The American daily newspaper The New York Times publishes multiple weekly lists ranking the best selling books in the United States. The lists are split in three genres—fiction, nonfiction and children's books. Both the fiction and nonfiction lists are further split into multiple lists.
Fiction
The following list ranks the number-one best selling fiction books, in the hardcover fiction category.[1]
The most popular books of the year were The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown and The Associate, by John Grisham with respectively 7 and 4 weeks at the top. The author James Patterson was at the top for four different books (8th Confession, Swimsuit, Alex Cross's Trial and I, Alex Cross).
Nonfiction
The following list ranks the number-one best selling nonfiction books, in the hardcover nonfiction category.[2]
| Date | Book | Author | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 4 | Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | Little Brown |
| January 11 | |||
| January 18 | |||
| January 25 | |||
| February 1 | |||
| February 8 | |||
| February 15 | |||
| February 22 | The Yankee Years | Joe Torre and Tom Verducci | Doubleday |
| March 1 | |||
| March 8 | |||
| March 15 | |||
| March 22 | Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | Little Brown |
| March 29 | |||
| April 5 | |||
| April 12 | Liberty and Tyranny | Mark R. Levin | Threshold Editions |
| April 19 | |||
| April 26 | |||
| May 3 | |||
| May 10 | |||
| May 17 | |||
| May 24 | |||
| May 31 | Resilience | Elizabeth Edwards | Broadway |
| June 7 | Liberty and Tyranny | Mark R. Levin | Threshold Editions |
| June 14 | |||
| June 21 | |||
| June 28 | |||
| July 5 | |||
| July 12 | Catastrophe | Dick Morris and Eileen McGann | Harper/HarperCollins |
| July 19 | |||
| July 26 | Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | Little Brown |
| August 2 | Unmasked | Ian Halperin | Simon Spotlight Entertainment |
| August 9 | Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | Little Brown |
| August 16 | Culture of Corruption | Michelle Malkin | Regnery |
| August 23 | |||
| August 30 | |||
| September 6 | |||
| September 13 | |||
| September 20 | |||
| September 27 | Official Book Club Selection | Kathy Griffin | Ballantine |
| October 4 | True Compass | Edward M. Kennedy | Twelve |
| October 11 | Arguing with Idiots | Glenn Beck, Kevin Balfe, and others | Mercury Radio Arts/Threshold Editions |
| October 18 | Have a Little Faith | Mitch Albom | Hyperion |
| October 25 | |||
| November 1 | |||
| November 8 | |||
| November 15 | The Book of Basketball | Bill Simmons | Ballantine |
| November 22 | Have a Little Faith | Mitch Albom | Hyperion |
| November 29 | Open | Andre Agassi | Knopf |
| December 6 | Going Rogue | Sarah Palin | Harper/HarperCollins |
| December 13 | |||
| December 20 | |||
| December 27 |