2.14% | 1.40% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 25 | Babyface | 43 | 0.83% | 2.67% | 1.77% | 0 | 2 | 37 |
| 26 | Rome | 42 | 0.81% | 2.06% | 1.55% | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 27 | Celine Dion | 42 | 0.81% | 2.42% | 2.86% | 0 | 3 | 39 |
| 28 | Whitney Houston | 42 | 0.81% | 2.83% | 2.05% | 0 | 9 | 30 |
| 29 | Usher | 42 | 0.80% | 2.40% | 2.04% | 0 | 7 | 19 |
| 30 | Mase | 41 | 0.79% | 3.26% | 1.64% | 0 | 3 | 49 |
| 31 | Sheryl Crow | 39 | 0.74% | 1.86% | 1.57% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 32 | Chumbawamba | 38 | 0.72% | 2.57% | 1.92% | 0 | 7 | 20 |
| 33 | Gina G | 37 | 0.72% | 2.55% | 1.49% | 0 | 1 | 38 |
| 34 | Changing Faces | 37 | 0.71% | 2.44% | 1.53% | 0 | 1 | 34 |
| 35 | Boyz II Men | 35 | 0.66% | 2.94% | 1.88% | 0 | 6 | 16 |
| 36 | Sister Hazel | 34 | 0.66% | 1.76% | 1.31% | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 37 | Bone Thugs-N-Harmony | 33 | 0.64% | 2.80% | 1.30% | 0 | 4 | 33 |
| 38 | Freak Nasty | 32 | 0.62% | 1.50% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| 39 | Shawn Colvin | 32 | 0.61% | 2.00% | 1.23% | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| 40 | Mariah Carey | 32 | 0.61% | 3.12% | 1.55% | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| 41 | 702 | 31 | 0.60% | 1.79% | 1.21% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 42 | Keith Sweat | 30 | 0.57% | 2.34% | 2.36% | 0 | 1 | 35 |
| 43 | U2 | 30 | 0.57% | 2.49% | 0.95% | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| 44 | Lil' Kim | 30 | 0.57% | 2.23% | 0.99% | 0 | 1 | 40 |
| 45 | BLACKstreet | 29 | 0.55% | 1.56% | 1.38% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 46 | 98 Degrees | 28 | 0.53% | 1.69% | 1.18% | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 47 | Madonna | 28 | 0.53% | 2.63% | 1.70% | 0 | 1 | 23 |
| 48 | Mary J. Blige | 28 | 0.53% | 1.89% | 1.10% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 49 | Allure | 27 | 0.52% | 1.56% | 1.11% | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| 50 | Aqua | 25 | 0.47% | 2.02% | 1.20% | 0 | 0 | 17 |