No Room at the Top

In real estate, it's location, location, location. For bestsellers, it's name, name, name. While debut novelists do get on the charts (six did so in 2004) and there are some formerly unknowns on the nonfiction side, these are the exceptions. More than 90% of the fiction authors on our 2004 end-of-the-year list have been there before. In nonfiction, when it is a first book, name recognition generally comes from the author's day job. The operative word for nonfiction is platform—authors need to be famous in another field; they need to be experts in the subject they are writing on; they need access to the media or, even better, to be the media. The 2004 nonfiction top sellers bear this out.

In fact, the 2004 list of top bestsellers strongly resembles the 2003 list. In fiction, the same two books lead—Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Brown's book sold more than 4.2 million copies in 2004 and, to date, has well over 10 million copies. A $35 illustrated edition of Da Vinci, printed in time for holiday sales, sold more than 900,000 copies. Albom's book sold more than 3.2 million copies in 2004 and has more than seven million in print. In nonfiction, too, #1 and #2 are repeaters. Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life sold more than 11 million copies in 2004; total in print has passed the 22-million mark. Arthur Agatston's The South Beach Diet sold more than three million in 2004, with total sales of about 7,429,000.

Brown led the fiction charts for 31 of the 51 weeks (PW skips the last week of the year) in 2004; Albom took that spot for two weeks. That doesn't leave much for the rest of the high rollers. Things were a little more open in nonfiction, where The South Beach Diet commandeered the #1 slot for 16 weeks. That's twice as long as the fourth nonfiction bestseller, Jon Stewart's America (The Book), which sold more than 1.5 million copies in 2004.

Million-Copy Babies

Sixteen 2004 bestsellers went over the one-million mark—eight in fiction and eight in nonfiction. That's two more than in 2003, but one short of the record set 10 years ago, in 1994. Among them was Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, the fifth-bestselling novel of the year. The other seven-figure novelists are regulars on these bestseller charts, including John Grisham, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Michael Crichton and Patricia Cornwell—all familiar names on these end-of-year charts. Crichton wasn't on in 2003, but only because he didn't have a new book that year.

In nonfiction, Agatston scored another million-unit bestseller with The South Beach Diet Cookbook, the #5 hardcover nonfiction bestseller for the year, with sales of more than 1,490,000. His South Beach Dietled the charts for 16 weeks and the cookbook topped the list for one. The runner-up for most times in the lead spot was Stewart's America; it topped the list eight times.

Bill Clinton's My Life beat out Hillary Clinton's Living History, both in sales and end-of-the-year ranking. His book sold two million copies last year, almost 500,000 more than his wife's 2003 sales figure. His was the #3 bestselling nonfiction book in 2004; hers was #5 in 2003.

There are two new faces on the list of nonfiction titles that surpassed the one million mark—one with TV connections, the other an unusual British import. The first, He's Just Not That into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys, is written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, consultant and executive story editor, respectively, for HBO's Sex and the City. The book launched the Simon Spotlight Entertainment imprint and a one-hour Oprah launched the book into numbers heaven. Its sales of more than 1,260,000 had a lot to do with Simon & Schuster's 2004 robust bottom line. What may be the first grammar book to hit the big time, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, is #8 on the 2004 charts, with sales of more than one million copies. Gotham's first printing was about 133,000—an aggressive figure for a book wherein a comma plays a key role.

The Three Faces of the List

Bestsellers last year could be summarized in three words: Brown, politics and religion. It was an election year, the country was polarized and there were plenty of media celebs and political pundits penning rhetoric about what's wrong and/or right in governmental circles. Five of the top 15 books are political—My Life, America, Unfit for Command, The Family and Plan of Attack. The latter rounds off the top 15 with sales of about 675,000. At least 30 more political titles appeared on the 2004 bestseller lists, a record for this category.

Religion is perhaps the only publishing segment that has enjoyed growth in each of the last 10 years. It has also placed more titles each year on these lists. Books by two pastors are among the top 15—Warren, of course, and Joel Osteen, whose Your Best Life Now has sold close to 975,000 copies and is still high on the weekly charts. He's an author with a very substantial platform—he's pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Tex., the largest church in America, with more than 25,000 people attending each weekend; and his syndicated weekly TV broadcast was rated by Nielsen Media Research as the #1 inspirational program nationally. Check the titles on these pages, and you will find about 20 more nonfiction bestsellers in the religion and inspiration category.

Cookbooks are always popular, no matter your politics or religion. That was very evident throughout the year, with many cookbooks, often driven by the influence of the Food TV Network, appearing on our weekly charts. In 2004, 11 new cookbooks sold more than 100,000 copies, compared to four that reached that level in 2003.

