This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1950s, as determined by Publishers Weekly.[1] The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1950 through 1959.
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.
1950
edit- The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson
- Joy Street by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- Across the River and into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway
- The Wall by John Hersey
- Star Money by Kathleen Winsor
- The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
- Floodtide by Frank Yerby
- Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow
- The Adventurer by Mika Waltari
- The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg
1951
edit- From Here to Eternity by James Jones
- The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
- Moses by Sholem Asch
- The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson
- A Woman Called Fancy by Frank Yerby
- The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
- Melville Goodwin, U.S.A. by John P. Marquand
- Return to Paradise by James A. Michener
- The Foundling by Cardinal Spellman
- The Wanderer by Mika Waltari
1952
edit- The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain
- The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
- Steamboat Gothic by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- Giant by Edna Ferber
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- The Gown of Glory by Agnes Sligh Turnbull
- The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby
- The Houses in Between by Howard Spring
1953
edit- The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
- The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain
- Desirée by Annemarie Selinko
- Battle Cry by Leon M. Uris
- From Here to Eternity by James Jones
- The High and the Mighty by Ernest K. Gann
- Beyond This Place by A. J. Cronin
- Time and Time Again by James Hilton
- Lord Vanity by Samuel Shellabarger
- The Unconquered by Ben Ames Williams
1954
edit- Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson
- Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier
- Love Is Eternal by Irving Stone
- The Royal Box by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
- No Time for Sergeants by Mac Hyman
- Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
- The View from Pompey's Head by Hamilton Basso
- Never Victorious, Never Defeated by Taylor Caldwell
- Benton's Row by Frank Yerby
1955
edit- Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
- Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
- Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
- Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
- The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson
- Something of Value by Robert Ruark
- Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson
- No Time for Sergeants by Mac Hyman
- The Tontine by Thomas B. Costain
- Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara
1956
edit- Don't Go Near the Water by William Brinkley
- The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor
- Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
- Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
- Eloise by Kay Thompson
- Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
- A Certain Smile by Françoise Sagan
- The Tribe That Lost Its Head by Nicholas Monsarrat
- The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
- Boon Island by Kenneth Roberts
1957
edit- By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens
- Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
- Compulsion by Meyer Levin
- Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! by Max Shulman
- Blue Camellia by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson
- The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute
- Below the Salt by Thomas B. Costain
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
1958
edit- Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
- Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Around the World with Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
- From the Terrace by John O'Hara
- Eloise at Christmastime by Kay Thompson
- Ice Palace by Edna Ferber
- The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
- The Enemy Camp by Jerome Weidman
- Victorine by Frances Parkinson Keyes
1959
edit- Exodus by Leon Uris
- Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
- Hawaii by James A. Michener
- Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Ugly American by Eugene L. Burdick
- Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico
- Poor No More by Robert Ruark
References
edit- ^ Hackett, Alice Payne and Burke, James Henry (1977). 80 Years of Bestsellers: 1895–1975. New York: R. R. Bowker Company. pp. 152–177. ISBN 0-8352-0908-3.
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