Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1920s


This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1920s, as determined by Publishers Weekly. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1920 through 1929.
The standards set for inclusion in the lists – which, for example, led to the exclusion of the novels in the Harry Potter series from the lists for the 1990s and 2000s – are currently unknown.

1920

  1. The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey
  2. Kindred of the Dust by Peter B. Kyne
  3. The Re-Creation of Brian Kent by Harold Bell Wright
  4. The River's End by James Oliver Curwood
  5. A Man for the Ages by Irving Bacheller
  6. Mary-Marie by Eleanor H. Porter
  7. The Portygee by Joseph C. Lincoln
  8. The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim
  9. The Lamp in the Desert by Ethel M. Dell
  10. Harriet and the Piper by Kathleen Norris

    1921

  11. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
  12. The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield
  13. The Mysterious Rider by Zane Grey
  14. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  15. The Valley of Silent Men by James Oliver Curwood
  16. The Sheik by Edith M. Hull
  17. A Poor Wise Man by Mary Roberts Rinehart
  18. Her Father's Daughter by Gene Stratton-Porter
  19. The Sisters-in-Law by Gertrude Atherton
  20. The Kingdom Round the Corner by Coningsby Dawson

    1922

  21. If Winter Comes by A. S. M. Hutchinson
  22. The Sheik by Edith M. Hull
  23. Gentle Julia by Booth Tarkington
  24. The Head of the House of Coombe by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  25. Simon Called Peter by Robert Keable
  26. The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart
  27. This Freedom by A. S. M. Hutchinson
  28. Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon
  29. To the Last Man by Zane Grey
  30. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
  31. Helen of the Old House by Harold Bell Wright

    1923

  32. Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton
  33. His Children's Children by Arthur Train
  34. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
  35. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
  36. The Dim Lantern by Temple Bailey
  37. This Freedom by A. S. M. Hutchinson
  38. The Mine with the Iron Door by Harold Bell Wright
  39. Wanderer of the Wasteland by Zane Grey
  40. The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
  41. The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart

    1924

  42. So Big by Edna Ferber
  43. The Plastic Age by Percy Marks
  44. The Little French Girl by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  45. The Heirs Apparent by Philip Gibbs
  46. A Gentleman of Courage by James Oliver Curwood
  47. The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey
  48. The Midlander by Booth Tarkington
  49. The Coast of Folly by Coningsby Dawson
  50. Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini
  51. The Homemaker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

    1925

  52. Soundings by A. Hamilton Gibbs
  53. The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy
  54. The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter
  55. Glorious Apollo by E. Barrington
  56. The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
  57. The Little French Girl by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  58. Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
  59. The Perennial Bachelor by Anne Parrish
  60. The Carolinian by Rafael Sabatini
  61. One Increasing Purpose by A. S. M. Hutchinson

    1926

  62. The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine
  63. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  64. Sorrell and Son by Warwick Deeping
  65. The Hounds of Spring by Sylvia Thompson
  66. Beau Sabreur by P. C. Wren
  67. The Silver Spoons by John Galsworthy
  68. Beau Geste by P. C. Wren
  69. Show Boat by Edna Ferber
  70. After Noon by Susan Ertz
  71. The Blue Window by Temple Bailey

    1927

  72. Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
  73. The Plutocrat by Booth Tarkington
  74. Doomsday by Warwick Deeping
  75. Sorrell and Son by Warwick Deeping
  76. Jalna by Mazo de la Roche
  77. Lost Ecstasy by Mary Roberts Rinehart
  78. Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton
  79. Tomorrow Morning by Anne Parrish
  80. The Old Countess by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  81. A Good Woman by Louis Bromfield

    1928

  82. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
  83. Wintersmoon by Hugh Walpole
  84. Swan Song by John Galsworthy
  85. The Greene Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine
  86. Bad Girl by Viña Delmar
  87. Claire Ambler by Booth Tarkington
  88. Old Pybus by Warwick Deeping
  89. All Kneeling by Anne Parrish
  90. Jalna by Mazo de la Roche
  91. The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg by Louis Bromfield

    1929

  92. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
  93. Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis
  94. Dark Hester by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  95. The Bishop Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine
  96. Roper's Row by Warwick Deeping
  97. Peder Victorious by O. E. Rolvaag
  98. Mamba's Daughters by DuBose Heyward
  99. The Galaxy by Susan Ertz
  100. Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
  101. Joseph and His Brethren by H. W. Freeman