Missing in Action

Thirteen of the hardcover novels that sold more than 100,000 copies in 2004 have yet to land on one of PW's weekly charts; in nonfiction, 42 never landed on the weekly charts. In total, 131 fiction and 132 nonfiction books published in the last two years sold more than 100,000 copies. In 2004, a record 96 nonfiction hardcovers made PW's weekly lists—so even strong sales isn't enough to guarantee chart placement. Still, it's sometimes hard to understand how sales of 200,000 and more for books like Jimmy Carter's Sharing Good Times; Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton; and the pope's Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way can reach those numbers and not have any bestseller presence.

As always, all our calculations are based on shipped-and-billed figures supplied by publishers for new books released in 2003 and 2004 (a few books published earlier that continued their tenures on our 2004 weekly lists and/or our monthly religion lists are included). These figures reflect only 2004 sales, and publishers were instructed not to include book club and overseas transactions. We also asked publishers to take into account returns through February 1. Sales figures on these pages should not be considered final. For many of these books, especially those published in the final third of the year, returns are not yet calculated.

All books listed below with a pound sign (#) were submitted to PW in confidence, for use in placing titles on the lists. Numbers shown are rounded down to indicate relationship to sales figures of other titles.

THE FICTION RUNNERS-UP

16. R Is for Ricochet. Sue Grafton. Putnam (650,627)
17. Echoes. Danielle Steel. Delacorte (#645,000)
18. Second Chance. Danielle Steel. Delacorte (#645,000)
19. 3rd Degree. James Patterson and Andrew Gross. Little, Brown (632,919)
20. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower. Stephen King. Scribner (#630,000)
21. Ransom. Danielle Steel. Delacorte (#615, 000)
22. Sam's Letters to Jennifer. James Patterson. Little, Brown (614,425)
23. Hour Game. David Baldacci. Warner (593,772)
24. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah. Stephen King. Scribner (#585,000)
25. Metro Girl. Janet Evanovich. HarperCollins (574,645)
26. Northern Lights. Nora Roberts. Putnam (570,000)
27. New Spring. Robert Jordan. Tor (548,937)
28. Life Expectancy. Dean Koontz. Bantam (#530,000)
29. The Gift. Nora Roberts. Silhouette (507,000)
30. The Christmas Thief. Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. Simon & Schuster/Scribner (#496,000)
400,000+
Night Time Is My Time. Mary Higgins Clark. Simon & Schuster (#495,000)
Hidden Prey. John Sandford. Putnam (474,534)
Whiteout. Ken Follett. Dutton (426,155)
Night of Rain and Stars. Maeve Binchy. Dutton (405,000)
Are You Afraid of the Dark? Sidney Sheldon. Morrow (401,638)
300,000+
The Godfather Returns. Mark Winegardner. Random House (392,191)
Skinny Dip. Carl Hiaasen. Knopf (389,010)
Lost City. Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos. Putnam (386,994)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Susanna Clarke. Bloomsbury. (366,233)
The Plot Against America. Philip Roth. Houghton Mifflin (357,932)
Shopaholic & Sister. Sophie Kinsella. Delacorte (#350,000)
The Bourne Legacy. Eric Van Lustbader. St. Martin's (326,862)
Skeleton Man. Tony Hillerman. HarperCollins (324,811)
Emma's Secret. Barbara Taylor Bradford. St. Martin's (324,567)
Blowout. Catherine Coulter. Putnam (320,407)
Divided in Death. J.D. Robb. Putnam (318,000)
The Taking. Dean Koontz. Bantam (#310,000)
200,000+
Twisted. Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine (287,814)
Visions in Death. J.D. Robb. Putnam (287,000)
A Redbird Christmas. Fannie Flagg. Random House (281,708)
Can You Keep a Secret? Sophie Kinsella. Delacorte (#270,000)
The Narrows. Michael Connelly. Little, Brown (266,992)
Light on Snow. Anita Shreve. Little, Brown (253,802)
Babylon Rising: The Secret of Ararat. Tim LaHaye and Bob Phillips. Bantam (#245,000)
White Hot. Sandra Brown. Simon & Schuster (#235,000)
By Order of the President. W.E.B. Griffin. Putnam (232,700)
Kill the Messenger. Tami Hoag. Bantam (#225,000)
Just One Look. Harlan Coben. Dutton (218,483)
