# List of 1959 box office number-one films in the United States

This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1959 per Variety's weekly National Boxoffice Survey. The results are based on a sample of 20-25 key cities and therefore, any box office amounts quoted may not be the total that the film grossed nationally in the week.

## Number-one films

| † | This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year. |
| # | Week ending | Film | Notes |
| 1 | January 7, 1959 | The Buccaneer | No survey was published this week, however The Buccaneer was #1 the previous week. |
| 2 | January 14, 1959 | Auntie Mame † | Auntie Mame grossed $380,000 from 19 key cities sampled |
| 3 | January 21, 1959 | Auntie Mame † | Auntie Mame grossed $355,000 from the cities sampled |
| 4 | January 28, 1959 | Some Came Running | |
| 5 | February 4, 1959 | Auntie Mame † | |
| 6 | February 11, 1959 | Auntie Mame † | |
| 7 | February 18, 1959 | Separate Tables | |
| 8 | February 25, 1959 | Sleeping Beauty | |
| 9 | March 4, 1959 | Separate Tables | |
| 10 | March 11, 1959 | Sleeping Beauty | |
| 11 | March 18, 1959 | Sleeping Beauty | |
| 12 | March 25, 1959 | Rio Bravo | |
| 13 | April 1, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | Some Like It Hot reached number one in its second week of release |
| 14 | April 8, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | |
| 15 | April 15, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | |
| 16 | April 22, 1959 | Imitation of Life | Imitation of Life reached number one in its fifth week of release |
| 17 | April 29, 1959 | Imitation of Life | |
| 18 | May 6, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | Some Like It Hot returned to number one in its seventh week of release with a gross of around $280,000 |
| 19 | May 13, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | |
| 20 | May 20, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | |
| 21 | May 27, 1959 | Some Like It Hot | |
| 22 | June 3, 1959 | Pork Chop Hill | |
| 23 | June 10, 1959 | The Young Philadelphians | |
| 24 | June 17, 1959 | Ask Any Girl | Ask Any Girl reached number one in its second week of release |
| 25 | June 24, 1959 | Say One for Me | |
| 26 | July 1, 1959 | The Horse Soldiers | |
| 27 | July 8, 1959 | The Nun's Story | |
| 28 | July 15, 1959 | The Nun's Story | |
| 29 | July 22, 1959 | A Hole in the Head | |
| 30 | July 29, 1959 | The Nun's Story | The Nun's Story grossed more than $300,000 in the cities sampled |
| 31 | August 5, 1959 | Anatomy of a Murder | |
| 32 | August 12, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 33 | August 19, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 34 | August 26, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 35 | September 2, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 36 | September 9, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 37 | September 16, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 38 | September 23, 1959 | North by Northwest | |
| 39 | September 30, 1959 | That Kind of Woman | |
| 40 | October 7, 1959 | But Not for Me | |
| 41 | October 14, 1959 | The FBI Story | |
| 42 | October 21, 1959 | Pillow Talk | Pillow Talk reached number one in its second week of release |
| 43 | October 28, 1959 | Pillow Talk | |
| 44 | November 4, 1959 | Pillow Talk | Pillow Talk grossed more than $275,000 in the key cities sampled |
| 45 | November 11, 1959 | Pillow Talk | |
| 46 | November 18, 1959 | Pillow Talk | |
| 47 | November 25, 1959 | Pillow Talk | |
| 48 | December 2, 1959 | A Summer Place | |
| 49 | December 9, 1959 | A Summer Place | |
| 50 | December 16, 1959 | Pillow Talk | Pillow Talk returned to number one in its tenth week of release |
| 51 | December 23, 1959 | On the Beach | On the Beach grossed over $200,000 from five key cities sampled |
| 52 | December 30, 1959 | Solomon and Sheba | No survey published. But Solomon and Sheba was the December champion based on grosses from its release in the last week of the year. |

## Highest-grossing films

The highest-grossing films during the calendar year based on theatrical rentals were as follows:
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Rental |
| 1 | Auntie Mame | Warner Bros. | $8,800,000 |
| 2 | The Shaggy Dog | Buena Vista | $7,800,000 |
| 3 | Some Like It Hot | United Artists | $7,000,000 |
| 4 | Imitation of Life | Universal Pictures | $6,200,000 |
| 5 | The Nun's Story | Warner Bros. | $6,000,000 |
| 6 | Anatomy of a Murder | Columbia Pictures | $5,250,000 |
| 6 | North by Northwest | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | $5,250,000 |
| 8 | Rio Bravo | Warner Bros. | $5,100,000 |
| 9 | Around the World in 80 Days | United Artists | $4,400,000 |
| 10 | Sleeping Beauty | Buena Vista | $4,300,000 |