List of The New York Times number-one books of 1940

This is a list of books that topped The New York Times best-seller list in 1940. When the list began in 1931 through 1941 it only reflected sales in the New York City area. ^[1]

Fiction

The following list ranks the number-one best-selling fiction books.

The two most popular books that year were How Green Was My Valley , by Richard Llewellyn, which held on top of the list for 13 weeks, and Stars on the Sea by F. Van Wyck Mason, which was on top of the list for 10 weeks. ^[2]

Date	Book	Author
January 1	The Nazarene	Sholem Asch
January 8
January 15
January 22
January 29
February 5	Kitty Foyle	Christopher Morley
February 12	The Nazarene	Sholem Asch
February 19	Kitty Foyle	Christopher Morley
February 26
March 4	How Green Was My Valley	Richard Llewellyn
March 11
March 18	Native Son	Richard Wright
March 25	How Green Was My Valley	Richard Llewellyn
April 1
April 8
April 15
April 22
April 29
May 6
May 13
May 20
May 27
June 3
June 10	Stars on the Sea	F. Van Wyck Mason
June 17
June 24
July 1
July 8
July 15
July 22
July 29
August 5
August 12
August 19	Mrs. Miniver	Jan Struther
August 26
September 2
September 9	The Beloved Returns	Thomas Mann
September 16
September 23	Mrs. Miniver	Jan Struther
September 30	You Can't Go Home Again	Thomas Wolfe
October 7
October 14	Mrs. Miniver	Jan Struther
October 21
October 28	For Whom the Bell Tolls	Ernest Hemingway
November 4
November 11
November 18
November 25
December 2	Oliver Wiswell	Kenneth Roberts
December 9
December 16
December 23
December 30

Nonfiction

The following list ranks the number-one best-selling nonfiction books.

See also

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

References

1. Miller, Laura J. (2000). "The Best-Seller List as Marketing Tool and Historical Fiction". In Ezra Greenspan (ed.). Book History . Vol. Three. Penn State University Press. pp. 286–304. ISBN   0271020504.
2. Adult New York Times Best Seller Lists for 1940 Retrieved March 14, 2018