Bergdorf Blondes. Plum Sykes. Miramax (214,000)
Blind Alley. Iris Johansen. Bantam (#205,000)
The Jane Austen Book Club. Karen Fowler. Putnam (202,906)
The Case for a Creator. Lee Strobel. Zondervan (202,330)
Incubus Dreams. Laurell K. Hamilton. Berkley (201,287)
150,000+
Murder List. Julie Garwood. Ballantine (196,766)
Therapy. Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine (190,853)
Double Homicide. Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman. Warner (188,442)
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination. Helen Fielding. Viking (187,224)
The Princes of Ireland. Edward Rutherfurd. Doubleday (#185,000)
Firestorm. Iris Johansen. Bantam (#185,000)
The Amateur Marriage. Anne Tyler. Knopf (181,294)
Bad Business. Robert B. Parker. Putnam (179,992)
Memorial Day. Vince Flynn. Atria (#178,000)
Reckless Abandon. Stuart Woods. Putnam (176,705)
Absolute Friends. John le Carré. Little, Brown (173,387)
The Cat Who Talked Turkey. Lilian Jackson Braun. Putnam (170,825)
Christmas Blessing. Donna Van Liere. St. Martin's (170,421)
The Time Traveler's Wife. Audrey Niffenegger. MacAdam/Cage (170,000)
The Sunday Philosophy Club. Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon (169,581)
Shem Creek. Dorothea Benton Frank. Berkley (166,411)
Little Earthquakes. Jennifer Weiner. Atria (#160,000)
The Birth of Venus. Sarah Dunant. Random House (159,433)
The Virgin's Lover. Philippa Gregory. Touchstone (158,350)
When Christmas Comes. Debbie Macomber. Mira (158,00)
Dark Justice. Jack Higgins. Putnam (157,568)
Savannah. John Jakes. Dutton (157,558)
One False Move. Alex Kava. Mira (157,000)
The Prince of Beverly Hills. Stuart Woods. Putnam (155,449)
The Two Swords: The Hunter's Blades Trilogy Book III. R.A. Salvatore. Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms (151,232)
125,000+
The Full Cupboard of Life. Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon (149,958)
A Death in Vienna. Daniel Silva. Putnam (149,424)
My Sister's Keeper. Jodi Picoult. Atria (#145,000)
Paranoia. Joseph Finder. St. Martin's (142,045)
The Zero Game. Brad Meltzer. Warner (138,098)
Islands. Anne Rivers Siddons. HarperCollins (137,942)
The Cat Who Went Bananas. Lilian Jackson Braun. Putnam (137,653)
Bet Me. Jennifer Crusie. St. Martin's (136,782)
To the Last Man. Jeffrey Shaara. Ballantine (135,597)
Falling Awake. Jayne Ann Krentz. Putnam (134,340)
Melancholy Baby. Robert B. Parker. Putnam (128,976)
The Second Chair. John Lescroart. Dutton (126,669)
Grant Comes East. Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. St. Martin's (125,502)
100,000+
Drive Me Crazy. Eric Jerome Dickey. Dutton (122,509)
Body Double. Tess Gerritsen. Ballantine (122,215)
Playing with Boys. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. St. Martin's (121,231)
Double Play. Robert B. Parker. Putnam (117,462)
The Exile. Allan Folsom. Forge (117,446)
The Collected Stories of Louis L'Amour, Vol. II. Louis L'Amour. Bantam (#117,300)
The Winds of Change. Martha Grimes. Viking (117,161)
Good Grief. Lolly Winston. Warner (116,114)
Liars and Thieves. Stephen Coonts. St. Martin's (113,251)
Renegade. Diana Palmer. HQN Books (111,000)
High Druid of Shannara: Tanequil. Terry Brooks. Del Rey (110,365)
Tears for Water. Alicia Keys. Putnam (109,983)
Double Shot. Diane Mott Davidson. Morrow (109,000)
The Shop on Blossom Street. Debbie Macomber. Mira (109,000)
Kiss Me While I Sleep. Linda Howard. Ballantine (108,900)
Little Children. Tom Perrotta. St. Martin's (108,568)
The Paid Companion. Amanda Quick. Putnam (107,414)
The Summer I Dared. Barbara Delinsky. Scribner (#106,800)
A Good Year. Peter Mayle. Knopf (106,574)
Seduced by Moonlight. Laurell K. Hamilton. Ballantine (106,396)
See Jane Die. Erica Spindler. Mira (106,000)
Gilead. Marilynne Robinson. Farrar, Straus & Giroux (105,746)
Hunter Fear. Kay Hooper. Bantam (#103,500)
Bait. Karen Robards. Putnam (103,021)
Runaway. Alice Munro. Knopf (102,777)
The Color of Death. Elizabeth Lowell. Morrow (101,000)
Dune: The Battle of Corrin. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Tor (100,769)
The Runes of the Earth. Steven Donaldson. Putnam (100,430)
Killer Smile. Lisa Scottoline. HarperCollins (100,337)
Hot Target. Suzanne Brockmann. Ballantine (100,207)

