The 1980s in books

Who ruled the 1980s? Stephen King was Author of the Decade on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list. Every #1 bestseller of the 1980s, the biggest books and the top authors.

NYT Hardcover Fiction

Author of the Decade 1980s

Stephen King

77 crowns · 210 weeks among the top five authors · Era Power 3,120

Top authors of the 1980s
#	Author	Era Power	Crowns	Top-five weeks
1	Stephen King	3,120	77	210
2	Danielle Steel	2,220	41	136
3	James A. Michener	2,018	70	136
4	Tom Clancy	1,751	32	125
5	Robert Ludlum	1,702	61	113
6	Sidney Sheldon	1,587	35	95
7	John le Carré	1,003	31	66
8	Ken Follett	956	5	65
9	Judith Krantz	921	8	62
10	Dick Francis	814	0	40

Author of the Year, 1980s
Year	Author	Crowns
1980	Robert Ludlum	16
1981	James Clavell	15
1982	Robert Ludlum	16
1983	James A. Michener	20
1984	Robert Ludlum	13
1985	Stephen King	10
1986	Robert Ludlum	8
1987	Stephen King	23
1988	Tom Wolfe	8
1989	Tom Clancy	9

Every #1 bestseller of the 1980s80 books reached #1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list
First week at #1	Title	Author	Weeks at #1
Jan 6, 1980	Jailbird	Kurt Vonnegut	2
Jan 20, 1980	Smiley's People	John le Carré	4
Feb 17, 1980	Princess Daisy	Judith Krantz	5
Mar 23, 1980	The Bourne Identity	Robert Ludlum	16
Jul 13, 1980	Rage of Angels	Sidney Sheldon	11
Sep 28, 1980	Firestarter	Stephen King	3
Oct 19, 1980	The Key to Rebecca	Ken Follett	2
Nov 2, 1980	The Covenant	James A. Michener	25
Apr 26, 1981	Gorky Park	Martin Cruz Smith	2
May 10, 1981	Noble House	James Clavell	15
Aug 23, 1981	Cujo	Stephen King	5
Sep 27, 1981	The Hotel New Hampshire	John Irving	8
Nov 15, 1981	An Indecent Obsession	Colleen McCullough	14
Feb 28, 1982	North and South	John Jakes	3
Mar 21, 1982	The Parsifal Mosaic	Robert Ludlum	16
Jun 6, 1982	The Man from St. Petersburg	Ken Follett	1
Jul 4, 1982	The Prodigal Daughter	Jeffrey Archer	5
Aug 15, 1982	Different Seasons	Stephen King	3
Sep 12, 1982	Master of the Game	Sidney Sheldon	4
Oct 10, 1982	Space	James A. Michener	22
Feb 20, 1983	Mistral's Daughter	Judith Krantz	1
Mar 20, 1983	The Little Drummer Girl	John le Carré	12
Jun 12, 1983	The Return of the Jedi	Joan D. Vinge	1
Jun 19, 1983	Return of the Jedi	Joan D. Vinge	7
Aug 7, 1983	The Name of the Rose	Umberto Eco	5
Sep 11, 1983	Poland	James A. Michener	12
Nov 13, 1983	Pet Sematary	Stephen King	13
Jan 29, 1984	Who Killed the Robins Family?	Bill Adler & Thomas Chastain	1
Mar 11, 1984	The Aquitaine Progression	Robert Ludlum	13
Jun 3, 1984	Full Circle	Danielle Steel	4
Jul 8, 1984	. . . and Ladies of the Club,	Helen Hooven Santmyer	7
Aug 26, 1984	First Among Equals	Jeffrey Archer	3
Sep 16, 1984	The Fourth Protocol	Frederick Forsyth	6
Oct 28, 1984	The Talisman	Stephen King & Peter Straub	12
Jan 20, 1985	The Sicilian	Mario Puzo	2
Feb 3, 1985	If Tomorrow Comes	Sidney Sheldon	9
Mar 31, 1985	Family Album	Danielle Steel	4
Apr 28, 1985	Thinner	Richard Bachman	4
Jun 2, 1985	Jubal Sackett	Louis L'Amour	1
Jun 9, 1985	Hold the Dream	Barbara Taylor Bradford	1
Jun 16, 1985	The Cider House Rules	John Irving	1
Jun 23, 1985	Skeleton Crew	Stephen King	10
Sep 1, 1985	Lucky	Jackie Collins	2
Sep 15, 1985	Lake Wobegon Days	Garrison Keillor	6
Oct 13, 1985	Texas	James A. Michener	6
Nov 24, 1985	The Mammoth Hunters	Jean M. Auel	11
Feb 16, 1986	Lie Down with Lions	Ken Follett	2
Mar 9, 1986	The Bourne Supremacy	Robert Ludlum	8
May 4, 1986	A Perfect Spy	John le Carré	5
May 25, 1986	I'll Take Manhattan	Judith Krantz	2
Jun 22, 1986	Last of the Breed	Louis L'Amour	4
Jul 20, 1986	Wanderlust	Danielle Steel	4
Aug 17, 1986	Red Storm Rising	Tom Clancy	6
Sep 14, 1986	It	Stephen King	14
Nov 23, 1986	Whirlwind	James Clavell	4
Feb 1, 1987	The Eyes of the Dragon	Stephen King	1
Feb 8, 1987	Windmills of the Gods	Sidney Sheldon	7
Mar 29, 1987	Fine Things	Danielle Steel	9
May 31, 1987	The Haunted Mesa	Louis L'Amour	1
Jun 7, 1987	Misery	Stephen King	7
Jul 26, 1987	Presumed Innocent	Scott Turow	8
Aug 2, 1987	Patriot Games	Tom Clancy	5
Oct 25, 1987	Kaleidoscope	Danielle Steel	5
Nov 29, 1987	The Tommyknockers	Stephen King	8
Jan 24, 1988	The Bonfire of the Vanities	Tom Wolfe	8
Mar 20, 1988	The Icarus Agenda	Robert Ludlum	8
May 15, 1988	Zoya	Danielle Steel	7
Jul 3, 1988	Alaska	James A. Michener	5
Aug 7, 1988	The Cardinal of the Kremlin	Tom Clancy	12
Oct 30, 1988	The Queen of the Damned	Anne Rice	3
Nov 20, 1988	The Sands of Time	Sidney Sheldon	11
Feb 5, 1989	Midnight	Dean R. Koontz	3
Feb 26, 1989	Star	Danielle Steel	4
Mar 26, 1989	The Satanic Verses	Salman Rushdie	9
May 28, 1989	While My Pretty One Sleeps	Mary Higgins Clark	2
Jun 11, 1989	The Russia House	John le Carré	10
Aug 6, 1989	Polar Star	Martin Cruz Smith	2
Sep 3, 1989	Clear and Present Danger	Tom Clancy	9
Nov 5, 1989	The Dark Half	Stephen King	4
Nov 26, 1989	Daddy	Danielle Steel	5

