The number of nominations presented here are the total number of nominations that particular year – not the number of suggested individuals, nor the number of approved nominations the particular Nobel Laureate received that year.
All information concerning the nominations and selections of the Nobel Laureates is kept secret for 50 years, that’s why we have only published information about the first 50 Nobel Prizes in Literature so far.
| Year Nobel Prize was awarded | Nobel Laureates | Nomination year | Total number of nominees this year (not only to that particular Nobel Laureate) |
| 1901 | Sully Prudhomme | 1901 | 25 |
| 1902 | Theodor Mommsen | 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson | 1902, 1903 | 25 |
| 1904 | Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray |
Mistral: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904 Echegaray: 1902, 1903, 1904 |
21 |
| 1905 | Henryk Sienkiewicz | 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905 | 15 |
| 1906 | Giosuè Carducci | 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906 | 20 |
| 1907 | Rudyard Kipling | 1903, 1905, 1907 | 21 |
| 1908 | Rudolf Eucken | 1908 | 16 |
| 1909 | Selma Lagerlöf | 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909 | 21 |
| 1910 | Paul Heyse | 1910 | 25 |
| 1911 | Maurice Maeterlinck | 1903, 1904, 1909, 1910, 1911 | 24 |
| 1912 | Gerhart Hauptmann | 1902, 1906, 1912 | 31 |
| 1913 | Rabindranath Tagore | 1913 | 28 |
| 1914 | The prize for 1914 was reserved | – | 24 |
| 1915 | Romain Rolland | 1915, 1916 (*) * Awarded with the previous year’s reserved Prize. |
22 1 |
| 1916 | Verner von Heidenstam | 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916 | 29 2 |
| 1917 | Karl Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan | Gjellerup: 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 Pontoppidan: 1913, 1916, 1917 |
19 |
| 1918 | The prize for 1918 was reserved | – | 16 |
| 1919 | Carl Spitteler | 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920 (*) * Awarded with the previous years reserved Prize. |
12 |
| 1920 | Knut Hamsun | 1918, 1920 | 16 |
| 1921 | Anatole France | 1904, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1921 | 18 |
| 1922 | Jacinto Benavente | 1921, 1922 | 22 2 |
| 1923 | William Butler Yeats | 1902, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923 | 20 |
| 1924 | Wladyslaw Reymont | 1919, 1920, 1922, 1924 | 18 |
| 1925 | George Bernard Shaw | 1911, 1912, 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926 (*) * Awarded with the previous years reserved Prize. |
21 |
| 1926 | Grazia Deledda | 1913, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927 (*) * Awarded with the previous years reserved Prize. |
29 |
| 1927 | Henri Bergson | 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1921, 19283 | 23 |
| 1928 | Sigrid Undset | 1922, 1925, 1926, 1928 | 36 |
| 1929 | Thomas Mann | 1924, 1928, 1929, 19483 | 24 |
| 1930 | Sinclair Lewis | 1930 | 29 |
| 1931 | Erik Axel Karlfeldt | 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1929, 1931 | 30 |
| 1932 | John Galsworthy | 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1931, 1932 | 31 |
| 1933 | Ivan Bunin | 1923, 1931, 1932, 1933 | 29 |
| 1934 | Luigi Pirandello | 1934 | 28 |
| 1935 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section | – | 37 |
| 1936 | Eugene O’Neill | 1934, 1935, 1936 | 28 |
| 1937 | Roger Martin du Gard | 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937 | 37 |
| 1938 | Pearl Buck | 1938 | 29 |
| 1939 | Frans Eemil Sillanpää | 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938 | 33 |
| 1940 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section | – | 19 |
| 1941 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section | – | 15 |
| 1942 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section | – | 16 |
| 1943 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section | – | 20 |
| 1944 | Johannes V. Jensen | 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 | 21 |
| 1945 | Gabriela Mistral | 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945 | 22 |
| 1946 | Hermann Hesse | 1931, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1946 | 22 |
| 1947 | André Gide | 1946, 1947 | 35 |
| 1948 | T.S. Eliot | 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 | 31 |
| 1949 | William Faulkner | 1950 (*) * Awarded with the previous years reserved Prize. ) |
35 |
| 1950 | Bertrand Russell | 1950 | 54 |
1. Of which 11 were added by the committee due to bad/low supply of nominations
2. Of which 6 were added by the committee due to bad/low supply of nomination
3. Nominated for a second Nobel Prize in Literature
Reference: Nobelpriset i litteratur, Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901-1950 utgivna av Bo Svensén. Svenska akademien, Stockholm 2001