The New York Times Best Seller list was first published without fanfare on October 12, 1931.
A national list was created August 9, 1942, in The New York Times Book Review (Sundays) as a supplement to the regular paper's city lists (Monday edition).
[2] A few years later,[specify] the city lists were eliminated leaving only the national rankings, which was compiled according to "reports from leading booksellers in 22 cities," a system which remains essentially unchanged to this day (though the specifics have changed).
[2] A separate category for "Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous" books was created January 1, 1984.
[3] (links are to lists of the New York Times fiction best sellers of each year)