Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1940s


This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1940s, as determined by Publishers Weekly. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1940 through 1949.
The standards set for inclusion in the lists – which, for example, lead to the exclusion of the novels in the Harry Potter series from the lists for the 1990s and 2000s – are currently unknown.

1940

  1. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
  2. Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley
  3. Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
  4. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
  5. The Nazarene by Sholem Asch
  6. Stars on the Sea by F. van Wyck Mason
  7. Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts
  8. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  9. Night in Bombay by Louis Bromfield
  10. The Family by Nina Fedorova

    1941

  11. The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin
  12. Random Harvest by James Hilton
  13. This Above All by Eric Knight
  14. The Sun Is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen
  15. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
  16. Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts
  17. H. M. Pulham, Esquire by John P. Marquand
  18. Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick
  19. Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber
  20. Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase

    1942

  21. The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
  22. The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
  23. Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck
  24. And Now Tomorrow by Rachel Field
  25. Drivin' Woman by Elizabeth Pickett
  26. Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase
  27. The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
  28. The Sun Is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen
  29. Kings Row by Henry Bellamann
  30. The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin

    1943

  31. The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
  32. The Valley of Decision by Marcia Davenport
  33. So Little Time by John P. Marquand
  34. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
  35. The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
  36. Mrs. Parkington by Louis Bromfield
  37. The Apostle by Sholem Asch
  38. Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
  39. The Forest and the Fort by Hervey Allen
  40. The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel

    1944

  41. Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith
  42. The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
  43. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
  44. Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
  45. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
  46. The Green Years by A. J. Cronin
  47. Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames Williams
  48. Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge
  49. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
  50. The Apostle by Sholem Asch

    1945

  51. Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
  52. The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
  53. The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
  54. The White Tower by James Ramsey Ullman
  55. Cass Timberlane by Sinclair Lewis
  56. A Lion Is in the Streets by Adria Locke Langley
  57. So Well Remembered by James Hilton
  58. Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger
  59. Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham
  60. Immortal Wife by Irving Stone

    1946

  61. The King's General by Daphne du Maurier
  62. This Side of Innocence by Taylor Caldwell
  63. The River Road by Frances Parkinson Keyes
  64. The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
  65. The Hucksters by Frederic Wakeman, Sr.
  66. The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby
  67. Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque
  68. The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
  69. B.F.'s Daughter by John P. Marquand
  70. The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward

    1947

  71. The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
  72. The Moneyman by Thomas B. Costain
  73. Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson
  74. Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts
  75. The Vixens by Frank Yerby
  76. The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
  77. House Divided by Ben Ames Williams
  78. Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis
  79. East Side, West Side by Marcia Davenport
  80. Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger

    1948

  81. The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
  82. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
  83. Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
  84. The Bishop's Mantle by Agnes Sligh Turnbull
  85. Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
  86. The Golden Hawk by Frank Yerby
  87. Raintree County by Ross Lockridge, Jr.
  88. Shannon's Way by A. J. Cronin
  89. Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge
  90. The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw

    1949

  91. The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
  92. The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
  93. Mary by Sholem Asch
  94. A Rage to Live by John O'Hara
  95. Point of No Return by John P. Marquand
  96. Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
  97. High Towers by Thomas B. Costain
  98. Cutlass Empire by Van Wyck Mason
  99. Pride's Castle by Frank Yerby
  100. Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter