This is a list of books that topped The New York Times best-seller list in 1949.
The following list ranks the number-one best-selling fiction books.
Only four novels topped the list that year, which was dominated by John P. Marquand's Point of No Return which spent 22 straight weeks at the top of the list though it only lasted 34 weeks in the top 15 overall. Marquand's book is notable for its lampooning of W. Lloyd Warner, an anthropologist with whom Marquand had a personal grudge.[1] Point of No Return was toppled by John O'Hara's Rage To Live, which spent 6 weeks at the top. That book stayed in the top five for another 20 weeks but the remainder of the year was dominated by The Egyptian by the Finnish author Mika Waltari.[2] The Egyptian was translated from a Swedish translation by Naomi Walford.[3]
| Date | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| January 3 | The Big Fisherman | Lloyd Douglas |
| January 10 | ||
| January 17 | ||
| January 24 | ||
| January 31 | ||
| February 7 | ||
| February 14 | ||
| February 21 | ||
| February 28 | ||
| March 6 | ||
| March 13 | ||
| March 20 | ||
| March 27 | ||
| April 3 | ||
| April 10 | Point of No Return | John P. Marquand |
| April 17 | ||
| April 24 | ||
| May 1 | ||
| May 8 | ||
| May 15 | ||
| May 22 | ||
| May 29 | ||
| June 5 | ||
| June 12 | ||
| June 19 | ||
| June 26 | ||
| July 3 | ||
| July 10 | ||
| July 17 | ||
| July 24 | ||
| July 31 | ||
| August 7 | ||
| August 14 | ||
| August 21 | ||
| August 28 | ||
| September 4 | ||
| September 11 | ||
| September 18 | A Rage To Live | John O'Hara |
| September 25 | ||
| October 2 | ||
| October 9 | ||
| October 16 | ||
| October 23 | ||
| October 30 | The Egyptian | Mika Waltari |
| November 6 | ||
| November 13 | ||
| November 20 | ||
| November 27 | ||
| December 4 | ||
| December 11 | ||
| December 18 | ||
| December 26 |
The following list ranks the number-one best-selling nonfiction books.