Go beyond just the current list of New York Times Fiction Best Sellers to discover every bestselling book listed on the NYT Bestseller List in 2021.
Say Hello to 2021
Why does this page suddenly look so empty? I know 2021 just started, but the New York Times list actually publishes a few weeks early. Technically, the current posted list is for January 17th, 2021.
This list of the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers always reflects the most current information. Meaning that right now it only reflects three week’s worth of data. Don’t worry, it will fill up soon.
Visit the 2020 Bestseller List to find out the complete list from last year.
Since 1931, The New York Times has been publishing a weekly list of bestselling books. Since then, becoming a New York Times bestseller has become a dream for virtually every writer.
When I first started reading adult fiction, one of the first places I went for book recommendations was the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers. I wanted to know what books were the most widely read, and start with those.
However, scrolling through the list week by week on The New York Times website is rather annoying. I just wanted all the bestselling fiction books gathered together in one place.
When I couldn’t find it, I decided to create it.
Here are all the New York Times fiction bestsellers from this year. I’ve got the current #1 and this week’s bestselling list, both of which you can find all over the place.
This list also compiles every book that appears on the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 2021 for Hardcover Fiction. Every week I update it so you can get the most accurate view of the year in one place.
Since this is a bit of a sprawling post, feel free to jump to the section that most interests you or take your time scrolling through the complete list of New York Times fiction best sellers.
Quick Links
Current #1 New York Times Best Seller
Star Wars: Light of the Jedi
Charles Soule
(1 Week) Two hundred years before the events of The Phantom Menace, the High Republic is at its peak. Peace flourishes under the rule of the Senate and the watchful eye of the Jedi. When a hyperspace catastrophe with sinister roots tears a ship apart, the shrapnel threatens an entire system and the Jedi are pushed to their limits.
Current List of New York Times Best Sellers
1. Star Wars: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
In this installment of the High Republic series, a disaster in hyperspace may cause far greater damage than the Jedi can solve.
2. Neighbors by Danielle Steel
A Hollywood recluse’s perspective changes when she invites her neighbors into her mansion after an earthquake.
3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The lives of twin sisters who run away from a Southern black community at age 16 diverge as one returns and the other takes on a different racial identity but their fates intertwine.
4. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
A recently arrived dog walker in a Southern gated community falls for a mysterious widower.
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
In a quiet town in North Carolina coast in 1969, a woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.
6. Outlawed by Anna North
Ada, who apprentices midwifery under her mother, must decide whether to aid a band of outlaws who want to create a safe haven for outcast women.
7. The Return by Nicholas Sparks
A doctor serving in the Navy in Afghanistan goes back to North Carolina where two women change his life.
8. The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.
When an older slave begins preaching on a Southern plantation, the love between two slaves, Isaiah and Samuel, is seen in a different light.
9. A Time for Mercy by John Grisham
The third book in the Jake Brigance series. A 16-year-old is accused of killing a deputy in Clanton, Miss., in 1990.
10. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
A failed bank robber holds a group of strangers hostage at an apartment open house then mysteriously vanishes.
11. Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
In a sequel to “Ready Player One,” Wade Watts discovers a technological advancement and goes on a new quest.
12. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict
What might have happened during the 11 days in which a rising mystery author went missing in 1926.
13. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Nora Seed finds a library beyond the edge of the universe that contains books with multiple possibilities of the lives one could have lived.
14. The Push by Ashley Audrain
A devastating event forces a mother who questions her child’s behavior and her own sanity to confront the truth.
15. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
The only Black person at a tech startup determines to get other young people of color into America’s sales force.
See what Upcoming Releases are coming out soon!
Previous #1 New York Times Fiction Best Sellers
Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
(123 Weeks) For years, Kya Clark has survived alone in the marshes of the North Carolina coast. Dubbed “The Marsh Girl” by the locals, she was abandoned by her family and has been raised by nature itself. Now, as she comes of age, she begins to yearn for something more than her loneliness – maybe even a connection with the locals.
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett
(32 Weeks) Growing up in a small black community in the Deep South, the Vignes sisters run away at age sixteen. Though identical twins, their lives end in completely different paths. One returns to live in their hometown while the other secretly passes as white. Bennett explores more than race, as she contemplates how the past affects future generations when their daughters’ lives intersect.
The Guest list
Lucy Foley
(21 Weeks) On a remote Irish island, the perfect wedding turns deadly in this thrilling mystery. The high profile wedding between a television star and a magazine publisher is supposed to be the perfect event. Yet once the guests arrive, past conflicts come into play and someone turns up dead. Was it the bride? The best man? The wedding planner?
If It Bleeds
Stephen King
(20 Weeks) A collection of four novellas. In “If It Bleeds,” a standalone sequel to The Outsider, a bomb at a middle school prompts an investigation into the lead reporter by Holly Gibney. Other stories include “Mr. Harriagan’s Phone,” “The Life of Chuck,” and “Rat.”
The Return
Nicholas Sparks
(15 Weeks) After being injured in a bombing in Afghanistan, a Navy doctor settles at his late grandfather’s cabin in North Carolina. While recuperating from his wounds, Trevor Benson never expects to find love, but he can’t fight the attraction he feels to deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson. However, Natalie remains distant, and a sullen teenage girl might be more connected to Trevor’s grandfather’s death than any suspected.
A Time for Mercy
John Grisham
(13 Weeks) John Grisham returns you to Clanton, Mississipi, the setting of his debut novel A Time to Kill. After appearing in the novel Sycamore Row, lawyer Jake Brigance is back, this time defending a teenager accused of killing a local deputy. With demand rising for a swift guilty verdict and the death penalty, Brigance realizes the town is against him as he pleads for mercy along with justice.
The Evening and the Morning
Ken Follett
(12 Weeks) Thirty years after publishing The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett has written a prequel revealing the events that led up to his epic work. At the end of the Dark Ages in England, one man’s determination to make his abbey the center of learning changes the lives of a boatbuilder, a noblewoman, and the monk in unexpected ways.
The Sentinel
Lee Child and Andrew child
(10 Weeks) In the 25th Jack Reacher novel, Lee Child teams up with his younger brother Andrew. When Jack Reacher intervenes in an ambush in Tennessee, he meets an unassuming IT manager. Recently fired from his job after a cyberattack, Rusty Rutherford just wants to clear his name. Instead, they stumble upon a much larger conspiracy.
Fortune and Glory
Janet Evanovich
(8 Weeks) The 27th Stephanie Plum novel. After Grandma Mazur’s new husband dies, he leaves her the key to his massive fortune. As Stephanie and her grandma search for the treasure, they realize they aren’t the only ones looking. Stephanie’s old nemesis from Little Havana is hot on the trail. Can Stephanie outwit her? And will she finally decide between Joe Morelli and Ranger?
The Law of Innocence
Michael Connelly
(7 Weeks) After a big courtroom win, Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller is pulled over by the police who find the body of a former client in his trunk. Unable to post bail, Haller must defend himself against murder charges from his jail cell while fending off enemies from the inside and out. Haller knows that it’s not enough to get a not guilty verdict. To be free of the charges, he must find out who really did it.
Ready Player Two
Ernest Cline
(7 Weeks) Ernest Cline returns with a sequel to his science fiction bestseller, Ready Player One. After winning James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts finds another easter egg hidden in Halliday’s vaults – a technological advance leagues ahead of the OASIS. Wade and his friends must solve this new riddle in a plot eerily reminiscent of the first book. And, yes, Wil Wheaton is narrating the audiobook.
Heavyweights
(10+ Weeks on the NYT Bestseller List)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V. E. Schwab
(11 Weeks) To escape a forced marriage, Addie LaRue makes a bargain with the devil in 1714. She gets to live forever, but the catch is she will be forgotten by everyone she meets. After 300 years, Addie has become resigned to her fate until she meets a young man who remembers her name.
Fan Favorites
(5+ Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List)
Daylight by David Baldacci
(7 Weeks) The F.B.I. agent Atlee Pine’s search for her kidnapped twin sister overlaps with a military investigator’s hunt for someone involved in a global conspiracy.
The Awakening by Nora Roberts
(6 Weeks) The first book in the Dragon Heart Legacy series. Breen Kelly travels through a portal in Ireland to a land of faeries and mermaids.
DEadly Cross by James Patterson
(6 Weeks) The 28th book in the Alex Cross series. An investigation of a double homicide of the ex-wife of the Vice President and sends Alex Cross to Alabama to investigate.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
(6 Weeks) The F.B.I. agent Atlee Pine’s search for her kidnapped twin sister overlaps with a military investigator’s hunt for someone involved in a global conspiracy.
Honorable Mention
(2-4 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List)
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict
What might have happened during the 11 days in which a rising mystery author went missing in 1926.
One Hit Wonders
(1 Week on the New York Times Best Seller List)
