Records & Rankings
The numbers behind the list
Ninety-five years of bestseller data, distilled into records. The books that dominated, the authors who kept coming back, and how the make-up of the list has shifted over time.
Longest at #1
Books with the most weeks at the top of the all list
Most weeks on the list
The books that stayed — not just at the top, but anywhere on the all list
Author records
The authors who owned the all list
Most weeks at #1
Total weeks with a title at rank 1
- 1John Grisham199 wks · 42 titles
- 2Stephen King153 wks · 45 titles
- 3James A. Michener132 wks · 7 titles
- 4Danielle Steel104 wks · 37 titles
- 5Norman Vincent Peale98 wks · 1 title
- 6Herman Wouk91 wks · 4 titles
- 7Dan Brown84 wks · 5 titles
- 8Mitch Albom82 wks · 8 titles
- 9Robert Ludlum81 wks · 8 titles
- 10John le Carré78 wks · 8 titles
- 11John Steinbeck71 wks · 4 titles
- 12James Michener71 wks · 2 titles
Most titles on the list
Distinct books that appeared on any week's list
- 1Danielle Steel153 titles
- 2Stuart Woods68 titles
- 3Stephen King62 titles
- 4David Baldacci54 titles
- 5John Sandford52 titles
- 6Nora Roberts49 titles
- 7Robert B. Parker47 titles
- 8Sandra Brown45 titles
- 9John Grisham43 titles
- 10James Patterson42 titles
- 11Debbie Macomber41 titles
- 12Dean Koontz41 titles
Who gets on the list
Author gender as a share of all list appearances, 1931–present. Based on 79% of authors with resolved gender data — the trend is directional, not a complete census.
Showing percentage of resolved list appearances only. Authors without Wikidata gender data are excluded from this chart. About the data →