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This page provides lists of best-selling single-volume books, book series, authors, and children's 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.
NOTE: This list may omit certain titles while research is underway; the rankings should used with caution. See the talk page for more information.
List of best-selling single-volume books
Notes
- The Bible listed here refers to all the various versions made throughout time. Additionally, many of them are given away freely (for example, during missionary work).
- Unlike other entries, this refers to the date that various "books" of the Bible were written.
- 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 billions. 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 300 million is an estimate of copies of the full story sold, whether published as one volume, three, or some other configuration.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first book on the list originally printed in English that is not religious.
List of best-selling book series
Notes
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 and The Chronicles of Narnia series have only seven each. Thus, the Harry Potter series has over 70 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.
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. .
- Jin Yong: The pen name of Chinese author Louis Cha, has sold one billion copies.
- 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 469 million copies combined in just 10 years. It is the third best-selling book series in history. There is one more book that was recently released in the series, at 12.01am on 21 July 2007, which will further increase the total sales. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows holds the record for the fastest selling book, selling over 11 million copies in 24 hours.
Best-selling children's books in the U.S. only (through the end of 2000)
According to Publishers Weekly, 2001
Hardcover
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 | 1949 |
| 10 | The Indian in the Cupboard | Lynne Reid Banks | 1982 |
Regularly updated lists of best-selling books
- Current best-selling books (New York Times)
- NovelTracker - best-selling thrillers, updated hourly. Also offers charts with historical sales data.
See also
Sources
- The Internet Public Library
- Ask Men's top ten bestseller list
- How 'Harry Potter' and 'The Rings' measure up
- managerSeminare