1988 in books
Who ruled 1988? Tom Wolfe was Author of the Year on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list. Every #1 bestseller of 1988, the biggest books and the top authors.
NYT Hardcover Fiction
| # | Author | Era Power | Crowns | Top-five weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Wolfe | 456 | 8 | 34 |
| 2 | Tom Clancy | 376 | 12 | 24 |
| 3 | Danielle Steel | 326 | 7 | 23 |
| 4 | Robert Ludlum | 270 | 8 | 18 |
| 5 | James A. Michener | 263 | 5 | 17 |
| 6 | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | 213 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 | Rosamunde Pilcher | 191 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Stephen King | 180 | 3 | 13 |
| 9 | Judith Krantz | 152 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Scott Turow | 149 | 0 | 10 |
| First week at #1 | Title | Author | Weeks at #1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 1988 | The Tommyknockers | Stephen King | 3 |
| 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 | 6 |
| # | Title | Author | Peak | Weeks | Book Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Cardinal of the Kremlin | Tom Clancy | #1 | 41 | 426.2 |
| 2 | Alaska | James A. Michener | #1 | 33 | 297.7 |
| 3 | The Icarus Agenda | Robert Ludlum | #1 | 27 | 269.6 |
| 4 | The Sands of Time | Sidney Sheldon | #1 | 23 | 244.4 |
| 5 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | #2 | 39 | 240.2 |
| 6 | Breathing Lessons | Anne Tyler | #2 | 33 | 208.8 |
| 7 | Zoya | Danielle Steel | #1 | 23 | 204.4 |
| 8 | The Shell Seekers | Rosamunde Pilcher | #6 | 47 | 196.2 |
| 9 | The Queen of the Damned | Anne Rice | #1 | 17 | 160.9 |
| 10 | Till We Meet Again | Judith Krantz | #2 | 20 | 154.3 |
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