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 1999
Jan 2, 1999 → Dec 25, 1999 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1TLC109
- 2Whitney Houston105
- 3Britney Spears101
- 4Backstreet Boys95
- 5Sugar Ray86
- 6Ricky Martin77
- 7Shania Twain76
- 8Goo Goo Dolls75
- 9Jennifer Lopez68
- 10Sixpence None The Richer67
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TLC | 109 | 2.10% | 3.48% | 2.60% | 6 | 24 | 51 |
| 2 | Whitney Houston | 105 | 2.02% | 3.49% | 2.43% | 5 | 18 | 52 |
| 3 | Britney Spears | 101 | 1.94% | 3.50% | 2.37% | 2 | 16 | 52 |
| 4 | Backstreet Boys | 95 | 1.83% | 3.13% | 2.37% | 0 | 12 | 48 |
| 5 | Sugar Ray | 86 | 1.65% | 3.02% | 2.04% | 0 | 8 | 51 |
| 6 | Ricky Martin | 77 | 1.49% | 3.63% | 2.45% | 5 | 14 | 37 |
| 7 | Shania Twain | 76 | 1.46% | 3.44% | 2.23% | 3 | 10 | 50 |
| 8 | Goo Goo Dolls | 75 | 1.44% | 2.65% | 1.87% | 0 | 7 | 52 |
| 9 | Jennifer Lopez | 68 | 1.31% | 3.45% | 2.17% | 2 | 14 | 33 |
| 10 | Sixpence None The Richer | 67 | 1.29% | 3.29% | 2.23% | 2 | 8 | 46 |
| 11 | Cher | 67 | 1.28% | 3.58% | 2.50% | 7 | 14 | 41 |
| 12 | 702 | 61 | 1.17% | 2.46% | 1.80% | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 13 | Will Smith | 60 | 1.16% | 2.58% | 1.74% | 0 | 2 | 50 |
| 14 | 98 Degrees | 60 | 1.16% | 2.16% | 1.75% | 0 | 0 | 49 |
| 15 | Christina Aguilera | 58 | 1.12% | 3.16% | 2.23% | 2 | 15 | 26 |
| 16 | R. Kelly | 57 | 1.10% | 3.00% | 1.58% | 3 | 6 | 50 |
| 17 | Sarah McLachlan | 55 | 1.06% | 2.23% | 1.72% | 0 | 1 | 40 |
| 18 | Mariah Carey | 55 | 1.05% | 2.79% | 1.72% | 0 | 8 | 42 |
| 19 | Brandy | 52 | 0.99% | 2.76% | 2.08% | 4 | 6 | 42 |
| 20 | Smash Mouth | 52 | 0.99% | 2.36% | 1.73% | 0 | 1 | 32 |
| 21 | Destiny's Child | 46 | 0.89% | 3.38% | 1.86% | 3 | 8 | 33 |
| 22 | Monica | 46 | 0.88% | 2.49% | 2.36% | 0 | 7 | 28 |
| 23 | Lou Bega | 45 | 0.86% | 3.17% | 2.12% | 4 | 13 | 22 |
| 24 | Lauryn Hill | 44 | 0.84% | 2.59% | 1.84% | 0 | 1 | 45 |
| 25 | Vengaboys | 43 | 0.82% | 1.75% | 1.16% | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| 26 | Jay-Z | 42 | 0.81% | 2.03% | 1.35% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 27 | Deborah Cox | 40 | 0.77% | 2.40% | 2.02% | 0 | 7 | 40 |
| 28 | Tim McGraw | 40 | 0.76% | 1.80% | 1.13% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 29 | Faith Evans | 38 | 0.73% | 1.98% | 1.33% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 30 | Lenny Kravitz | 38 | 0.72% | 1.87% | 1.25% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 31 | Red Hot Chili Peppers | 35 | 0.68% | 1.86% | 1.42% | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| 32 | Enrique Iglesias | 34 | 0.66% | 3.44% | 1.86% | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| 33 | Maxwell | 34 | 0.66% | 2.23% | 1.50% | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 34 | Blaque | 33 | 0.64% | 1.94% | 1.19% | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 35 | LFO | 33 | 0.63% | 2.29% | 1.45% | 0 | 2 | 23 |
| 36 | N Sync | 32 | 0.62% | 1.95% | 1.16% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 37 | Pearl Jam | 31 | 0.60% | 2.38% | 1.54% | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| 38 | Steps | 31 | 0.59% | 1.44% | 0.95% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 39 | Eagle-Eye Cherry | 30 | 0.58% | 2.21% | 1.50% | 0 | 1 | 24 |
| 40 | Santana | 30 | 0.58% | 1.73% | 1.48% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 41 | B*Witched | 29 | 0.56% | 2.35% | 1.32% | 0 | 2 | 43 |
| 42 | Brian McKnight | 29 | 0.56% | 2.38% | 1.68% | 0 | 6 | 26 |
| 43 | Tyrese | 29 | 0.56% | 1.68% | 1.12% | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 44 | Savage Garden | 28 | 0.54% | 2.35% | 1.30% | 0 | 2 | 35 |
| 45 | Marc Anthony | 28 | 0.54% | 2.50% | 1.68% | 0 | 6 | 16 |
| 46 | Madonna | 28 | 0.54% | 1.95% | 1.44% | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 47 | Len | 28 | 0.53% | 2.60% | 1.58% | 0 | 2 | 20 |
| 48 | Everlast | 27 | 0.52% | 1.62% | 1.14% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 49 | Dru Hill | 27 | 0.52% | 2.42% | 1.58% | 0 | 1 | 46 |
| 50 | Tal Bachman | 26 | 0.51% | 1.56% | 1.12% | 0 | 0 | 28 |