This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1959 per Varietys 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.
| Week ending | Film | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N/A | No survey published | ||
| 2 | Auntie Mame | Auntie Mame grossed $380,000 from 19 key cities sampled | [1] | |
| 3 | Auntie Mame grossed $355,000 from the cities sampled | [2] | ||
| 4 | Some Came Running | [3] | ||
| 5 | Auntie Mame | [4] | ||
| 6 | [5] | |||
| 7 | Separate Tables | [6] | ||
| 8 | Sleeping Beauty | [7] | ||
| 9 | Separate Tables | [8] | ||
| 10 | Sleeping Beauty | [9] | ||
| 11 | [10] | |||
| 12 | Rio Bravo | [11] | ||
| 13 | Some Like It Hot | Some Like It Hot reached number one in its second week of release | [12] | |
| 14 | [13] | |||
| 15 | [14] | |||
| 16 | Imitation of Life | Imitation of Life reached number one in its fifth week of release | [15] | |
| 17 | [16] | |||
| 18 | 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 | [17] | |
| 19 | [18] | |||
| 20 | [19] | |||
| 21 | [20] | |||
| 22 | Pork Chop Hill | [21] | ||
| 23 | The Young Philadelphians | [22] | ||
| 24 | Ask Any Girl | Ask Any Girl reached number one in its second week of release | [23] | |
| 25 | Say One for Me | [24] | ||
| 26 | The Horse Soldiers | [25] | ||
| 27 | The Nun's Story | [26] | ||
| 28 | ||||
| 29 | A Hole in the Head | [27] | ||
| 30 | The Nun's Story | The Nun's Story grossed more than $300,000 in the cities sampled | [28] | |
| 31 | Anatomy of a Murder | [29] | ||
| 32 | North by Northwest | [30] | ||
| 33 | [31] | |||
| 34 | [32] | |||
| 35 | [33] | |||
| 36 | [34] | |||
| 37 | [35] | |||
| 38 | [36] | |||
| 39 | That Kind of Woman | [37] | ||
| 40 | But Not for Me | [38] | ||
| 41 | The FBI Story | [39] | ||
| 42 | Pillow Talk | Pillow Talk reached number one in its second week of release | [40] | |
| 43 | [41] | |||
| 44 | Pillow Talk grossed more than $275,000 in the key cities sampled | [42] | ||
| 45 | [43] | |||
| 46 | [44] | |||
| 47 | [45] | |||
| 48 | A Summer Place | [46] | ||
| 49 | [47] | |||
| 50 | Pillow Talk | Pillow Talk returned to number one in its tenth week of release | [48] | |
| 51 | On the Beach | On the Beach grossed over $200,000 from five key cities sampled | [49] | |
| 52 | N/A | No survey published. Solomon and Sheba was the December champion based on grosses from its release in the last week of the year | [50] | |
The highest-grossing films during the calendar year based on theatrical rentals were as follows:
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Rental[51] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| North by Northwest | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| 8 | Rio Bravo | Warner Bros. | $5,100,000 |
| 9 | Around the World in 80 Days | United Artists | $4,400,000[52] [53] |
| 10 | Sleeping Beauty | Buena Vista | $4,300,000 |