THE NONFICTION RUNNERS-UP

16. American Soldier. Tommy R. Franks. ReganBooks (660,648)
17. Good to Great. Jim Collins. CollinsBusiness (654,382)
18. The Perricone Promise. Nicholas Perricone. Warner (591,447)
19. The Passion. Photographs by Ken Duncan and Philippe Antonello. Tyndale (579,931)
20. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. David Sedaris. Little, Brown (569,474)
21. Against All Enemies. Richard A. Clarke. Free Press (#540,000)
22. Deliver Us from Evil. Sean Hannity. ReganBooks (527,364)
23. Faithful. Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King. Scribner (#510,000)
24. The Power of Intention. Wayne W. Dyer. Hay House (496,264)
25. The Present. Spencer Johnson. Doubleday (#471,500)
26. When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops? George Carlin. Hyperion (471,399)
27. Chronicles: Volume One. Bob Dylan. Simon & Schuster (#456,000)
28. The Sexy Years. Suzanne Somers. Crown (455,882)
29. How to Talk to a Liberal (if You Must). Ann Coulter. Crown (445,792)
30. Big Russ and Me. Tim Russert. Miramax (445,000)
400,000+
His Excellency: George Washington. Joseph J. Ellis. Knopf (436,698)
Battle Ready. Tom Clancy with Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz. Putnam (423,713)
The 8th Habit. Stephen R. Covey. Free Press (#400.000)
300,000+
Trump: How to Get Rich. Donald J. Trump. Random House (381,756)
Alexander Hamilton. Ron Chernow. Penguin Press (374,953)
The Ultimate Weight Solution. Dr. Phil McGraw. Free Press (#360,000)
Barefoot in Paris. Ina Garten. Clarkson Potter (350,793)
Atkins for Life Low-Carb Cookbook. Veronica Atkins with Stephanie Nathanson. St. Martin's (338,045)
Three Weeks with My Brother. Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks. Warner (337,451)
The Gourmet Cookbook. Edited by Ruth Reichl. Houghton Mifflin (326,139)
Trump: Billionaire. Donald J. Trump. Random House (323,584)
Ten Minutes from Normal. Karen Hughes. Viking (321,709)
Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Jan Karon. Viking (316,534)
Eating for Life. Bill Phillips. High Point Media (304,428)
200,000+
Come Thirsty. Max Lucado. W Publishing (293,206)
Bushworld. Maureen Dowd. Putnam (282,794)
The Abs Diet. David Zinczenko with Ted Spiker. Rodale (268,574)
Shadow Divers. Robert Kurson. Random House (268,189)
The Price of Loyalty. Ron Suskind. Simon & Schuster (#260,000)
The Last Season. Phil Jackson. Penguin Press (256,538)
Father Joe. Tony Hendra. Random House (255,712)
Learning to Sing. Clay Aiken. Random House (253,540)
Live Like You Were Dying. Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman. Rutledge Hill (250,339)
Miracle. Anne Geddes and Celine Dion. Andrews McMeel (249,000)
Will They Ever Trust Us Again? Michael Moore. Simon & Schuster (#235,000)
Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way. Pope John Paul II. Warner (232,597)
Sharing Good Times. Jimmy Carter. Simon & Schuster (#225,000)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Aron Ralston. Atria (#222,000)
The Book for People Who Do Too Much. Bradley Trevor Greive. Andrews McMeel (222,000)
Founding Mothers. Cokie Roberts. Morrow (219,811)
Now, Discover Your Strengths. Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. Free Press (#215,000)
Imperial Hubris. Anonymous. Brassey's (210,000)
Emeril's Potluck. Emeril Lagasse. Morrow (205,161)
The Case for a Creator. Lee Strobel. Zondervan (202,330)
150,000+
Friends to the End. Bradley Trevor Greive. Andrews McMeel (198,000)
The Complete Cartoons of theNew Yorker.Edited by Bob Mankoff. Black Dog & Leventhal (190,000)
Diana. Ros Coward and PQ Publishers. Andrews McMeel (189,000)
Prophecy. Sylvia Browne. Dutton (188,519)
The Games Do Count. Brian Kilmeade. ReganBooks (187,560)
Hallelujah! The Welcome Table. Maya Angelou. Random House (187,095)
What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank. Holt/Metropolitan (187,000)
The World According to Mister Rogers. Fred Rogers. Hyperion (184,458)
