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.

Strongest five-year period

Elvis Presley

835

Peak Five Years · best rolling 260-week Power Share total

Most weeks at #1

Elvis Presley

117 weeks

Weeks ranked first among artists

Largest peak Power Share

Ed Sheeran

15.70%

Dominance · highest single-week Power Share

Leader of every year

Column height = the leader's average Power Share over the period. Click a column to explore that range.

Elvis Presley5 periods
Ed Sheeran4 periods
Madonna3 periods
Frankie Laine2 periods
T. Rex2 periods
ABBA2 periods
Madness2 periods
Rihanna2 periods
Drake2 periods
Bing Crosby1 period
Ruby Murray1 period
Bill Haley And His Comets1 period
Russ Conway1 period
Adam Faith1 period
The Beatles1 period
Jim Reeves1 period
The Seekers1 period
The Beach Boys1 period
Engelbert Humperdinck1 period
Tom Jones1 period
Fleetwood Mac1 period
Gary Glitter1 period
The Wombles1 period
Mud1 period
David Soul1 period
Boney M1 period
Adam & the Ants1 period
Michael Jackson1 period
Frankie Goes To Hollywood1 period
Kylie Minogue1 period
Jason Donovan1 period
New Kids On The Block1 period
Bryan Adams1 period
Shakespears Sister1 period
2 Unlimited1 period
Wet Wet Wet1 period
Oasis1 period
Fugees1 period
Spice Girls1 period
All Saints1 period
Steps1 period
S Club 71 period
Atomic Kitten1 period
Gareth Gates1 period
Busted1 period
Kelis1 period
Gorillaz1 period
Kooks1 period
MIKA1 period
Lady Gaga1 period
Adele1 period
Flo Rida1 period
One Direction1 period
Sam Smith1 period
Lewis Capaldi1 period
Dua Lipa1 period
Taylor Swift1 period
Sabrina Carpenter1 period
Alex Warren1 period

