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Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1970s
2026-11-15 23:53:42 · The Daily Ledger
This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1970s, as determined by Publishers Weekly. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1970 through 1975.
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.
1970
Love Story by Erich Segal
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
Great Lion of God by Taylor Caldwell
QB VII by Leon Uris
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight by Jimmy Breslin
The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt
Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene
Rich Man, Poor Man by Irwin Shaw
1971
Wheels by Arthur Hailey
The Exorcist by William P. Blatty
The Passions of the Mind by Irving Stone
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
The Betsy by Harold Robbins
Message from Malaga by Helen MacInnes
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
The Drifters by James A. Michener
The Other by Tom Tryon
Rabbit Redux by John Updike
1972
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
The Word by Irving Wallace
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell
Two from Galilee by Marjorie Holmes
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins
1973
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Once Is Not Enough by Jacqueline Susann
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth
Burr by Gore Vidal
The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
Evening in Byzantium by Irwin Shaw
The Matlock Paper by Robert Ludlum
The Billion Dollar Sure Thing by Paul E. Erdman
The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
1974
Centennial by James A. Michener
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Jaws by Peter Benchley
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
Something Happened by Joseph Heller
The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth
The Pirate by Harold Robbins
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer
The Fan Club by Irving Wallace
1975
Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow
The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey
Curtain by Agatha Christie
Looking for Mr. Goodbar by Judith Rossner
The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh
The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins
The Greek Treasure by Irving Stone
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
Shōgun by James Clavell
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1976
Trinity by Leon Uris
Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
Dolores by Jacqueline Susann
Storm Warning by Jack Higgins
The Deep by Peter Benchley
1876 by Gore Vidal
Slapstick or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut
The Lonely Lady by Harold Robbins
Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart
A Stranger in the Mirror by Sidney Sheldon
1977
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré
Oliver's Story by Erich Segal
Dreams Die First by Harold Robbins
Beggarman, Thief by Irwin Shaw
How to Save Your Own Life by Erica Jong
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
Daniel Martin by John Fowles
1978
Chesapeake by James A. Michener
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
Fools Die by Mario Puzo
Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon
Scruples by Judith Krantz
Evergreen by Belva Plain
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
The Holcroft Covenant by Robert Ludlum
Second Generation by Howard Fast
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
1979
The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Overload by Arthur Hailey
Memories of Another Day by Harold Robbins
Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart
The Establishment by Howard Fast
The Third World War: August 1985 by John Hackett
