List of Black New York Times Best Selling Authors

This is a list of books written by black authors that have appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list in any ranking or category.

The New York Times Fiction Best Seller list, in the Combined Print & E-Book Fiction category.

Date

Book

Author

August 1, 1970

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou

August 17, 1976

Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Alex Haley

April 12, 1981

Tar Baby

Toni Morrison

1984

The Color Purple

Alice Walker

January 25, 1987

Fatherhood

Bill Cosby

August 16, 1987

Time Flies

Bill Cosby

May 8, 1988

Beloved

Toni Morrison

May 8, 1988

Moonwalk

Michael Jackson

May 20, 1990

The Temple of My Familiar

Alice Walker

May 20, 1990

Love and Marriage

Bill Cosby

December 30, 1990

Bo Knows Bo

Bo Jackson and Dick Schaap

November 17, 1991

Childhood

Bill Cosby

May 3, 1992

Jazz

Toni Morrison

August 2, 1992

Waiting to Exhale

Terry McMillan

August 2, 1992

Possessing the Secret of Joy

Alice Walker

October 3, 1993

Days of Grace

Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad

October 31, 1993

Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now

Maya Angelou

November 21, 1993

Secrets of a Sparrow

Diana Ross

July 31, 1994

Black Betty

Walter Mosley

July 31, 1994

Shadow of the Panther

Hugh Pearson

July 31, 1994

These Same Long Bones

Gwendolyn M. Parker

June 4, 1995

One by One From the Inside Out

Glenn C. Loury

November 19, 1995

The All American Skin Game

Stanley Crouch

May 16, 1996

How Stella Got Her Groove Back

Terry McMillan

June 2, 1996

Bad as I Wanna Be

Dennis Rodman with Tim Keown

June 2, 1996

In Contempt

Christopher Darden with Jess Walter

December 1, 1996

Don't Block the Blessings

Patti LaBelle with Laura B. Randolph

March 16, 1997

Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen

Jervis Anderson

November 16, 1997

Book

Whoopi Goldberg

February 1, 1998

Paradise

Toni Morrison

March 1, 1998

Addicted

Zane (author)

November 28, 1998

For the Love of the Game: My Story

Michael Jordan

October 3, 1999

Yesterday, I Cried

Iyanla Vanzant

January 30, 2000

The Rock Says

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson with Joe Laydon

September 24, 2000

Not a Day Goes By

E. Lynn Harris

December 31, 2000

Until Today!

Iyanla Vanzant

February 5, 2001

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Terry McMillan

September 9, 2001

Cane River

Lalita Tademy

September 9, 2001

Any Way the Wind Blows

E. Lynn Harris

November 18, 2001

Q

Quincy Jones

March 31, 2002

[...]: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word

Randall Kennedy

June 8, 2002

The Emperor of Ocean Park

Stephen L. Carter

June 8, 2003

The Other Woman

Eric Jerome Dickey

October 12, 2003

Three Weeks in November

Charles Moose and Charles Fleming

July 18, 2004

On the Down Low

J. L. King and Karen Hunter

February 6, 2005

Blink

Malcolm Gladwell

April 30, 2006

Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings

Tyler Perry

November 12, 2006

The Audacity of Hope

Barack Obama

April 15, 2007

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah

August 5, 2007

Quiet Strength

Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker

October 21, 2007

My Grandfather's Son

Clarence Thomas

October 7, 2008

The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems

Van Jones

December 21, 2008

Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell

June 2, 2009

Dork Diaries Book 1: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life

Rachel Renee Russell

July 7, 2009

America's Most Wanted Recipes

Ron Douglas

November 1, 2009

Push

Sapphire (author)

November 1, 2009

Say You're One of Them

Uwem Akpan

November 19, 2009

The Cartel 2

Ashley & JaQuavis

June 8, 2010

Dork Diaries Book 2: Tales From a Not-So-Popular Party Girl

Rachel Renee Russell

Nov 22, 2010

The Adventures of Angus the Mouse

Montice Harmon

February 13, 2011

What the Dog Saw

Malcolm Gladwell

February 13, 2011

Decoded

Jay-Z

February 27, 2011

I Beat the Odds

Michael Oher with Don Yaeger

June 7, 2011

Dork Diaries Book 3: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star

Rachel Renee Russell

October 11, 2011

Dork Diaries Book 3.5: How To Dork Your Diary

Rachel Renee Russell

January 1, 2012

The New Jim Crow

Michelle Alexander

April 3, 2012

Rebuild the Dream

Van Jones

June 5, 2012

Dork Diaries Book 4: Tales From a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess

