The Ladder

Every ballot counted · rankings move with every vote

1. 13J.D. SalingerWriters4–01560
2. 59F. Scott FitzgeraldWriters5–21546
3. 73T. S. EliotWriters3–01545
4. 122Ralph EllisonWriters2–01532
5. 126Philip K. DickWriters3–11532
6. 135Ernest HemingwayWriters3–11531
7. 162Emily DickinsonWriters2–01531
8. 168Edith WhartonWriters2–01530
9. 172John SteinbeckWriters2–01530
10. 183Michael CrichtonWriters3–11529
11. 192Mark TwainWriters2–01529
12. 205Ralph Waldo EmersonWriters2–01528
13. 214Stephen KingWriters3–11526
14. 249Walt WhitmanWriters2–11517
15. 264Ray BradburyWriters1–01517
16. 267Alice WalkerWriters1–01517
17. 295Octavia ButlerWriters1–01516
18. 313Kurt VonnegutWriters1–01516
19. 330Charles BukowskiWriters1–01515
20. 347Maya AngelouWriters1–01515
21. 358Edgar Allan PoeWriters1–01515
22. 373Herman MelvilleWriters1–01515
23. 388William F. Buckley Jr.Writers2–11514
24. 413Noah WebsterWriters2–11513
25. 433Joseph HellerWriters2–21502
26. 472Jack LondonWriters2–21501
27. 492Tom WolfeWriters2–21501
28. 516Nathaniel HawthorneWriters0–01500
29. 527Thomas PynchonWriters1–11500
30. 564Sylvia PlathWriters1–11499
31. 575James BaldwinWriters2–21499
32. 587Laura Ingalls WilderWriters1–11499
33. 642Norman MailerWriters1–21487
34. 644Noam ChomskyWriters1–21487
35. 648Truman CapoteWriters1–21486
36. 652Cormac McCarthyWriters1–21486
37. 670Upton SinclairWriters2–31485
38. 675Louisa May AlcottWriters1–21485
39. 678Henry David ThoreauWriters1–21485
40. 679Hunter S. ThompsonWriters1–21485
41. 687Arthur MillerWriters0–11485
42. 702Nora EphronWriters0–11485
43. 721Toni MorrisonWriters1–21484
44. 747Willa CatherWriters0–11484
45. 750O. HenryWriters0–11484
46. 763E. B. WhiteWriters0–11484
47. 764Lin-Manuel MirandaWriters0–11484
48. 780John GrishamWriters0–11483
49. 809Tom ClancyWriters2–31482
50. 813William FaulknerWriters1–21482
51. 818Joan DidionWriters1–21481
52. 821Jack KerouacWriters1–21481
53. 847Shel SilversteinWriters1–31471
54. 860David Foster WallaceWriters0–21470
55. 871Harper LeeWriters0–21470
56. 882Tennessee WilliamsWriters0–21469
57. 909Robert FrostWriters0–21469
58. 921Ambrose BierceWriters0–21469
59. 933Langston HughesWriters0–21468
60. 937Richard WrightWriters0–21468
61. 944Dr. SeussWriters0–21467
62. 955Isaac AsimovWriters0–21466
63. 966Zora Neale HurstonWriters0–31458
64. 997Eugene O'NeillWriters1–41454
65. 1010Washington IrvingWriters0–31453
66. 1030Allen GinsbergWriters0–41440
67. 1033Ursula K. Le GuinWriters0–41437
68. 1045Gore VidalWriters0–51425
69. 1047Amanda GormanWriters0–61411