Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1920s
Appearance
This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1920s, as determined by Publishers Weekly.[1] The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1920 through 1929.
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.
1920
[edit]- The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey
- Kindred of the Dust by Peter B. Kyne
- The Re-Creation of Brian Kent by Harold Bell Wright
- The River's End by James Oliver Curwood
- A Man for the Ages by Irving Bacheller
- Mary-Marie by Eleanor H. Porter
- The Portygee by Joseph C. Lincoln
- The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim
- The Lamp in the Desert by Ethel M. Dell
- Harriet and the Piper by Kathleen Norris
1921
[edit]- Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
- The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield
- The Mysterious Rider by Zane Grey
- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- The Valley of Silent Men by James Oliver Curwood
- The Sheik by Edith M. Hull
- A Poor Wise Man by Mary Roberts Rinehart
- Her Father's Daughter by Gene Stratton-Porter
- The Sisters-in-Law by Gertrude Atherton
- The Kingdom Round the Corner by Coningsby Dawson
1922
[edit]- If Winter Comes by A. S. M. Hutchinson
- The Sheik by Edith M. Hull
- Gentle Julia by Booth Tarkington
- The Head of the House of Coombe by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Simon Called Peter by Robert Keable
- The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart
- This Freedom by A. S. M. Hutchinson
- Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon
- To the Last Man by Zane Grey
- Tie: Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis and Helen of the Old House by Harold Bell Wright
1923
[edit]- Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton
- His Children's Children by Arthur Train
- The Enchanted April by "Elizabeth"
- Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
- The Dim Lantern by Temple Bailey
- This Freedom by A. S. M. Hutchinson
- The Mine with the Iron Door by Harold Bell Wright
- Wanderer of the Wasteland by Zane Grey
- The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
- The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart
1924
[edit]- So Big by Edna Ferber
- The Plastic Age by Percy Marks
- The Little French Girl by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
- The Heirs Apparent by Philip Gibbs
- A Gentleman of Courage by James Oliver Curwood
- The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey
- The Midlander by Booth Tarkington
- The Coast of Folly by Coningsby Dawson
- Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini
- The Homemaker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
1925
[edit]- Soundings by A. Hamilton Gibbs
- The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy
- The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter
- Glorious Apollo by E. Barrington
- The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
- The Little French Girl by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
- Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
- The Perennial Bachelor by Anne Parrish
- The Carolinian by Rafael Sabatini
- One Increasing Purpose by A. S. M. Hutchinson
1926
[edit]- The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
- Sorrell and Son by Warwick Deeping
- The Hounds of Spring by Sylvia Thompson
- Beau Sabreur by P. C. Wren
- The Silver Spoons by John Galsworthy
- Beau Geste by P. C. Wren
- Show Boat by Edna Ferber
- After Noon by Susan Ertz
- The Blue Window by Temple Bailey
1927
[edit]- Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
- The Plutocrat by Booth Tarkington
- Doomsday by Warwick Deeping
- Sorrell and Son by Warwick Deeping
- Jalna by Mazo de la Roche
- Lost Ecstasy by Mary Roberts Rinehart
- Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton
- Tomorrow Morning by Anne Parrish
- The Old Countess by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
- A Good Woman by Louis Bromfield
1928
[edit]- The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
- Wintersmoon by Hugh Walpole
- Swan Song by John Galsworthy
- The Greene Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine
- Bad Girl by Viña Delmar
- Claire Ambler by Booth Tarkington
- Old Pybus by Warwick Deeping
- All Kneeling by Anne Parrish
- Jalna by Mazo de la Roche
- The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg by Louis Bromfield
1929
[edit]- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
- Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis
- Dark Hester by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
- The Bishop Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine
- Roper's Row by Warwick Deeping
- Peder Victorious by O. E. Rolvaag
- Mamba's Daughters by DuBose Heyward
- The Galaxy by Susan Ertz
- Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
- Joseph and His Brethren by H. W. Freeman
References
[edit]- ^ Hackett, Alice Payne and Burke, James Henry (1977). 80 Years of Bestsellers: 1895–1975. New York: R. R. Bowker Company. pp. 89–107. ISBN 0-8352-0908-3.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)