1991 in books
Who ruled 1991? John Grisham was Author of the Year on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list. Every #1 bestseller of 1991, the biggest books and the top authors.
NYT Hardcover Fiction
| # | Author | Era Power | Crowns | Top-five weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Grisham | 369 | 0 | 27 |
| 2 | Danielle Steel | 279 | 8 | 19 |
| 3 | Dr. Seuss | 227 | 1 | 8 |
| 4 | Tom Clancy | 225 | 7 | 19 |
| 5 | Mary Higgins Clark | 207 | 6 | 15 |
| 6 | Stephen King | 188 | 2 | 14 |
| 7 | Amy Tan | 181 | 7 | 12 |
| 8 | Alexandra Ripley | 174 | 12 | 12 |
| 9 | Timothy Zahn | 170 | 1 | 11 |
| 10 | Jean M. Auel | 154 | 0 | 10 |
| First week at #1 | Title | Author | Weeks at #1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 6, 1991 | The Plains of Passage | Jean M. Auel | 2 |
| Jan 20, 1991 | The Secret Pilgrim | John le Carré | 2 |
| Feb 3, 1991 | Cold Fire | Dean R. Koontz | 3 |
| Feb 24, 1991 | Heartbeat | Danielle Steel | 8 |
| Apr 21, 1991 | The Seeress of Kell | David Eddings | 3 |
| May 12, 1991 | Loves Music, Loves to Dance | Mary Higgins Clark | 6 |
| Jun 23, 1991 | Oh, the Places You'll Go! | Dr. Seuss | 1 |
| Jun 30, 1991 | Heir to the Empire | Timothy Zahn | 1 |
| Jul 7, 1991 | The Kitchen God's Wife | Amy Tan | 7 |
| Aug 25, 1991 | The Sum of All Fears | Tom Clancy | 7 |
| Oct 13, 1991 | Scarlett | Alexandra Ripley | 12 |
| # | Title | Author | Peak | Weeks | Book Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Firm | John Grisham | #2 | 47 | 392.5 |
| 2 | Scarlett | Alexandra Ripley | #1 | 34 | 348.0 |
| 3 | The Sum of All Fears | Tom Clancy | #1 | 29 | 279.2 |
| 4 | Loves Music, Loves to Dance | Mary Higgins Clark | #1 | 22 | 206.6 |
| 5 | Heartbeat | Danielle Steel | #1 | 19 | 204.8 |
| 6 | Needful Things | Stephen King | #2 | 20 | 203.2 |
| 7 | The Kitchen God's Wife | Amy Tan | #1 | 18 | 180.8 |
| 8 | Heir to the Empire | Timothy Zahn | #1 | 19 | 170.0 |
| 9 | Disney's Beauty and the Beast | Uncredited | #3 | 24 | 156.2 |
| 10 | The Doomsday Conspiracy | Sidney Sheldon | #2 | 20 | 152.4 |
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