Biggest books of the 1980sTitles that entered the list in the 1980s, by Book Power
#	Title	Author	Peak	Weeks	Book Power
1	The Bonfire of the Vanities	Tom Wolfe	#1	56	537.3
2	Lake Wobegon Days	Garrison Keillor	#1	48	510.9
3	Noble House	James Clavell	#1	47	497.2
4	Red Storm Rising	Tom Clancy	#1	50	496.5
5	The Covenant	James A. Michener	#1	41	464.8
6	Presumed Innocent	Scott Turow	#1	44	461.8
7	The Name of the Rose	Umberto Eco	#1	47	442.3
8	The Cardinal of the Kremlin	Tom Clancy	#1	41	426.2
9	Clear and Present Danger	Tom Clancy	#1	45	414.1
10	Space	James A. Michener	#1	39	409.2
11	The Parsifal Mosaic	Robert Ludlum	#1	44	404.8
12	Poland	James A. Michener	#1	38	404.0
13	The Mammoth Hunters	Jean M. Auel	#1	47	391.3
14	Gorky Park	Martin Cruz Smith	#1	45	383.0
15	It	Stephen King	#1	35	369.4
16	The Hotel New Hampshire	John Irving	#1	40	368.1
17	The Bourne Identity	Robert Ludlum	#1	33	367.3
18	An Indecent Obsession	Colleen McCullough	#1	33	359.5
19	Princess Daisy	Judith Krantz	#1	36	358.4
20	The Aquitaine Progression	Robert Ludlum	#1	34	353.7

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