Leader per period
Period	Most powerful artist	Average share	Era Power	Weeks at #1	Peak share	Runner-up	Distinct #1s	Weeks
1952	Bing Crosby	3.40%	24	4	3.85%	Al Martino	3	7
1953	Frankie Laine	3.79%	197	26	9.33%	Guy Mitchell	9	52
1954	Frankie Laine	2.79%	148	10	5.72%	David Whitfield	9	53
1955	Ruby Murray	3.59%	187	15	8.59%	Dickie Valentine	10	52
1956	Bill Haley And His Comets	4.12%	214	16	7.46%	Elvis Presley	11	52
1957	Elvis Presley	4.22%	219	25	7.92%	Pat Boone	10	52
1958	Elvis Presley	3.16%	165	9	5.60%	Pat Boone	9	52
1959	Russ Conway	3.50%	182	21	5.64%	Marty Wilde	11	52
1960	Adam Faith	3.18%	168	8	4.88%	The Everly Brothers	15	53
1961	Elvis Presley	3.70%	192	21	5.28%	Cliff Richard	13	52
1962	Elvis Presley	3.02%	157	11	4.96%	Cliff Richard	10	52
1963	The Beatles	3.26%	169	11	5.87%	Cliff Richard	10	52
1964	Jim Reeves	2.81%	149	16	4.92%	The Bachelors	8	53
1965	The Seekers	2.18%	114	8	4.42%	Sandie Shaw	16	52
1966	The Beach Boys	2.27%	118	2	3.53%	Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich	19	52
1967	Engelbert Humperdinck	3.42%	178	24	5.08%	Tom Jones	8	52
1968	Tom Jones	2.13%	111	0	3.98%	Engelbert Humperdinck	18	52
1969	Fleetwood Mac	2.14%	111	1	3.59%	Stevie Wonder	18	52
1970	Elvis Presley	2.37%	123	7	4.01%	Jackson 5	15	52
1971	T. Rex	2.38%	124	10	3.54%	Elvis Presley	11	52
1972	T. Rex	2.04%	108	8	4.28%	Slade	15	53
1973	Gary Glitter	2.27%	118	4	3.55%	David Bowie	12	52
1974	The Wombles	2.06%	107	5	4.19%	Alvin Stardust	20	52
1975	Mud	1.83%	93	3	3.53%	The Stylistics	17	51
1976	ABBA	2.48%	129	6	3.57%	Rod Stewart	19	52
1977	David Soul	1.94%	101	7	4.07%	Boney M	16	52
1978	Boney M	2.35%	125	10	4.24%	Darts	13	53
1979	ABBA	1.85%	96	3	3.63%	Blondie	19	52
1980	Madness	1.61%	82	3	3.92%	Blondie	18	51
1981	Adam & the Ants	2.60%	135	8	5.61%	Shakin' Stevens	13	52
1982	Madness	1.57%	82	2	3.53%	Shakin' Stevens	19	52
1983	Michael Jackson	1.82%	95	6	4.12%	Wham!	19	52
1984	Frankie Goes To Hollywood	2.89%	153	16	5.83%	Nik Kershaw	12	53
1985	Madonna	3.09%	161	15	6.72%	Bruce Springsteen	13	52
1986	Madonna	2.25%	115	6	3.70%	Five Star	19	51
1987	Madonna	1.67%	87	3	3.53%	Rick Astley	18	52
1988	Kylie Minogue	2.19%	114	8	3.55%	Bros	17	52
1989	Jason Donovan	1.58%	84	4	3.54%	Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers	15	53
1990	New Kids On The Block	2.12%	110	5	4.51%	Snap!	17	52
1991	Bryan Adams	1.66%	85	16	5.16%	Salt-N-Pepa	16	51
1992	Shakespears Sister	1.41%	72	8	3.52%	The Shamen	12	51
1993	2 Unlimited	1.70%	88	3	3.73%	Whitney Houston	14	52
1994	Wet Wet Wet	1.64%	85	15	3.54%	Mariah Carey	15	52
1995	Oasis	1.71%	91	8	3.98%	The Outhere Brothers	13	53
1996	Fugees	1.71%	89	8	4.18%	Celine Dion	15	52
1997	Spice Girls	1.66%	84	8	4.89%	Backstreet Boys	23	51
1998	All Saints	1.71%	89	3	3.63%	Robbie Williams	20	52
1999	Steps	1.90%	99	4	4.64%	Vengaboys	30	52
2000	S Club 7	1.53%	81	1	3.72%	Britney Spears	29	53
2001	Atomic Kitten	1.56%	81	7	3.69%	Shaggy	23	52
2002	Gareth Gates	1.63%	85	7	3.88%	Enrique Iglesias	26	52
2003	Busted	1.55%	79	1	3.81%	Girls Aloud	28	51
2004	Kelis	1.52%	79	2	3.43%	Britney Spears	26	52
2005	Gorillaz	1.82%	95	4	4.07%	Elvis Presley	17	52
2006	Kooks	1.66%	88	1	3.90%	Feeling	25	53
2007	MIKA	2.48%	129	6	4.23%	Take That	19	52
2008	Rihanna	3.18%	162	8	4.53%	Duffy	13	51
2009	Lady Gaga	4.13%	215	19	5.60%	Beyonce	10	52
2010	Rihanna	2.79%	145	7	5.42%	Lady Gaga	20	52
2011	Adele	3.62%	188	13	7.09%	Rihanna	17	52
2012	Flo Rida	2.72%	144	6	4.48%	Rihanna	17	53
2013	One Direction	2.19%	114	2	6.21%	Avicii	21	52
2014	Sam Smith	3.20%	166	10	5.99%	Ed Sheeran	13	52
2015	Ed Sheeran	3.01%	154	7	5.95%	The Weeknd	12	51
2016	Drake	3.33%	177	17	5.48%	Justin Bieber	12	53
2017	Ed Sheeran	5.38%	280	30	15.70%	Little Mix	7	52
2018	Drake	3.20%	166	19	6.57%	George Ezra	11	52
2019	Lewis Capaldi	4.48%	233	23	6.80%	Post Malone	9	52
2020	Dua Lipa	3.31%	172	6	7.15%	Harry Styles	13	52
2021	Ed Sheeran	3.32%	176	11	7.41%	Olivia Rodrigo	15	53
2022	Ed Sheeran	3.56%	185	16	6.46%	Harry Styles	11	52
2023	Taylor Swift	3.65%	190	14	7.61%	Miley Cyrus	9	52
2024	Sabrina Carpenter	4.04%	210	16	8.12%	Teddy Swims	14	52
2025	Alex Warren	4.66%	144	13	6.68%	Chappell Roan	10	31

Leaders in 1986

Jan 5, 1986 → Dec 21, 1986 · 51 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).

