This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1940s, as determined by Publishers Weekly. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1940 through 1949.
The standards set for inclusion in the lists – which, for example, lead to the exclusion of the novels in the Harry Potter series from the lists for the 1990s and 2000s – are currently unknown.
1940
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley
Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
The Nazarene by Sholem Asch
Stars on the Sea by F. Van Wyck Mason
Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Night in Bombay by Louis Bromfield
The Family by Nina Fedorova
1941
The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin
Random Harvest by James Hilton
This Above All by Eric Knight
The Sun Is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts
H. M. Pulham, Esquire by John P. Marquand
Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick
Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber
Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase
1942
The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck
And Now Tomorrow by Rachel Field
Drivin' Woman by Elizabeth Pickett
Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase
The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
The Sun Is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen
Kings Row by Henry Bellamann
The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin
1943
The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
The Valley of Decision by Marcia Davenport
So Little Time by John P. Marquand
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
Mrs. Parkington by Louis Bromfield
The Apostle by Sholem Asch
Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
The Forest and the Fort by Hervey Allen
The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
1944
Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith
The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
The Green Years by A. J. Cronin
Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames Williams
Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge
A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
The Apostle by Sholem Asch
1945
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
The White Tower by James Ramsey Ullman
Cass Timberlane by Sinclair Lewis
A Lion Is in the Streets by Adria Locke Langley
So Well Remembered by James Hilton
Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger
Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham
Immortal Wife by Irving Stone
1946
The King's General by Daphne du Maurier
This Side of Innocence by Taylor Caldwell
The River Road by Frances Parkinson Keyes
The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
The Hucksters by Frederic Wakeman, Sr. The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain B.F.'s Daughter by John P. Marquand The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward
1947
The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
The Moneyman by Thomas B. Costain
Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson
Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts
The Vixens by Frank Yerby
The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
House Divided by Ben Ames Williams
Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis
East Side, West Side by Marcia Davenport
Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger
1948
The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
The Bishop's Mantle by Agnes Sligh Turnbull
Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
The Golden Hawk by Frank Yerby
Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr. Shannon's Way by A. J. Cronin Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw