Reflections on the New York Times #1 Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers of 2021

Not long ago I considered the bestsellers of the past year, focusing on the Publisher's Weekly list. I now turn to the New York Times' list of #1 hardcover fiction bestsellers during the year.

In that particular year there were 53 editions of the list. Some 20 of these were topped by thriller writers who had made their names in the twentieth century (Grisham, Patterson, King, Coben, Sanford, Baldacci, Connelly, Preston, Child, Silva, Evanovich), or only marginally later (as with Thor, whose first book debuted in 2002). Working in different genres but similarly long-established are Quinn, Sparks, Gabaldon, Roberts (who were collectively #1 for 8 weeks), while the same can also be said of Hannah and Picoult (Hannah's The Four Winds having 3 nonconsecutive weeks on the list, while Picoult's Wish You Were Here having one). Of those accounting for the #1 spot in the other 21 weeks most traded on political celebrity, entertainment celebrity or some combination of both (as with Sister Souljah, Stacey Abrams, Quentin Tarantino and Amanda Gorman, whose books of poetry were on the list for 3 weeks), with the Clintons both benefiting from "coauthoring" their book with a bestselling mystery author (Bill with Patterson, Hillary with Louise Penny).

In short, books by people who made their names by being authors and not as something else or in some other way (like, for instance, presenting at a presidential inauguration) in this actual, not-so-young century were very few indeed on the list, those who (unlike Louise Penny, Laura Dave or Lianne Moriarty) made their names after 2010 fewer still (with the notable exceptions E.L. James of Fifty Shades shame, The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins, Amor Towles). Glancing at the biographies of the persons in question I might add that I am struck by how many, especially of the newer, post-2000, authors, had the benefit of prior careers in media and familial or marital connections to the literary and other worlds. I have similarly been struck by the extent to which the bestsellers by anyone were obviously an effect of success elsewhere (with Quinn's The Duke and I enjoying four straight weeks at the top because of the success of Bridgerton, Tarantino's book the print version of his hit film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Gabaldon helped by Outlander being a still ongoing STARZ series).

Considering all this I am reminded of just how closed the publishing business' upper tiers have become to newcomers of any variety--and especially people from outside those circles that have better entree to publishing than blind submission to the few remaining slush piles. I am struck, too, by how where it comes to the newer successes the books tend to be more idiosyncratic, with none seeming to make the kind of steady career with high-volume commercial work such as a Patterson (whose books, while still topping the New York Times' list, seem to have a less prominent place on the Publisher's Weekly lists than they used to do). And both those details seem to me additional confirmation of what I have increasingly suspected, the decline of the old thriller market—the superstars of yesteryear continuing to claim the #1 spot with frequency, but, if PW is anything to go by, still not doing well as they used to do, for their dwindling sales are to an eroding audience they won in an earlier time and are not replenishing, cannot replenish, because, even without younger competition offering fresher product, that younger audience just isn't up for what they have to offer.