This is a list of books that topped The New York Times best-seller list in 1963.
The list is notable for being blank for part of the winter as The New York Times, like many other newspapers in the city, worked its way through a major newspaper strike.
The following list ranks the number-one best-selling fiction books.
When the strike ended in March, the political thriller Seven Days in May led the list, having also been at the top at the start of the strike in December 1962. It lasted there only one week before being overtaken by J.D. Salinger's second No. 1 bestseller in 18 months, the anthologized novellas, "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour: An Introduction".
Salinger's book led the list for 14 weeks through the spring of 1963. Daphne du Maurier's The Glass-Blowers then spent six weeks on the list, followed by Morris West's novel about the Vatican, The Shoes of the Fisherman (14 weeks). On October 6, Shoes gave way to Mary McCarthy's semi-autobiographical novel The Group, which would spend the next 20 weeks at the top, closing out the year.[1]
| Date | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| January 6 | Not published due to the Newspaper Strike | |
| January 13 | ||
| January 20 | ||
| January 27 | ||
| February 3 | ||
| February 10 | ||
| February 17 | ||
| February 24 | ||
| March 3 | Seven Days in May | Fletcher Knebel |
| March 10 | Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters | J. D. Salinger |
| March 17 | ||
| March 24 | ||
| March 31 | ||
| April 7 | ||
| April 14 | ||
| April 21 | ||
| April 28 | ||
| May 5 | ||
| May 12 | ||
| May 19 | The Glass-Blowers | Daphne du Maurier |
| May 26 | ||
| June 2 | ||
| June 9 | ||
| June 16 | ||
| June 23 | ||
| June 30 | The Shoes of the Fisherman | Morris West |
| July 7 | ||
| July 14 | ||
| July 21 | ||
| July 28 | ||
| August 4 | ||
| August 11 | ||
| August 18 | ||
| August 25 | ||
| September 1 | ||
| September 8 | ||
| September 15 | ||
| September 22 | ||
| September 29 | ||
| October 6 | The Group | Mary McCarthy |
| October 13 | ||
| October 20 | ||
| October 27 | ||
| November 3 | ||
| November 10 | ||
| November 17 | ||
| November 24 | ||
| December 1 | ||
| December 8 | ||
| December 15 | ||
| December 22 | ||
| December 29 | ||
The following list ranks the number-one best-selling nonfiction books.