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Eras · The 1970s

1975 in books

Who ruled 1975? James Michener was Author of the Year on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list. Every #1 bestseller of 1975, the biggest books and the top authors.

NYT Hardcover Fiction

James Michener portrait

Author of the Year 1975

James Michener

16 crowns · 32 weeks among the top five authors · Era Power 473

Top authors of 1975
#AuthorEra PowerCrownsTop-five weeks
1James Michener4731632
2Arthur Hailey3991428
3Judith Rossner313324
4E. L. Doctorow2871321
5Nicholas Meyer251019
6James Clavell194012
7Joseph Heller185114
8Michael Crichton184014
9Richard Adams169011
10John D. MacDonald169011
Every #1 bestseller of 19756 books reached #1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list
First week at #1TitleAuthorWeeks at #1
Jan 5, 1975CentennialJames Michener16
Feb 9, 1975Something HappenedJoseph Heller1
May 4, 1975The MoneychangersArthur Hailey14
Aug 3, 1975Looking for Mr. GoodbarJudith Rossner3
Aug 24, 1975RagtimeE. L. Doctorow13
Nov 30, 1975CurtainAgatha Christie5
Biggest books of 1975Titles that entered the list in 1975, by Book Power
#TitleAuthorPeakWeeksBook Power
1RagtimeE. L. Doctorow#139455.7
2The MoneychangersArthur Hailey#137403.5
3CurtainAgatha Christie#133400.0
4Looking for Mr. GoodbarJudith Rossner#136359.6
5The ChoirboysJoseph Wambaugh#228281.3
6ShogunJames Clavell#332234.8
7The Greek TreasureIrving Stone#224208.4
8The Great Train RobberyMichael Crichton#323184.2
9The Eagle Has LandedJack Higgins#632180.1
10The Dreadful Lemon SkyJohn D. MacDonald#323169.3

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