Era Power Average share Peak share Peak smoothed Weeks at #1 Top-five weeks Weeks charting

Leaders in range
#	Artist	Era Power	Average share	Peak share	Peak smoothed	Weeks at #1	Top-five weeks	Weeks charting
1	Madonna	115	2.25%	3.70%	3.31%	6	19	47
2	Five Star	94	1.84%	3.42%	2.39%	0	5	44
3	a-ha	81	1.59%	4.11%	2.76%	3	6	42
4	The Bangles	62	1.21%	3.42%	1.90%	0	6	38
5	Pet Shop Boys	59	1.15%	3.63%	2.10%	0	3	34
6	Billy Ocean	53	1.05%	3.57%	2.02%	2	6	34
7	The Status Quo	52	1.01%	3.41%	1.97%	0	4	27
8	The Communards	52	1.01%	3.54%	2.20%	4	7	24
9	Janet Jackson	52	1.01%	3.29%	1.72%	0	3	35
10	Whitney Houston	52	1.01%	3.51%	2.59%	0	4	25
11	The Real Thing	51	1.00%	3.14%	2.01%	0	1	29
12	The Housemartins	49	0.96%	3.66%	1.76%	1	6	31
13	Eurythmics	47	0.92%	3.08%	1.61%	0	1	35
14	Falco	46	0.91%	3.53%	2.35%	1	8	25
15	Amazulu	46	0.90%	3.07%	1.66%	0	2	34
16	Boris Gardiner	45	0.88%	3.52%	2.25%	3	8	22
17	Queen	44	0.87%	3.29%	1.79%	0	2	33
18	Sinitta	43	0.85%	3.43%	2.02%	0	4	33
19	Huey Lewis & The News	42	0.83%	2.69%	1.33%	0	0	36
20	Samantha Fox	42	0.83%	3.29%	1.54%	0	4	26
21	Jaki Graham	41	0.80%	2.88%	1.30%	0	0	31
22	Robert Palmer	40	0.78%	3.31%	2.09%	0	2	24
23	Doctor And The Medics	40	0.78%	3.55%	1.95%	3	6	26
24	Simple Minds	39	0.76%	2.82%	1.50%	0	0	43
25	Peter Gabriel	38	0.74%	3.20%	1.77%	0	4	27
26	Level 42	38	0.74%	3.29%	1.94%	0	4	23
27	Bon Jovi	38	0.73%	3.19%	2.02%	0	1	20
28	Diana Ross	37	0.73%	3.55%	2.12%	3	6	21
29	Chris de Burgh	36	0.71%	3.55%	2.01%	3	6	22
30	Genesis	36	0.71%	2.18%	1.33%	0	0	23
31	Cameo	34	0.67%	3.30%	1.60%	0	2	25
32	Wham!	34	0.66%	4.25%	2.63%	2	6	21
33	Mr. Mister	33	0.65%	3.23%	1.78%	0	2	17
34	Jermaine Stewart	32	0.63%	3.42%	1.90%	0	4	17
35	Gwen Guthrie	31	0.62%	3.08%	1.51%	0	2	19
36	Michael McDonald	30	0.59%	2.42%	1.21%	0	0	29
37	Dire Straits	30	0.58%	3.46%	2.10%	0	4	18
38	Cutting Crew	30	0.58%	3.18%	1.53%	0	2	20
39	Berlin	30	0.58%	3.54%	2.04%	4	6	10
40	Nu Shooz	29	0.57%	3.41%	1.80%	0	4	14
41	Simply Red	29	0.57%	3.43%	1.65%	0	4	20
42	Big Country	29	0.56%	2.86%	1.17%	0	0	23
43	David Bowie	29	0.56%	3.41%	1.39%	0	2	21
44	Sly Fox	29	0.56%	3.31%	1.76%	0	3	17
45	Shakin' Stevens	29	0.56%	3.39%	2.06%	0	1	19
46	Owen Paul	28	0.56%	3.29%	1.73%	0	3	22
47	Midnight Star	28	0.55%	2.77%	1.36%	0	0	18
48	Rod Stewart	27	0.53%	3.59%	1.61%	1	3	20
49	Paul Hardcastle	27	0.53%	2.80%	1.30%	0	0	21
50	Spitting Image	27	0.53%	3.54%	1.56%	3	4	16