NYT 15-Year Analysis: Authors with Most Books and Weeks on the List
Who has had the most books and weeks on The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers list since it was introduced 15 years ago?
Back in November, I introduced a new series that highlights findings from my analysis of the 15 years of data available since the The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers launched in 2011-2025. The first post reported the 10 books that have spent the most weeks on the list.
Today I’m sharing the 10 authors with the:
Most books on the list
Most weeks on the list
I’ve also included some fun “race” chart videos that show how the data stacked up over 15 years.
Some posts in the series will be free, but you’ll need to become a paid subscriber to access all the findings (only US$5/month or US$50/year).
Data Source
List: The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers1
Sales Period: 2011 to 2025
Methodology: I analyzed the data to determine which authors have had the most books and spent the most weeks (across multiple books, if applicable) on the list during the 15-year time period.
Authors: Most Books on the List
The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers, 2011 to 2025
Danielle Steel - 83 books
Christine Feehan - 59 books
Stuart Woods - 44 books
Nora Roberts - 39 books
David Baldacci - 37 books
Debbie Macomber - 33 books
(Tied for 6th) Susan Mallery - 33 books
Robyn Carr - 26 books
John Sandford - 25 books
(Tied for 9th) James Patterson - 25 books
Danielle Steele tops this ranking with 83 books on the list over 15 years, which is an average of 5.5 books a year. She had a whopping 8 books on the list in both 2017 and 2019!
Author Stuart Woods passed away in 2022, so that was the last year he had books on the list.
I would categorize half of this list (5 of 10) as romance authors: Christine Freehan, Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, and Robyn Carr.
▶️ Check out the video below to see how the books stacked up over time.
Note: I counted writing duos as unique authors. For example, James Patterson has published books with several different co-authors, so books by each unique pairing were counted separately.
Authors: Most Weeks on the List
The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers, 2011 to 2025
Colleen Hoover - 463 weeks (16 books)
John Grisham - 365 weeks (22 books)
David Baldacci - 262 weeks (37 books)
E. L. James - 253 weeks (8 books)
Freida McFadden - 208 weeks (14 books)
Stephen King - 207 weeks (23 books)
Rebecca Yarros - 206 weeks (4 books)
Kristin Hannah - 201 weeks (13 books)
Delia Owens - 193 weeks (1 book)
Nicholas Sparks - 181 weeks (14 books)
Colleen Hoover tops this ranking with 463 weeks on the list over 15 years, which is an average of 31 weeks per year. In 2022, she had 9 books on the list for a cumulative total of 216 weeks.
It’s interesting to see the variation in the number of books that contributed to each author’s total number of weeks—from Delia Owens with 1 book to David Baldacci with 37 books. David Baldacci is the only author that appears on both lists (Most Books AND Most Weeks).
▶️ Check out the video below to see how the weeks stacked up over time. It really shows how fast Colleen Hoover’s popularity grew starting in 2021!
Stay tuned for more from the NYT15 series!
The New York Times introduced the Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers list in February 2011 as part of a revamp to its bestseller lists. The changes were a response to the increasing popularity of ebooks and the need to reflect their sales in the rankings.
Fascinating!
I read Robyn Carr's Virgin River/backlist as my pandemic comfort book. Heck I now consume small town romances from KU because of her books. I am not surprised that she was in the list for most books because she have a healthy backlist.