Millionaire Women Next Door. Thomas J. Stanley. Andrews McMeel (182,000)
Ending Your Day Right. Joyce Meyer. Warner Faith (177,244)
On the Down Low. J.L. King. Broadway (#174,888)
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez. Clarkson Potter (173,343)
He-Motions. T.D. Jakes. Putnam (171,606)
Super Foods RX. Steven G. Pratt. Morrow (170,260)
Worse Than Watergate. John Dean. Little, Brown (169,547)
American Dynasty. Kevin Phillips. Viking (168,581)
Seven Things That Steal Your Joy. Joyce Meyer. Warner Faith (168,029)
Green River, Running Red. Ann Rule. Free Press (#167,500)
Give Me a Break. John Stossel. HarperCollins (167,463)
Magical Thinking. Augusten Burroughs. St. Martin's (165,755)
Humor Me. Barbara Johnson. W Publishing(164,887)
The Sinatra Treasures. Charles Pignone. Bulfinch (163,157)
In Pursuit of Peace. Joyce Meyer. Warner Faith (157,631)
Walk Away the Pounds. Leslie Sansone. Warner Faith/Center Street (156,779)
Woman Power. Dr.Laura Schlessinger. HarperCollins (155,278)
Getting in the Gap. Wayne W. Dyer. Hay House (154,397)
A Man of Faith. David Aikman. W Publishing (152,413)
Epic. John Eldredge. Nelson (152,362)
The Faith of George W. Bush. Stephen Mansfield. Tarcher (151,524)
Skywriting. Jane Pauley. Random House (150,732)
Breaking the Da Vinci Code. Darrell L. Bock. Nelson (150,304)
125,000+
The Fabric of the Cosmos. Brian Greene. Knopf (148,486)
The New Strong-Willed Child. James Dobson. Tyndale (145,113)
Straight Talk. Joyce Meyer. Warner Faith (142,881)
The Fred Factor. Mark Sanborn. Doubleday (#140,000)
How to Make Love Like a Porn Star. Jenna Jameson. ReganBooks (137,383)
In the Shadow of No Towers. Art Spiegelman. Pantheon (134,562)
Caddy for Life. John Feinstein. Little, Brown (133,488)
Bringing Tuscany Home. Frances Mayes. Broadway (#133,000)
Confronting Reality. Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Crown Business (133,398)
100,000+
Belly Laughs. Jenny McCarthy. DaCapo (122,146)
Confessions of an Heiress. Paris Hilton. Fireside (121,855)
Funny Cide. Sally Jenkins. Putnam (120,173)
How Clean Is Your House? Aggie MacKenzie and Kim Woodburn. Dutton (117,176)
Blue Blood. Edward Conlon. Riverhead (117,024)
Will in the World. Stephen Greenblatt. W.W. Norton (#117,000)
The Gift of Change. Marianne Williamson. Harper San Francisco (116,216)
Ric Flair: To Be the Man. Ric Flair with Keith Elliot Greenberg, edited by Mark Madden. Pocket (115,000)
A Brother's Journey. Richard Pelzer. Warner (114,380)
Farewell, Jackie. Edward Klein. Viking (112,927)
Waking the Dead. John Eldredge. Nelson (111,752)
Chain of Command. Seymour M. Hersh. HarperCollins (111,049)
Ted Williams. Leigh Montville. Doubleday (#110,500)
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office. Lois Frankel. Warner (110,331)
The Happiest Toddler on the Block. Harvey Karp, M.D. Bantam (#109,000)
Hippie. Barry Miles. Sterling (108,501)
Rewriting History. Dick Morris. ReganBooks (106,242)
Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man. David T. Hardy. ReganBooks (105,450)
Let Me Tell You a Story. Red Auerbach and John Feinstein. Little, Brown (103,558)
Why Courage Matters. John McCain. Random House (103,444)
Sylvia Browne's Lessons for Life. Sylvia Browne. Hay House (103,372)
The Bible Answer Book. Hank Hanegraaff. J. Countryman (103,342)
Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy. Wolfgang Puck. Rutledge Hill (102,616)
Homegrown Democrat. Garrison Keillor. Viking (102,600)
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question. John Miller. Putnam (101,505)
Carolyn 101. Carolyn Kepcher. Fireside (100,825)
The DNA of Relationships. Gary Smalley. Tyndale (100,499)
Publishers Weekly 2004 Bestsellers

FICTION: Who's on First?
How Publishers Weekly's bestsellers compared with the rankings in major chains, independents and wholesalers

NONFICTION: What's on Second?
How Publishers Weekly's bestsellers compared with the rankings in major chains, independents and wholesalers