List of best-selling books

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This page provides a list of best-selling books of all time and in any language. For some books, accurate accounting has proven impossible, so instead an educated guess by an expert is provided. "Best-selling" refers to the estimated number of copies sold of each book, rather than the number of books printed or currently owned. This list only includes printed books by default, as only machine-printed monographs have been available in sufficient copies as to accumulate sales in the millions.

Contents

[edit] List of Best-Selling Books

No. Book Author Original language First published Approximate sales
1 The Bible Israelite oral tradition, The Prophets,
David, Jewish court scribes,
Four Evangelists, Saint Paul,
some of the Apostles, and others		 Hebrew, Aramaic, Koine Greek ~3000 B.C. - ~100 A.D. ~5 to 6 billion
2 Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong Mao Zedong Chinese 1966 900 million
3 Xinhua Zidian - Chinese 1957 400 million
4 The Qur'an Muhammad and companions Arabic ~610 - ~633 ~200 million
5 Book of Common Prayer Thomas Cranmer English 1549 -
6 Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan English 1678 -
7 Foxe's Book of Martyrs John Foxe English 1563 -
8 Book of Mormon Joseph Smith, Jr. English 1830 - 120 million
9 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ("...Sorcerer's Stone" in US) J.K. Rowling English 1997 107 million
10 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie English 1939 - 100 million
11 The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien English 1954 - 1955 100 million (usually published as three volumes)
12 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling English 2005 65 million
13 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown English 2003 65 million
14 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling English 1998 60 million
15 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger English 1951 60 million
16 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling English 2003 55 million
17 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling English 1999 55 million
18 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling English 2000 55 million
19 Watership Down Richard Adams English 1972 50 million
20 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Lew Wallace English 1880 50 million
21 Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre (Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning) Johanna Spyri German 1880 50 million
22 The Curse of Capistrano (The Mark of Zorro) Johnston McCulley English 1920 50 million
23 Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince") Antoine de Saint-Exupéry French 1943 50 million
24 The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care Dr. Benjamin Spock English 1946 50 million
25 O Alquimista (The Alchemist) Paulo Coelho Portuguese 1988 50 million
26 Charlotte's Web E.B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams English 1952 45 million
27 The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter English 1902 45 million
28 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach English 1970 40 million
29 A Message to Garcia Elbert Hubbard English 1899 40 million
30 Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) Gabriel García Márquez Spanish 1967 36 million
31 The Late, Great Planet Earth Hal Lindsey, C. C. Carlson English 1970 35 million
32 Your Erroneous Zones Wayne W. Dyer English 1976 34 million
33 Westminster Shorter Catechism Church of Scotland English 1647
34 In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? Charles M. Sheldon English 1896 30 million
35 Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill English 1918 30 million
36 Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary A. S. Hornby English 1948 30 million
37 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee English 1960 30 million
38 Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann English 1966 30 million
39 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough English 1977 30 million
40 The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories William J. Bennett English 1993 30 million
41 Daily Light on the Daily Path Jonathan and Samuel Bagster English 1875
42 My Utmost for His Highest Oswald Chambers English 1935
43 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell English 1936 28 million
44 Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe English 1852 28 million

[edit] Note

  • The Qu'ran, the Book of Mormon, and the Bible are considered to have been divinely authored or inspired by the respective religious traditions who venerate them. They thus also consider God/Allah or one of his agents to have been the author, at least in part.
  • This list was originally compiled in 1997, and has been updated using the sources shown, and others, including the articles on each title. The Qur'an has been copied or printed since the 7th century CE and the number of copies presumably numbers hundreds of millions. The figure of six billion Bibles is also an estimate.
  • The Lord of the Rings is considered by most people to be a single book, because it was written and planned by the author to be such. Some people consider it to instead be a trilogy or series of three books, because it was originally published as a series of three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. This move by the publishing house was due largely to post-war paper shortages as well as to minimize the price of the first volume to aid sales. In subsequent printings the book has sometimes appeared as a single volume, and in at least one case was split into seven. The figure of 100 million is an estimate of copies of the full story sold, whether published as one volume, three, or some other configuration.[1]
  • And Then There Were None is noted as the best-selling mystery novel of all time and is the most successful of all the Agatha Christie Novels

