Shakespeare has more friends than J.K. Rowling

Based on overwhelming popularity on Facebook, the top author on the social networking site is Stephen King with 1.3 million fans. Perhaps more surprisingly is George Orwell's ranking at number three, followed by
Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer in sixth.

With a combination of contemporary and classic writers, the eclectic group listed has been compiled according to the number of Facebook fans, gathered with statistical tools from the website AllFaceBook.com.

These were the top 10 authors, as of November 11:

1. Stephen King (1,302,973 fans)
2. Nicholas Sparks (506,300)
3. George Orwell (399,403)
4. Shakespeare (356,920)
5. Nora Roberts (290,836)
6. Stephenie Meyer (261,176)
7. Jane Austen (230,814)
8. Anne Rice (229,192)
9. Jodi Picoult (209,637)
10. Sidney Sheldon (207,727)

Others in the top 20 include the venerable Agatha Christie with 191,972 fans at 11, J.K. Rowling with 186,942 at 13, Edgar Allen Poe at 14, suspense author Tom Clancy at 17, Kahil Gibran at 18, Paulo Coelho at 19, and J.R.R. Tolkien at 20.

Most Shared
Most Commented

Get your summer started with British Military Fitness

BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes

Visit York Prizes & offers Business videos

Visit York

Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world

Military Fitness Prizes & offers Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Military Fitness Visit York Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

Military Fitness Visit York Prizes & offers

Masculinity in crisis?

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'

Have US shock jocks gone too far?

An incendiary remark from Rush Limbaugh may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters

The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey

Elmbridge pays more income tax than big cities of the North

Heavenly Bodies

Michael Landy's artistic marriage made in heaven... and hell

'He will always be a friend'

Jackie Stewart backs Roman Polanski

The price of pacifism

From the Second World War refusenik to the 19-year-old Israeli, Holly Williams talks to five people who risked shame and suffering to take a stand as conscientious objector.

'It was mass hysteria': Jason Isaacs on groupies, theatre bores and snogging James Bond

Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond

To millions, Jason Isaacs is one of Harry Potter's arch enemies – but his wife prefers him as a Scottish TV detective.

Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?

Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?

Thomas Hodgkinson spent a week at the tiny platform off the Suffolk coast to find out.

Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

If you ignore cutlets and ribs, you'll risk missing out on some delicious and easy meals, says our chef.

The experts' guide to summer

From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz

Legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Early glimpses of Ron Howard's film Rush suggest it will portray Hunt as a high-living lothario, with an insatiable appetite for partying.

Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation'

The next Vanilla Ice or the next Eminem? Macklemore doesn't have a record contract – but he does have the UK's biggest-selling single of the year.

Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Sri Lankan cuisine is light, sunny, wonderfully spiced – and so easy to cook from scratch. Just as soon as you've broken into the coconut, that is.

Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Doctors are hailing the revamp of a Bath neonatal unit, where babies sleep more and feed better, as the model for patient care

One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

Epecuen was submerged under 10 metres of water in 1985. Now the floods have gone – and 83-year-old Pablo Novak has moved back in