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 1998
Jan 3, 1998 → Dec 26, 1998 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Savage Garden115
- 2Usher115
- 3Next104
- 4Shania Twain97
- 5LeAnn Rimes89
- 6Madonna78
- 7Monica76
- 8Will Smith69
- 9All Saints67
- 10Janet66
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Savage Garden | 115 | 2.21% | 3.33% | 2.67% | 5 | 27 | 52 |
| 2 | Usher | 115 | 2.21% | 4.68% | 3.19% | 7 | 24 | 48 |
| 3 | Next | 104 | 2.01% | 2.98% | 2.51% | 1 | 26 | 52 |
| 4 | Shania Twain | 97 | 1.87% | 2.92% | 2.30% | 4 | 16 | 52 |
| 5 | LeAnn Rimes | 89 | 1.71% | 2.97% | 2.48% | 0 | 18 | 46 |
| 6 | Madonna | 78 | 1.50% | 3.37% | 2.01% | 3 | 12 | 44 |
| 7 | Monica | 76 | 1.46% | 3.99% | 2.83% | 11 | 16 | 31 |
| 8 | Will Smith | 69 | 1.32% | 3.03% | 1.64% | 0 | 4 | 50 |
| 9 | All Saints | 67 | 1.28% | 3.02% | 1.78% | 0 | 2 | 52 |
| 10 | Janet | 66 | 1.28% | 2.51% | 1.83% | 0 | 6 | 46 |
| 11 | Spice Girls | 63 | 1.22% | 2.92% | 2.49% | 1 | 7 | 48 |
| 12 | Third Eye Blind | 62 | 1.20% | 2.48% | 2.03% | 0 | 3 | 52 |
| 13 | Mase | 62 | 1.19% | 2.83% | 2.00% | 0 | 3 | 52 |
| 14 | Five | 59 | 1.14% | 2.95% | 1.99% | 0 | 3 | 47 |
| 15 | Sarah McLachlan | 56 | 1.08% | 2.33% | 1.79% | 0 | 1 | 50 |
| 16 | Celine Dion | 55 | 1.07% | 3.57% | 2.19% | 6 | 9 | 48 |
| 17 | Backstreet Boys | 55 | 1.05% | 2.23% | 2.05% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 18 | Faith Hill | 54 | 1.03% | 2.67% | 2.05% | 1 | 6 | 41 |
| 19 | Jennifer Paige | 50 | 0.96% | 3.31% | 2.21% | 0 | 9 | 26 |
| 20 | Aerosmith | 50 | 0.96% | 3.38% | 2.28% | 3 | 13 | 30 |
| 21 | Destiny's Child | 49 | 0.95% | 3.19% | 1.91% | 0 | 4 | 30 |
| 22 | Brandy | 45 | 0.87% | 2.45% | 1.50% | 0 | 4 | 31 |
| 23 | Paula Cole | 44 | 0.85% | 1.76% | 1.42% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 24 | Mariah Carey | 42 | 0.81% | 3.22% | 1.89% | 5 | 9 | 32 |
| 25 | Busta Rhymes | 40 | 0.76% | 2.43% | 1.34% | 0 | 1 | 38 |
| 26 | Master P | 38 | 0.74% | 1.73% | 1.29% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 27 | Elton John | 38 | 0.73% | 3.23% | 2.65% | 3 | 5 | 35 |
| 28 | Voices Of Theory | 36 | 0.70% | 1.81% | 1.28% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 29 | Marcy Playground | 36 | 0.69% | 2.20% | 1.37% | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 30 | Montell Jordan | 36 | 0.68% | 1.74% | 1.06% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 31 | Dru Hill | 35 | 0.68% | 2.38% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 32 | Wyclef Jean | 35 | 0.67% | 2.39% | 1.56% | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| 33 | Public Announcement | 34 | 0.65% | 2.15% | 1.53% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 34 | Xscape | 33 | 0.64% | 2.02% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 35 | Ace Of Base | 32 | 0.62% | 2.57% | 1.50% | 2 | 5 | 23 |
| 36 | N Sync | 31 | 0.60% | 1.64% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 37 | JoJo | 31 | 0.59% | 1.67% | 0.96% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 38 | K-Ci | 31 | 0.59% | 1.67% | 0.96% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 39 | Puff Daddy & The Family | 31 | 0.59% | 2.17% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 40 | Divine | 30 | 0.58% | 2.47% | 1.77% | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| 41 | Jon B. | 30 | 0.57% | 2.03% | 1.26% | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 42 | Aqua | 28 | 0.55% | 1.94% | 1.37% | 0 | 0 | 42 |
| 43 | Barenaked Ladies | 28 | 0.55% | 2.47% | 1.49% | 0 | 6 | 27 |
| 44 | Uncle Sam | 28 | 0.55% | 2.11% | 1.51% | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 45 | Puff Daddy | 28 | 0.54% | 2.42% | 1.34% | 0 | 2 | 31 |
| 46 | Billie Myers | 28 | 0.54% | 2.00% | 1.27% | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 47 | Boyz II Men | 28 | 0.54% | 2.69% | 2.12% | 0 | 2 | 20 |
| 48 | Robbie Williams | 27 | 0.53% | 1.36% | 0.83% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 49 | 98 Degrees | 27 | 0.52% | 2.31% | 1.60% | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 50 | Tatyana Ali | 26 | 0.51% | 2.09% | 1.28% | 0 | 0 | 20 |