What were the bestselling books of the 1990s, and what does that say about the state of fiction heading into the end of the 20th century? Let's take a tour through the decade, following the map of its most commercially successful novels, because it is an exciting journey that starts in one place and ends up somewhere totally different.
A handful of authors dominated the '90s, according to data put together by Publisher's Weekly. One in particular rose to fame in the early '90s, and became one of the most dynastic names in the history of commercial fiction by the middle of the decade.
This list breaks down the year-by-year rankings from Publisher's Weekly, and tries to put together a coherent picture of mainstream American fiction in the 1990s along the way.
The Plains Of Passage
Written By Jean M. Auel (#1 In 1990)
The Plains of Passage was the dominant novel of 1990, beating out two Stephen King books, Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ultimatum, and titles by familiar names like Scott Turow, Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins, and Anne Rice. 36 years later, though, many readers are likely to go, "Who?" when they hear author Jean M. Auel's name.
What might be even more surprising is that Plains of Passage is the fourth book in a six-book series, Earth's Children, a prehistoric fiction saga following Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon characters at the dawn of civilization. Earth's Children was a big deal in the 1980s, and Plains of Passage's mega-success in '90 was the apex of the series' popularity.
Notably, the follow-up novel, The Shelters of Stone, didn't come out until 2002, meaning it is impossible to say how Auel's series might have stacked up against the literary juggernauts of the late '90s.
Scarlett
Written By Alexandra Ripley (#1 In 1991)
Alexandra Ripley's Scarlett, an official sequel to Gone With the Wind, topped the bestseller list for 1991. Coming in second was Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears. Stephen King's Needful Things ranked third, followed by two Danielle Steel novels. In a portent of what was to come, John Grisham's The Firm was the #7 bestseller of '91.
Readers were hungry for a sequel to Gone With the Wind, but Scarlett failed to deliver, even though it flew off shelves. Scarlett was over 800 pages long and was critically reviled at the time of its release.
Which reveals the novel's incredible sales stats for what they really were: a testament to the massive cultural legacy of Gone With the Wind, both Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel and 1939 Victor Fleming's film adaptation.
Dolores Claiborne
Written By Stephen King (#1 In 1992)
Stephen King scored his first #1 bestseller of the year since 1987 with Dolores Claiborne, and he also captured the number three spot for 1992 with Gerald's Game. Sandwiched between King's books in the #2 spot was John Grisham's The Pelican Brief. (Cue ominous music for every other author out there.)
King continued to be a reliable Top 10 author through the '90s, coming in at #5 the following two years, #7 in '95, #3 and #5 in '96, #3 in '98 (he surprisingly didn't make the '97 list) and #6 and #8 in 1999. That said, this was his last overall bestseller of the year.
Danielle Steel continued to be a powerhouse this year with the #4 and #5 novels. Sidney Sheldon appeared in the middle of the Top 10 for the third consecutive year, but it was his next-to-last appearance of the '90s. Sheldon was a prolific author, but is arguably best known for creating pioneering sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
This corresponds with the shift in Stephen King's place in popular culture. While adaptations of KIng's work go back to 1976's Carrie, it was with '90s kids that the author's work started to become better known as source material for movies and TV than as literature.
The Bridges Of Madison County (#1 In 1993)
Written By Robert James Waller
The Bridges of Madison County is best known today for its 1995 film adaptation directed by Clint Eastwood. That's because it's one of the movies in Eastwood's filmography that people point to and go, "Really?" But before that, it was a huge literary hit and runaway bestseller.
Robert James Waller's novel is a period piece romance, chronicling a woman's affair with a National Geographic photographer visiting the titular Madison County, Iowa. It beat out John Grisham's The Client in 1993 for #1 spot, and stayed on the bestseller list through the release of Eastwood's film three years later.
The Bridges of Madison County was Waller's debut novel, and it remarkably beat out all the usual Top 10 suspects in '93: Robert Ludlum, Scott Turow, Anne Rice, Danielle Steel, Stephen King, and Tom Clancy.
The Chamber
Written By John Grisham (#1 In 1994)
Okay. Lock in, folks. It's time to start one of the most dominant bestseller runs in literary history. John Grisham released his first novel, A Time to Kill, in 1989. It was a modest success, but not a Top 10 bestseller. Grisham broke through with The Firm in '91, and as we've seen, his stock steadily rose over the next three years, culminating in his first of many times atop the year-end bestseller charts in '94.
The Chamber might not be one of John Grisham's most recognizable titles today, but it is the book with which he secured his reputation as the undisputed master of the legal thriller. It was at this point that the author became a genre unto himself.
In a true "passing of the torch" moment, Grisham beat out Tom Clancy for the top spot. Clancy came in second with Debt of Honor. A name surprisingly absent over the past few years, Michael Crichton, popped up at #10 with Disclosure, and Danielle Steel had a dominant year, holding down spots #4, #7, and #7 on the '94 list.
