This is a major part of how the Times makes their list. from their website about the list methodology quote rankings reflect unit sales reported on a confidential basis by vendors offering a wide range of general interest titles published in the united states every week thousands of diverse selling locations report their actual sales on hundreds of thousands of individual titles the panel of reporting retailers is comprehensive and reflect sales in tens of thousands of stores of all sizes and demographic So, you know, they have, like, some smaller operators.