To get an idea how the New York Times Adult Fiction Bestseller List has changed over the last fifty-five years, rather than looking at decades, it is better to divide the data into fourths, quartiles. Each period has approximately 150 novels but, due to the longer stays in the number one position in earlier years, they cover very different time spans.
The Mad Men Era. The first quartile takes place from 1960 through 1990 and was dominated by male-authors, long stays at number one and long novels. The prestige book was often important, usually a historical epic, although other blockbusters were of the sensational variety such as The Valley of the Dolls, or sentimental such as Love Story. The average length of stay for a number one book was 9.6 weeks. Novels written by men accounted for 1200 weeks in the number one position in contrast to 289 for those by women. Six novels were number one for 30 weeks or more.
Period One.
1960 through 1990.
Number of novels in number one position: 155
Average length of stay in number one position: 9.6 weeks.
Average word count: 181,028.
Average page count: 492.
Weeks with novels by male authors in number one position: 1200. (80.6%)
Weeks with novels by female authors in number one position: 289. (19.4%)
The Transition. The second period lasted from 1991 through 2003. The length of stay in the number one position was cut in half. The novels slimmed down by an average of 50,000 words, and the percentage of weeks with a female authored book being in the number one position nearly doubled. Perhaps this period is best defined by J.K. Rowling, a female author who got kicked off the list and on to the children's list after becoming too successful. It ended with the last book to dominate for over 30 weeks in the number one position, The Da Vinci Code.
Period Two.
1991 through 2003.
Number of novels in number one position: 158
Average length of stay in number one position: 4.5 weeks.
Average word count: 131,025.
Average page count: 410.
Weeks with novels by male authors in number one position: 464. (65.5%)
Weeks with novels by female authors in number one position: 244. (34.5%)
Free-for-all. The third period again shortened the stay at number one to approximately half of its previous number, now down to 1.9 weeks. Another 10,000 words were shaved off the word count. The female versus male authorship statistics stayed roughly the same.
Period Three.
2004 through 2009.
Number of novels in number one position: 144
Average length of stay in number one position: 1.9 weeks.
Average word count: 119,472.
Average page count: 419.
Weeks with novels by male authors in number one position: 185. (68.8%)
Weeks with novels by female authors in number one position: 96. (35.7%)*
*Six novels authored by male/female collaborations were counted in the tallies for both groups.
Women Take Charge. The final period begins in 2010. The average length of stay has bottomed out and so has book length. For the first time, female-authored novels have spent more weeks in the number one position than male-authored books.
Period Four.
2010 through April 2015.
Number of novels in number one position: 141.
Average length of stay in number one position: 1.9 weeks.
Average word count: 135,703.
Average page count: 456.6.
Weeks with novels by male authors in number one position: 124. (45.9%)
Weeks with novels by female authors in number one position: 150. (55.6%)*
*Novels authored by male/female collaborations were counted in the tallies for both groups.
These changes are summarized graphically below.
The %female refers to the percentage of weeks a book authored by a woman placed in the number one position on the New York Times Adult Fiction Bestseller List in a given time period. The %male gives the corresponding numbers for male-authored books. Weeks are the average number of weeks a book remained in the number one position during a given time period. Word count is the number of words in the novels for each quartile.
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