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 2008
Jan 5, 2008 → Dec 27, 2008 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1Rihanna193
- 2Chris Brown165
- 3Leona Lewis114
- 4Ne-Yo104
- 5Lil' Wayne101
- 6Katy Perry99
- 7Taylor Swift88
- 8Kanye West84
- 9Jordin Sparks81
- 10Coldplay80
| # | Artist | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rihanna | 193 | 3.72% | 5.56% | 4.57% | 17 | 41 | 52 |
| 2 | Chris Brown | 165 | 3.16% | 4.66% | 4.07% | 12 | 37 | 51 |
| 3 | Leona Lewis | 114 | 2.18% | 3.68% | 2.54% | 0 | 13 | 52 |
| 4 | Ne-Yo | 104 | 2.00% | 4.41% | 3.41% | 4 | 14 | 49 |
| 5 | Lil' Wayne | 101 | 1.95% | 3.56% | 2.85% | 0 | 13 | 52 |
| 6 | Katy Perry | 99 | 1.90% | 3.97% | 3.44% | 0 | 22 | 32 |
| 7 | Taylor Swift | 88 | 1.70% | 3.25% | 2.06% | 0 | 2 | 52 |
| 8 | Kanye West | 84 | 1.62% | 4.41% | 3.16% | 1 | 12 | 52 |
| 9 | Jordin Sparks | 81 | 1.55% | 2.09% | 1.81% | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 10 | Coldplay | 80 | 1.53% | 4.55% | 2.71% | 1 | 12 | 34 |
| 11 | Flo Rida | 78 | 1.51% | 3.05% | 2.33% | 0 | 9 | 47 |
| 12 | Alicia Keys | 72 | 1.38% | 4.31% | 3.58% | 8 | 13 | 49 |
| 13 | Britney Spears | 69 | 1.32% | 4.83% | 2.39% | 0 | 5 | 40 |
| 14 | Sara Bareilles | 67 | 1.29% | 2.53% | 2.21% | 0 | 1 | 36 |
| 15 | T-Pain | 67 | 1.28% | 1.93% | 1.82% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 16 | T.I. | 59 | 1.14% | 3.90% | 3.10% | 2 | 12 | 21 |
| 17 | Miley Cyrus | 58 | 1.11% | 2.01% | 1.52% | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| 18 | Natasha Bedingfield | 56 | 1.07% | 2.24% | 1.79% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 19 | P!nk | 55 | 1.05% | 3.65% | 2.52% | 0 | 7 | 25 |
| 20 | OneRepublic | 53 | 1.02% | 2.88% | 2.11% | 0 | 7 | 31 |
| 21 | Akon | 52 | 1.00% | 3.35% | 2.22% | 0 | 2 | 52 |
| 22 | Nickelback | 52 | 1.00% | 2.28% | 1.59% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 23 | Mariah Carey | 51 | 0.99% | 3.71% | 2.37% | 1 | 8 | 37 |
| 24 | Usher | 51 | 0.98% | 2.91% | 2.05% | 0 | 1 | 37 |
| 25 | Duffy | 48 | 0.92% | 2.47% | 1.53% | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| 26 | Timbaland | 46 | 0.88% | 2.70% | 2.83% | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| 27 | Colbie Caillat | 46 | 0.88% | 2.21% | 1.94% | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 28 | Madonna | 43 | 0.83% | 2.59% | 1.73% | 0 | 2 | 33 |
| 29 | Jonas Brothers | 43 | 0.83% | 3.25% | 1.80% | 0 | 3 | 45 |
| 30 | The Pussycat Dolls | 42 | 0.80% | 2.90% | 1.76% | 0 | 3 | 29 |
| 31 | Jason Mraz | 40 | 0.77% | 2.17% | 1.70% | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 32 | Jesse McCartney | 39 | 0.74% | 1.93% | 1.52% | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 33 | Beyonce | 39 | 0.74% | 5.91% | 2.86% | 5 | 8 | 25 |
| 34 | Fergie | 35 | 0.68% | 3.22% | 3.01% | 0 | 7 | 26 |
| 35 | Carrie Underwood | 34 | 0.66% | 1.45% | 1.04% | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 36 | Sean Kingston | 33 | 0.64% | 2.49% | 2.12% | 0 | 3 | 26 |
| 37 | Estelle | 32 | 0.62% | 1.47% | 1.05% | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 38 | M.I.A. | 32 | 0.62% | 2.35% | 1.57% | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 39 | Plies | 32 | 0.61% | 1.47% | 1.10% | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| 40 | The-Dream | 31 | 0.60% | 1.33% | 1.03% | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| 41 | Young Jeezy | 31 | 0.60% | 1.26% | 1.00% | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| 42 | Metro Station | 31 | 0.59% | 1.89% | 1.21% | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 43 | Danity Kane | 30 | 0.58% | 1.91% | 1.37% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 44 | Kid Rock | 29 | 0.56% | 2.10% | 1.40% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 45 | Buckcherry | 28 | 0.54% | 1.93% | 1.24% | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 46 | Kardinal Offishall | 28 | 0.54% | 1.57% | 1.11% | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 47 | Basshunter | 28 | 0.54% | 1.20% | 0.70% | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| 48 | Finger Eleven | 27 | 0.52% | 2.20% | 1.69% | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 49 | Snoop Dogg | 27 | 0.51% | 2.08% | 1.49% | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 50 | Yung Berg | 26 | 0.51% | 1.19% | 0.91% | 0 | 0 | 37 |