Stephen King is the most influential author of the second half of the 20th century

Premise I: Stephen KingStephen King wrote 64 books, selling a total of 350 million books. Sales alone aren't important. If someone sold 100 million copies, they would look influential, until you realize he sold a thousand books (100,000 copies each) to get that sales record (that's a random example.)For example, Ian Fleming and John Creasey both sold 100,000,000 copies, so are they equally influencial? John had to write 600 books to get that number, while Ian only wrote 14. Who do you think was more influential? You might have heard of only a few of Creasey's books, but you've likely heard more of Ian's James Bond (1). Stephen King may have sold 350 million copies, but he had to write 64 to get there. That's a great track record, but it's well under many others, some of whom I will discuss.Stephen King's movies have earned a total of $1.2 billion, or an average of $35 million a movie (2).As for influencing his respective genres, King's Salam's Lot didn't change the definition of Vampires, and The Shining didn't change the meaning of hauntings.1) http://en.wikipedia.org...2) http://www.the-numbers.com...Argument I: J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. Tolkien wrote many books during the second half of the 20th century, including the Lord of the Rings. The story sold 150 million copies as a singular unit (1). Because the book was made as a single unit, but had to be split into three, the 150 million units sold figure is as a single novel, and doesn't take into account the individual sales. This means that if you buy all three books, it counts as one book sale. This implies the real sales are much higher.The books have influenced the very meaning of Fantasy, reinventing it, even. The books created the idea of hippie elves, battle ready dwarves that are both underground dwellers and technologically advanced. The series inspired almost every aspect of the Fantasy genre. It inspired Dungeons and Dragons, and almost every RPG made in the US.The life-action movies alone have earned almost $3 billion dollars, a little over $900 million a movie (3), and this doesn't include earlier animations. King's highest earning film was The Green Mile, at only $290 million. Tolkien's books, blow Stephen King's away in average book sales and gross revenue.Tolkien's books sold far more copies per unit. His Lord of the Rings movies sold for almost 3x more total, or 30x as much per movie.Tolkien influenced the industry. There is a difference between making some of the best additions to a genre, and then effecting the meaning of that genre (influence), and while King did little to actually change the definition of the horror genre (while having added some of it's best additions), Tolkien changed the very meaning of Fantasy, if not inventing the genre as it is today.3) http://en.wikipedia.org...Argument II: J. K. RowlingRowling may not have wrote every Harry Potter book in the second half of the 1900's, but she did write the first 3 books in the 1990's. Averaging book sales, as actual sale numbers aren't available, we can assume those 3 books alone sold nearly 200 million copies. That's the lowest estimate. based off the max estimate, it'd be around 235 million. The movies for these three books earned nearly $2.65 billion(4,5,6).Those three books alone outsold King's entire collection. J.K. Rowling redefined much of the Magic genre, and revolutionized the Children's genre. Before her, making children's books about mature subjects, or a children's book that was larger than a hundred or so pages was unheard of.4) http://en.wikipedia.org...(film)5) http://en.wikipedia.org...(film)6) http://en.wikipedia.org...(film)Argument III: Dr. SeussDr. Seuss wrote nearly 44 books, and sold a possible 500 million copies. Nearly 11 millions copies a book. Stephen King wrote more books, and sold less copies.Books Dr. Seuss wrote during the second half of the 1900's included Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, Oh The Places You'll Go, and most notably was How The Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat.Dr. Seuss books made up most of a child's reading experience as a kid. There is no question as to the influence Dr. Seuss had on the Children's genre and on children in general. The movies from the above mentioned books alone sold for a total of $1.12 billion for only 4 movies (this leaves out the revenue for the earlier animation, of which no sales data is available.)Argument IV: Relative Influence.I read Stephen King's book on how to make stories, so I find him an influence in my story-telling life, but simply put, he doesn't influence me the most. In all truth, Darren Shan influenced me most.Who an author influences most depends on the person reading the book. Much like on DDO. I find RoyLatham and Contradiction to be the most influential. An Anarchist would find Danielle to be the most influential, and some would find TUF and Bluesteel more influential.Stephen King may be influential to Horror writers, but D&D writers would find Tolkien the most influential. Although almost every child in the US and Europe would consider Dr. Seuss, whom's book almost everyone has read, to be universally influential in their lives.Conclusion: Stephen King, in both average sales and movie gross income, is well below each person I mentioned, two of whom only had one series of 3 books (J.K. Rowling's only 3 from the 1900's).Stephen King didn't really change the whole horror genre, and while influential to most horror writers, he is tiny in comparision to the changes J. R. R. Tolkien or J.K. Rowling both made, and was less influential on the general population than Dr. Seuss.Stephen King is not the most influential writer in the second half of the 1900's.