The Rainmaker
Written By John Grisham (#1 In 1995)
John Grisham took the #1 spot again in 1995 with The Rainmaker, which was once again made even more impressive by who came in second. Remember how Michael Crichton cracked the '94 list at #10? He came roaring back in '95 with The Lost World, his sequel to Jurassic Park, a book that didn't make the Top 10 in 1990 but had a gigantic cultural impact thanks to the 1993 Spielberg movie adaptation.
Still, Grisham's Rainmaker took the top spot. It was reported at the time of the book's release that it was one of the fastest selling novels ever, at least at the time, moving hundreds of thousands of copies within days of its release. To this day, The Rainmaker is held up as one of the author's best books.
Aside from two more Danielle Steel novels, a Stephen King book, and a late-career Mary Higgins Clarke novel, the rest of the '95 list was notably rounded out by newer names: Richard Paul Evans, James Redfield, Nicholas Evans.
The Runaway Jury
Written By John Grisham (#1 In 1996)
By 1996, the John Grisham machine was in full gear. His books were already being adapted into a series of high-profile films. The adaptation of his first novel, A Time to Kill, came out this same year. Meanwhile, Grisham was on fire, grinding out a book a year, and making an enormous amount of money on each one.
It's no surprise his latest release did huge numbers, but the real story of '96 is the murderer's row of GOAT bestsellers lined up behind Grisham's The Runaway Jury.
In order from #2 through #7: Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Stephen King (as Richard Bachman), Danielle Steel, Danielle Steel. Also, Patricia Cornwell made the Top 10 for the first time at #9. So, John Grisham wasn't just reigning supreme, he was the literary king of kings, boss of all bosses.
The Partner
Written By John Grisham (#1 In 1997)
John Grisham in the late '90s was like the Chicago Bulls around the same time: unbeatable, unstoppable. The Partner is another title that might get lost in the volume of the author's output, but in 1997 it was the next Grisham novel, and that was all that mattered.
And once again, the titles below The Partner on the Top 10 paint a fascinating portrait of the changing landscape of bestselling literature at the time. #2 in '97 was Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, literary historical fiction that won the National Book Award that year. #3-#5 were Danielle Steel novels. Patricia Cornwell made the list twice, and James Patterson broke into the Top 10, prefiguring his status as a 21st-century juggernaut.
The other two authors on the list were old favorites Sidney Sheldon and Mary Higgins Clarke. What this makes clear, if it wasn't already, is just how essential name recognition is for bestselling authors. By 1997, nobody was more must-read, and must-buy, than John Grisham.
The Street Lawyer
Written By John Grisham (#1 In 1998)
John Grisham #1, Tom Clancy #2, Stephen King coming in third. Three Danielle Steel books. Titles by Patricia Cornwell and Mary Higgins Clarke. Two high-profile literary releases, Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full and Toni Morrison's Paradise. That's what the bestseller race looked like in 1998.
Grisham's ninth novel, The Street Lawyer, received mostly positive reviews, though some critics did perceive the fact that Grisham's formula for success was starting to become formulaic. That the commercial churn of his work was starting to show in the work itself.
Still, the quality of John Grisham novels had become immaterial by this point. He was a cultural force in print, and the adaptations of his books were reliable at the box office. Late '90s Grisham might have been riding on early '90s momentum, by '98, but there was nothing to slow him down heading into the millennium.
The Testament
Written By John Grisham (#1 In 1999)
John Grisham in the #1 spot might have been a given in 1999, but the rest of the Top 10 for the year shows a book industry in flux. The fourth and fifth books in the Left Behind series made the cut, in the #3 and #7 spots, and so did the novelization of The Phantom Menace, which ranked fourth.
Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs sequel Hannibal came in second, while Danielle Steel dropped to ninth. Stephen King took two spots, MIchael Crichton took one, and author Maeve Binchy made it into the #10 spot with her 1998 novel Tara Road.
Grisham's hegemony over the bestseller charts arguably reached its apex here, but it was far from the end. Grisham ranked #1 in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2008 in the next decade.
Final Thoughts:
John Grisham's run as the bestselling author of the 1990s is a singular and spectacular achievement in the history of the book industry. It speaks to the nature of his work, but also to the appetite of readers in the '90s, which was evolving at the time. The definition of commercial fiction was changing, and Grisham was the author who reaped the most reward from that moment of change.
That said, the ubiquity of authors like Stephen King and Danielle Steel shouldn't be understated. Steel's popularity that decade is especially remarkable. In fact, in terms of all-time bestsellers, Steel ranks at #4, ahead of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling (whose books are somewhat controversially not included in Publisher's Weekly's rankings for the late '90s), and Stephen King, and yes, John Grisham himself.
So, Grisham's chart-topping run from 1994 through the millennium is truly a "time and place, had to be there" literary phenomenon, one that will be worth studying for years to come. And while not all his books are considered masterpieces, the best will be held up as essential literature of the '90s in perpetuity.
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