[1] In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback and e-books.

[4] In the 1960s and 1970s, shopping-mall chain bookstores B. Dalton, Crown Books, and Waldenbooks came to the forefront with a business model of selling newly published best-sellers with mass-market appeal.

[8] It is based on weekly sales reports obtained from selected samples of independent and chain bookstores and wholesalers throughout the United States.

[8] The sales figures are widely believed to represent books that have actually been sold at retail, rather than wholesale,[9] as the Times surveys booksellers in an attempt to better reflect what is purchased by individual buyers.

[10] The New York Times reported in 2013 that "we [generally do not] track the sales of classic literature," and thus, for example, new translations of Dante's Inferno would not be found on the bestseller list.

[3] Book Review staff editor Gregory Cowles explained the method "is a secret both to protect our product and to make sure people can't try to rig the system.

[13][14] In July 2000, the "Children's Best Sellers" was created after the Harry Potter series had stayed in the top spots on the fiction list for an extended period of time.

[17] In November 2010, The New York Times announced it would be tracking e-book best-seller lists in fiction and nonfiction starting in early 2011.

The autobiography of George W. Bush, Decision Points, sold the most copies in one year followed by the biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

[19] The list has been criticized by authors, publishers, book industry executives, and others for not providing an accurate accounting of true best-seller status.

The authors allegedly purchased over 10,000 copies of their own book in small and strategically placed orders at bookstores whose sales are reported to BookScan.

Because of the benefits of making The New York Times Best Seller list (speaking engagements, more book deals, and consulting) the authors felt that buying their own work was an investment that would pay for itself.

"[31] The article discusses how ResultSource, a San Diego–based marketing consultancy, specializes in ensuring books make a bestseller list, even guaranteeing a No.

The New York Times did not alert its readers to this, unlike The Wall Street Journal, which admitted that books had landed on its bestseller list due to ResultSource's campaign.

[32] Soren Kaplan, the source who admitted he had paid ResultSource to land his book, Leapfrogging, on The Wall Street Journal's bestseller list, revealed the methodology on his blog; he posted: "If I could obtain bulk orders before Leapfrogging was released, ResultSource would purchase the books on my behalf using their tried-and-true formula.

"[34] It describes how author and pastor Mark Driscoll contracted the company ResultSource to place his book Real Marriage (2012) on The New York Times Best Seller list for a $200,000 fee.

In August 2017, a young adult fiction book, Handbook for Mortals by previously unpublished author Lani Sarem was removed from the list, where it was in initially in the No.

According to a statement issued by the Times, "after investigating the inconsistencies in the most recent reporting cycle, we decided that the sales for Handbook for Mortals did not meet our criteria for inclusion.

[40] The Washington Post called Regnery's ban a "stunt" designed to increase sales, "What better way to sell a book to a conservative audience than to promote the idea that the New York Times doesn't like it?"

[41] In February 2018, the Toronto Star published a story by books editor Deborah Dundas who found that the best-selling book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson, who topped Publishers Weekly chart list, did not even chart on The New York Times bestsellers list, without reliable answers from the New York Times.

[46] In 2019, the release of Donald Trump Jr.'s book Triggered was shown to have only reached the best-seller list through approximately $100,000 in behind-the-scenes bulk purchases meant to pump up its sales numbers illegitimately.

[48] A Stanford Business School analysis suggests that the "majority of book buyers seem to use the Times' list as a signal of what's worth reading".