We started at 1918, bringing you the bestselling books of the last one hundred years. We’re into a new decade and today we’re bringing you the bestselling books of 1981!
1981 brought the world lots of firsts! The word Internet was mentioned for the first time, and the year Microsoft launched MS-DOS as they launched the first IBM PC. In world news the AIDS virus was identified for the first time, the Iran hostage crisis came to a close, and the first flight of Space Shuttle Columbia took place. In the UK there was plenty of news as the Yorkshire Ripper was caught, Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, and the nationalisation of industries began.
Among all that, there were plenty of books published and read too, and today we’re featuring the bestselling novels of 1981, and some that didn’t make the list but have stood the test of time.
1981 also saw the release of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children.
We’ll continue this series right through to 2018, keep an eye out for 1982, coming soon!
If you’d like to see all the lists so far, try this search