[edit] List of Best-Selling Series of Books

No. Book Author Original language No. of installments First published Approximate sales
1 Perry Rhodan various authors German over 2,350 1961 — Present 1 billion
2 Star Wars various authors English over 200 written 1976 — Present ~750 million
3 Harry Potter J. K. Rowling English 6 1997 — 2007 (time)|Present]] 397 million
4 C. H. Spurgeon's Sermons (weekly) Charles Haddon Spurgeon English 1854 — Present over 300 million
5 Goosebumps R. L. Stine English 62 1992 — Present 300 million
6 Noddy Enid Blyton English 24 1949 - 200 million
7 Nancy Drew Carolyn Keene English 175 1930 — Present 200 million
8 Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter English 6 1902 - 1930 150 million
9 Dirk Pitt Clive Cussler English 19 1973 — Present 120 million
10 Musashi Eiji Yoshikawa Japanese 7 1935 - 1939 120 million
11 Clifford the Big Red Dog Norman Bridwell English 1963 — Present 110 million
12 Chicken Soup for the Soul Mark Victor Hansen English 1997 — Present 100 million
13 Mr. Men Roger Hargreaves, Adam Hargreaves English 43 1971 — Present 100 million
14 Guinness World Records (published every year) various authors English 52 1955 — Present 100 million
15 The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis English 7 1949 - 1954 100 million
16 American Spelling Book (Webster's Dictionary) Noah Webster English 1783 100 million
17 The Railway Series (Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends) W.V. Awdry, Christopher Awdry English 1945 - 1996 90 million
18 Nijntje (Miffy) Dick Bruna Dutch 1955 — Present 85 million
19 Gospel Hymn Series Ira D. Sankey English 1875 — 1891 over 80 million
20 World Almanac (published every year) various authors English 1868 — Present 80 million
21 Winnie-the-Pooh A. A. Milne; illustrated by E. H. Shepard English 1926 - 1928 70 million
22 Left Behind Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins English 1996 — Present 63 million
23 Star Trek various authors English 1966 — Present 60 million
24 The McGuffey Readers William Holmes McGuffey English 1853 60 million
25 Dragonlance various authors English 1984 — Present 50 million
26 Anpanman Takashi Yanase Japanese 1970 — Present 50 million
27 Angélique Anne Golon (Sergeanne Golon) French 1956 - 1985 50 million

[edit] Note

There are great differences between the number of the books published in each series. For example, although the Perry Rhodan series and the Star Wars series have each sold more books than the Harry Potter series or The Chronicles of Narnia, they also have had more individual books published in their series. The Perry Rhodan series has released over 2,350 books and the Star Wars series has released over two hundred, but the Harry Potter series has only six released installments and The Chronicles of Narnia seven. Thus, the Harry Potter series has over 60 million copies sold for every book, while the Perry Rhodan series has sold less than half a million per book, and the Star Wars series has sold just over three million per book.

[edit] Best-Selling Authors

  • Agatha Christie: it is estimated that one billion copies of her novels have been sold in English, and another billion in 103 other languages. [2].
  • Danielle Steel has sold more than 550 million copies of her novels.
  • Enid Blyton's books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and been translated into at least 90 languages. More than 300 of her titles are still in print and her books continue to sell in 2 million copies every year. The Noddy books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, making Noddy one of the most beloved and popular fictional characters ever.
  • Richard Scarry children's books (especially the Busytown series) have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.
  • J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series have sold an estimated 397 million copies combined in just 9 years, which would make them the fourth best-selling book if considered a single tome. It is the best-selling and most popular book series in history and there is also one more book still to be released in the series, which would further increase the total sales. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince holds the record for the fastest selling book, selling over 9 million copies in 24 hours.

[edit] Best-Selling Children's Books in the USA only (through the end of 2000)

[edit] Hardcover

No. Book Author First published
1 The Pokey Little Puppy Janette Sebring Lowrey 1942
2 The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter 1902
3 Tootle Gertrude Crampton 1945
4 Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss 1960
5 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling 2000
6 Pat the Bunny Dorothy Kunhardt 1940
7 Saggy Baggy Elephant Kathryn and Byron Jackson 1947
8 Scuffy the Tugboat Gertrude Crampton 1955
9 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957
10 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling 1999

[edit] Paperback

No. Book Author First published
1 Charlotte's Web E.B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams 1952
2 The Outsiders S.E. Hinton 1968
3 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume 1976
4 Love You Forever Robert Munsch; illustrated by Sheila McGraw 1986
5 Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls 1973
6 Island of the Blue Dolphins Scott O'Dell 1971
7 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J.K. Rowling 1999
8 Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1972
9 Shane Jack Schaefer 1972
10 The Indian in the Cupboard Lynne Reid Banks 1982

Reference: Publishers Weekly, 2001 [3]

[edit] Regularly updated lists of best-selling books

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

  1. [4]
  2. The Internet Public Library
  3. Russell Ash's bestseller list from 2002 (Russell Ash)
  4. Ask Men's top ten bestseller list
  5. How 'Harry Potter' and 'The Rings' measure up
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