Rachel Renee Russell

October 2, 2012

Dork Diaries Book 5: Tales From a Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All

Rachel Renee Russell

November 12, 2012

The Cartel 4

Ashley & JaQuavis

June 4, 2013

Dork Diaries Book 6: Tales From a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker

Rachel Renee Russell

October 1, 2013

Dork Diaries OMG!: All AbOUT Me Diary!

Rachel Renee Russell

March 9, 2014

David and Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell

June 3, 2014

Dork Diaries Book 7: Tales From a Not-So-Glam TV Star

Rachel Renee Russell

June 8, 2014

One Nation

Ben Carson with Candy Carson

September 30, 2014

Dork Diaries Book 8: Tales From a Not-So-Happily Ever After

Rachel Renee Russell

June 2, 2015

Dork Diaries Book 9: Tales From a Not-So-Dorky Drama Queen

Rachel Renee Russell

August 2, 2015

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

September 20, 2015

Everything, Everything

Nicola Yoon

October 20, 2015

Dork Diaries Book 10: Tales From a Not-So-perfect Pet Sitter

Rachel Renee Russell

May 29, 2016

Hamilton: The Revolution

Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter

June 7, 2016

The Misadventures of Max Crumbly Book 1: Locker Hero

Rachel Renee Russell

June 26, 2016

I Almost Forgot About You

Terry McMillan

June 26, 2016

Homegoing

Yaa Gyasi

September, 2016

Year of Yes

Shonda Rhimes

November 3, 2016

The Sun is also a Star

Nicola Yoon

November 15, 2016

Dork Diaries Book 11: Tales From a Not-So-Friendly Frenemy

Rachel Renee Russell

January 29, 2017

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly

January 29, 2017

Kindred (graphic novel)

Octavia Butler with Damian Duffy and John Jennings

February 28, 2017

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas

March 26, 2017

Dear Ijeawele

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

April 9, 2017

The 1997 Masters: My Story

Tiger Woods with Lorne Rubenstein

May 7, 2017

Black privilege

Charlamagne tha God

May 21, 2017

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Neil deGrasse Tyson

May 21, 2017

The Book of Joy

Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

May 28, 2017

Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom

Condoleezza Rice

June 6, 2017

The Misadventures of Max Crumbly Book 2: Middle School Mayhem

Rachel Renee Russell

June 25, 2017

I Can't Make This Up

Kevin Hart & Neil Strauss

July 2, 2017

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

Roxane [...]

July 9, 2017

Born a Crime

Trevor Noah

August 27, 2017

The Crossover

Kwame Alexander

October 10, 2017

Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together

Van Jones

October 17, 2017

Dork Diaries Book 12: Tales From a Not-So-Secret Crush Catastrophe

Rachel Renee Russell

November 5, 2017

Dear Martin

Nic Stone

December 4, 2017

The Last Black Unicorn

Tiffany Haddish

December 5, 2017

Little Leaders

Vashti Harrison

January 21, 2018

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Jesmyn Ward

February 6, 2018

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

February 6, 2018

An American Marriage

Tayari Jones

February 6, 2018

The Belles

Dhonielle Clayton

March 6, 2018

Children of Blood and Bone

Tomi Adeyemi

October 16, 2018

Dork Diaries Book 13: Tales From a Not-So-Happy Birthday

Rachel Renee Russell

June 4, 2019

The Misadventures of Max Crumbly Book 3: Masters of Mischief

Rachel Renee Russell

October 22, 2019

Dork Diaries Book 14: Tales From a Not-So-Best Friend Forever

Rachel Renee Russell

September 26, 2023

Dork Diaries Book 15: Tales From a Not-So-Best Posh Paris Adventure

Rachel Renee Russell

October 15, 2024

Dork Diaries Book 16: Tales From a Not-So-Bratty Little Sister

Rachel Renee Russell

See also

  • American literature
  • African-American literature
  • Lists of The New York Times number-one books