Claim: Dinesh D’Souza blacklisted from New York Times bestseller list

The Washington Examiner published an article Friday alleging that the New York Times is intentionally excluding conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza’s "America" from their hardcover nonfiction bestseller list.

According to sales reports provided to the Examiner, D’Souza’s "America":

"sold 4,915 [copies] in the first week and 5,592 in the second week. Had it been included on the upcoming June 22 Times hardcover nonfiction list, it would have ranked No. 8, and then No. 11 on the June 29 list that puts Clinton's sales at 85,721. The lists are widely circulated in the publishing industry before they go public."

The Examiner also notes that the June 22 bestseller list includes several books selling well under 3,000 copies in a week.

The sales figures for D’Souza’s "America" are consistent with publishing industry data reviewed by TheBlaze, indicating that the book would likely at least make the top 20 titles on the Times' list.

For a proxy of the Times' figures, which are based on sales from "independent book retailers; national, regional and local chains; online and multimedia entertainment retailers; supermarkets, university, gift and discount department stores; and newsstands," we looked at how "America" was faring on Amazon.

As of the time of publication of this article, "America" was ranked higher than three of the top 10 titles on the New York Times' bestseller list, as well as two other notable political titles that made the Times' top 25 nonfiction bestsellers: Elizabeth Warren’s "A Fighting Chance," and Timothy Geithner’s "Stress Test."

Current New York Times and Amazon rankings for all books on the New York Times bestseller list as of its July 22nd print. (Data Source: Amazon and New York Times)

A spokeswoman for the Times stated: "We let the rankings speak for themselves and are confident they are accurate."

D’Souza told the Examiner: "It’s their newspaper and they have a right to rig their list anyway they want, but if they are doing it, people should know."

You can read more about D’Souza’s "America" here, and be sure to check out our explosive interview (audio, text) and top quotes from the book as well.

(H/T: Washington Examiner)