The 1970s in books

Who ruled the 1970s? Richard Bach was Author of the Decade on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list. Every #1 bestseller of the 1970s, the biggest books and the top authors.

NYT Hardcover Fiction

Author of the Decade 1970s

Richard Bach

38 crowns · 82 weeks among the top five authors · Era Power 1,435

Top authors of the 1970s
#	Author	Era Power	Crowns	Top-five weeks
1	Richard Bach	1,435	38	82
2	Leon Uris	1,352	45	93
3	Herman Wouk	1,230	30	85
4	Frederick Forsyth	1,220	13	83
5	Mary Stewart	1,142	15	84
6	Agatha Christie	1,093	26	68
7	Erich Segal	1,090	48	74
8	Robert Ludlum	1,023	15	56
9	Arthur Hailey	972	23	70
10	John Fowles	822	12	57

Author of the Year, 1970s
Year	Author	Crowns
1970	Erich Segal	34
1971	Leon Uris	9
1972	Herman Wouk	21
1973	Frederick Forsyth	6
1974	Peter Benchley	0
1975	James Michener	16
1976	Leon Uris	22
1977	Paul E. Erdman	0
1978	J.R.R. Tolkien	10
1979	Robert Ludlum	14

Every #1 bestseller of the 1970s46 books reached #1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list
First week at #1	Title	Author	Weeks at #1
Jan 4, 1970	The Godfather	Mario Puzo	6
Feb 8, 1970	The French Lieutenant's Woman	John Fowles	12
May 10, 1970	Love Story	Erich Segal	41
Feb 21, 1971	QB VII	Leon Uris	9
Apr 25, 1971	The Passions of the Mind	Irving Stone	13
Jul 25, 1971	The Exorcist	William Peter Blatty	12
Oct 17, 1971	The Day of the Jackal	Frederick Forsyth	7
Nov 7, 1971	Wheels	Arthur Hailey	7
Jan 16, 1972	The Winds of War	Herman Wouk	21
May 14, 1972	The Word	Irving Wallace	2
Jul 2, 1972	Jonathan Livingston Seagull	Richard Bach	38
Mar 25, 1973	The Odessa File	Frederick Forsyth	6
May 6, 1973	Once Is Not Enough	Jacqueline Susann	8
Jul 1, 1973	Breakfast of Champions	Kurt Vonnegut	10
Sep 9, 1973	The Hollow Hills	Mary Stewart	11
Nov 25, 1973	The Honorary Consul	Graham Greene	2
Dec 9, 1973	Burr	Gore Vidal	21
May 5, 1974	Watership Down	Richard Adams	13
Aug 4, 1974	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	John le Carré	10
Oct 13, 1974	Centennial	James Michener	28
Feb 9, 1975	Something Happened	Joseph Heller	1
May 4, 1975	The Moneychangers	Arthur Hailey	14
Aug 3, 1975	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	Judith Rossner	3
Aug 24, 1975	Ragtime	E. L. Doctorow	13
Nov 30, 1975	Curtain	Agatha Christie	19
Apr 11, 1976	1876	Gore Vidal	9
Jun 13, 1976	Trinity	Leon Uris	36
Nov 7, 1976	Sleeping Murder	Agatha Christie	7
Apr 10, 1977	Oliver's Story	Erich Segal	7
May 22, 1977	Falconer	John Cheever	3
Jun 19, 1977	The Thorn Birds	Colleen McCullough	16
Oct 2, 1977	The Silmarillion	J.R.R. Tolkien	23
Mar 12, 1978	Bloodline	Sidney Sheldon	13
Jun 18, 1978	Scruples	Judith Krantz	4
Jul 9, 1978	The Holcroft Covenant	Robert Ludlum	1
Jul 23, 1978	Chesapeake	James A. Michener	13
Nov 12, 1978	War and Remembrance	Herman Wouk	9
Feb 25, 1979	Overload	Arthur Hailey	2
Apr 8, 1979	The Matarese Circle	Robert Ludlum	14
Apr 15, 1979	Good as Gold	Joseph Heller	2
Jul 22, 1979	Sophie's Choice	William Styron	6
Sep 9, 1979	The Last Enchantment	Mary Stewart	4
Oct 7, 1979	Jailbird	Kurt Vonnegut	3
Oct 14, 1979	The Dead Zone	Stephen King	2
Oct 28, 1979	The Establishment	Howard Fast	6
Dec 9, 1979	Triple	Ken Follett	2

Biggest books of the 1970sTitles that entered the list in the 1970s, by Book Power
#	Title	Author	Peak	Weeks	Book Power
1	Trinity	Leon Uris	#1	77	917.5
2	Jonathan Livingston Seagull	Richard Bach	#1	70	840.2
3	Love Story	Erich Segal	#1	62	788.9
4	The Winds of War	Herman Wouk	#1	65	727.8
5	The Thorn Birds	Colleen McCullough	#1	59	712.7
6	Centennial	James Michener	#1	60	701.3
7	The Silmarillion	J.R.R. Tolkien	#1	59	594.6
8	The Exorcist	William Peter Blatty	#1	55	582.1
9	The Odessa File	Frederick Forsyth	#1	48	518.9
10	War and Remembrance	Herman Wouk	#1	61	511.1
11	Illusions	Richard Bach	#2	80	507.0
12	Chesapeake	James A. Michener	#1	47	470.5
13	Ragtime	E. L. Doctorow	#1	39	455.7
14	Burr	Gore Vidal	#1	39	452.7
15	The Crash of '79	Paul E. Erdman	#2	45	442.5
16	QB VII	Leon Uris	#1	39	434.4
17	Jaws	Peter Benchley	#2	45	433.1
18	The Day of the Jackal	Frederick Forsyth	#1	36	409.4
19	The Moneychangers	Arthur Hailey	#1	37	403.5
20	The Matarese Circle	Robert Ludlum	#1	40	401.9

Author of the Decade and the rankings are the ChartReign Power model: the author with the most chart power over the decade, not the most #1s. Crowns are weeks crowned Author of the Week. How it works