List of The New York Times number-one books of 1962

This is a list of books that topped The New York Times Best Seller list in 1962.

Fiction

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

Four books topped the list that year, the longest on top being Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter, which spent exactly half the year there – from April 29 to November 11, its last week at the top – though it continued in the top 15 best sellers for another 20 weeks. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger started the year at the top of the list carrying over from 1961, where it entered the top spot on October 25. In all Salinger's book spent 25 continuous weeks in the top spot. ^[1] The list was interrupted at the end of the year by the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike which lasted 114 days and had a profound impact on the newspaper industry in New York. ^[2]

Date	Book	Author
January 1	Franny and Zooey	J. D. Salinger
January 8
January 15
January 22
January 29
February 5
February 12
February 19
February 26
March 4
March 11
March 18
March 25
April 1
April 8
April 15
April 22
April 29	Ship of Fools	Katherine Anne Porter
May 6
May 13
May 20
May 27
June 3
June 10
June 17
June 24
July 1
July 8
July 15
July 22
July 29
August 5
August 12
August 19
August 26
September 2
September 9
September 16
September 23
September 30
October 7
October 14
October 21
October 28	A Shade of Difference	Allen Drury
November 4
November 11
November 18	Seven Days in May	Fletcher Knebel
November 25	A Shade of Difference	Allen Drury
December 2	Seven Days in May	Fletcher Knebel
December 9
December 16	Not published due to the Newspaper Strike
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 1960s

References

1. John Bear, The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times bestsellers since the first list, 50 years ago, Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1992. pp. 83-85
2. Sherman, Scott (30 November 2013). "The Long Good-Bye: How the 1962–63 newspaper strike crippled a newspaper town". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 22 February 2014.