New York Times Romance Best Sellers Ranking: Q1 2026

Monthly ranking of the romance and romantasy books on The New York Times Combined Fiction Best Sellers list.

Welcome back to my New York Times Best Sellers coverage!

In my December 2025 analysis of The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers list, I announced that I would be shifting to a quarterly analysis since my monthly Amazon Kindle Store analysis provides a much larger and richer data set.

However, as I started working on the 2026 Q1 analysis, I still found that this small dataset wasn’t providing any new insights—particularly given the amount of labour involved (NYT only provides publisher name, everything else I have to manually research/code).

Based on that, I’ve decided to go back to doing a NYT monthly ranking, but without additional analysis.

I’m not giving up on NYT Best Sellers analysis though! Instead, I’m going to focus on the new series I introduced last November that highlights findings from the 15-year dataset (2011-2025) I’ve slowly been building. These findings will likely be a mix of free and paid posts.

Okay, with that mind, let me catch you up on the Q1 monthly rankings for January, February, and March 2026!

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Data Source

List: The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers

Sales Periods:
January 2026 (5 weeks: December 28, 2025 to January 31, 2026)¹
February 2026 (4 weeks: February 1 to 28, 2026)²
March 2026 (4 weeks: March 1 to 28, 2026)³

Methodology: Part way through 2025 I switched to a sum of ranks calculation for this ranking. However, after using it for several months, I feel that it favours rank over number of weeks on the list too much—since arguably it’s more difficult to stay on the list for multiple weeks than rank highly on the list for one week. So I’ve decided to switch back to a simpler ranking methodology, ranking by:

• number of weeks on the list this month

• then average rank this month

• then number of weeks on the list all time.

January 2026

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers: January 2026

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 5 weeks (Avg Rank: 3)
   All Time: 8 weeks

2. The Long Game by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 5 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)
   All Time: 5 weeks

3. Game Changer by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 4 weeks

4. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry 🅰️
   This Month: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 41 weeks

5. In Your Dreams by Sarah Adams
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 1 week

6. Alchemised by SenLinYu 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 15 weeks

7. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 2 weeks

8. The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 1 week

9. Brimstone by Callie Heart 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)
   All Time: 7 weeks

10. Dark Joy by Christine Feehan
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)
    All Time: 1 week

11. We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 1 week

---

February 2026

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers: February 2026

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 6)
   All Time: 12 weeks

2. The Long Game by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 9 weeks

3. Lights Out by Navessa Allen 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 15)
   All Time: 29 weeks

4. Game Changer by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 15)
   All Time: 6 weeks

5. And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)

   All Time: 1 week

6. Alchemised by SenLinYu 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)
   All Time: 16 weeks

7. Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 1 week

8. (TIED FOR 7) Just for the Cameras by Meghan Quinn 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 1 week

9. An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
   All Time: 6 weeks

10. The Night Prince by Lauren Palphreyman 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 1 week

11. Throne of Nightmares by Kerri Maniscalco
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)
    All Time: 1 week

---

March 2026

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers: March 2026

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)
   All Time: 16 weeks

2. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover 🅰️
   This Month: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 3 weeks

3. Just Friends by Haley Pham
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 9)
   All Time: 2 weeks

4. Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 10)
   All Time: 2 weeks

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 13)

   All Time: 52 weeks

6. The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 2)
   All Time: 1 week

7. The Wings That Bind by Briar Boleyn
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)
   All Time: 1 week

8. Love Song by Elle Kennedy 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)
   All Time: 1 week

9. Hunt the Villain by Rina Kent 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 6)
   All Time: 1 week

10. In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)
    All Time: 1 week

11. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)
    All Time: 3 weeks

12. Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)
    All Time: 1 week

13. Lights Out by Navessa Allen 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 30 weeks

14. Blood & Roses, Vol. 1 by Callie Hart
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 1 week

15. Beneath by Ariel Sullivan
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)
    All Time: 1 week

Happy reading! Let me know if you have any questions.

1. Sales Period: January 2026 (5 weeks: December 28, 2025 to January 31, 2026)

↳ Lists Included:

• January 18, 2026

• January 25, 2026

• February 1, 2026

• February 8, 2026

• February 15, 2026

The New York Times Best Sellers lists reflect sales from the week starting three Sundays prior to their publication date.

2. Sales Period: February 2026 (4 weeks: February 1 to 28, 2026)

↳ Lists Included:

• February 22, 2026

• March 1, 2026

• March 8, 2026

• March 15, 2026

The New York Times Best Sellers lists reflect sales from the week starting three Sundays prior to their publication date.

3. Sales Period: March 2026 (4 weeks: March 1 to 28, 2026)

↳ Lists Included:

• March 22, 2026

• March 29, 2026

• April 5, 2026

• April 12, 2026

The New York Times Best Sellers lists reflect sales from the week starting three Sundays prior to their publication date.