New York Times bestseller list is 'politically biased' against conservatives, Economist study finds

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A new analysis from The Economist determined that The New York Times is "politically biased" against conservative authors on its bestseller list.

According to the magazine, books from conservative publishers were estimated to be on average 7% less likely to make the paper’s bestseller list compared to titles sharing similar sales figures. Further analysis found that conservative titles that made the bottom ten of the Publishers Weekly list were 22% less likely to make the New York Times list at all. When narrowing the study to compare only political books, the gap increased even more.

In addition, the nonfiction conservative titles that do make the New York Times bestseller list rank an average of 2.3 spots behind other books with similar numbers.

"Some may be tempted to cast aside such complaints as sour grapes, a popular delicacy in both publishing and politics. But a study by The Economist suggests that accusations of bias against conservative books may have merit," the magazine noted.

A new study from The Economist found that conservative books are less likely to be featured on The New York Times bestseller list. (Getty Images)

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The study compiled a list of 250 books released between June 2012 and June 2024 by publishing companies describing themselves as conservative that made the Publishers Weekly top 25 hardcover nonfiction list for at least one week. 

"It’s bang-your-head-against-the-wall frustrating," former George W. Bush White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer told The Economist. His book "Suppression, Deception, Snobbery and Bias" failed to make the New York Times bestseller list despite large sales.

The New York Times told The Economist, "The political views of authors or their publishers have absolutely no bearing on our rankings and are not a factor in how books are ranked on the lists," adding, "There are a number of organizations with bestseller lists, each with different methodologies, so it is normal to see different rankings on each."

Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer attacked the New York Times for not listing his book under the bestseller list despite high sales. (Broadside Books)

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The study also looked at the effect of "bulk buying" designations on rankings, but concluded "bulk sales do not appear to explain the bias that we observe in our data." They calculated that 53% of books from conservative publishers were marked as possible "bulk buys," compared to only 10% of other books, but even when controlled for bulk buying, rankings for conservative titles were still lower.

The Times keeps its methodology for curating its bestsellers list secret and The Economist argued that a clear and accurate bestseller list would benefit not only the authors but the public as well.

"A more transparent list would also be more useful. If Alex Jones, a controversial far-right conspiracy theorist, was indeed the second-place bestselling author in America—as Bookscan says he was in August 2022, with a title that was omitted from the New York Times list—people should probably know that. His enduring popularity says a lot about the country and its readers, who are not willing to close the book on him," it concluded.

The New York Times insisted that it does not politically discriminate against conservative books. (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)

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A New York Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "We disagree with the Economist’s suggestion that political bias plays a role in the Best Seller Lists." 

The statement continued, "The mission of the Best Seller Lists is to report what books are being purchased most by individual readers across the country while preventing attempts to skew those numbers with bulk purchases. The political views of authors or their publishers have absolutely no bearing on our rankings and are not a factor in calculations. In fact, conservative authors routinely rank on our lists."