LIST OF BEST-SELLING BOOKS

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 the book is excluded or 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.

Contents

List of best-selling single-volume books

Notes

List of best-selling book series

Notes

Best-selling authors

Best-selling children's books in the U.S. only (through the end of 2000)

Hardcover

Paperback

Regularly updated lists of best-selling books

See also

Sources

List of best-selling single-volume books

No.	Book	Author(s)	Original language	First published	Approximate sales
1	''Holy Bible'' (actual title); or commonly ''The Bible''[1]	Traditional Judaeo-Christian view: Revelation by God[2] to Moses, David, Joshua, Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, Mordecai, Nathan, Amos, Daniel, Hosea, Asaph the Levite, Korah, Joel, Obadiah, Gad, Haggai, Jonah, Ethan, Herman, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Matthew, Luke, John, Mark, Peter, Paul, James, Jude, Barnabas, Apollos, Silas, Tertius	Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek	~3000 B.C. - ~200 A.D. [3]	5 to 6 Billion
2	毛主席语录 ''Máo-zhǔxí yǔlù'' (''Quotations from Chairman Mao'')	Mao Zedong	Chinese	1966	900 million
3	القرآن ‎(''The Qur'an'')	Traditional Islamic view: Revelation by Allah[4] to Prophet Muhammad (Sallalaho-Allaihi-Wasallam)	Arabic	~610 - ~633	800 million
4	新华字典 (''Xinhua Zidian'') (Xinhua Dictionary)	Chief editor:Wei Jiangong	Chinese	1957	400 million
5	''Book of Common Prayer''	Thomas Cranmer	English	1549 -
6	''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come''	John Bunyan	English	1678 -
7	''Foxe's Book of Martyrs'' or ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, touching Matters of the Church''	John Foxe	English	1563 -
8	''Book of Mormon''	Traditional Mormon view: compilation by Mormon (prophet)[5], revealed to Joseph Smith, Jr.	English	1830 -	120 million
9	''And Then There Were None''	Agatha Christie	English	1939 -	110 million
10	''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (''"...Sorcerer's Stone"'' in US)	J.K. Rowling	English	1997	107 million
11	"The American Spelling Book"	Noah Webster			100 million
12	"Guiness Book of World Records" -				90 Million
11	''The Lord of the Rings''	J. R. R. Tolkien	English	1954/1955 -	100 million
12	''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''	J.K. Rowling	English	2007
13	''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''	J.K. Rowling	English	2005	65 million
14	''The Da Vinci Code''	Dan Brown	English	2003	64 million
15	''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''	J.K. Rowling	English	1998	77 million
16	''The Catcher in the Rye''	J. D. Salinger	English	1951	65 million
17	''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''	J.K. Rowling	English	2003	58 million
18	''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''	J.K. Rowling	English	1999	60 million
19	''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''	J.K. Rowling	English	2000	66 million
20	''Watership Down''	Richard Adams	English	1972	50 million
21	''	Lew Wallace	English	1880	50 million
22	''Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre'' (''Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning'')	Johanna Spyri	German	1880	52 million
23	''The Curse of Capistrano'' (''The Mark of Zorro'')	Johnston McCulley	English	1920	50 million
24	''Le Petit Prince'' (''The Little Prince")	Antoine de Saint-Exupéry	French	1943	50 million
25	''The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care''	Dr. Benjamin Spock	English	1946	50 million
26	''O Alquimista'' (''The Alchemist'')	Paulo Coelho	Portuguese	1988	50 million
27	''How to Win Friends and Influence People''	Dale Carnegie	English	1936	50 million
28	''Charlotte's Web''	E.B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams	English	1952	45 million
29	''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''	Beatrix Potter	English	1902	45 million
30	''Jonathan Livingston Seagull''	Richard Bach	English	1970	40 million
31	''A Message to Garcia''	Elbert Hubbard	English	1899	40 million
32	''Cien Años de Soledad'' (''One Hundred Years of Solitude'')	Gabriel García Márquez	Spanish	1967	36 million
33	''The Late, Great Planet Earth''	Hal Lindsey, C. C. Carlson	English	1970	35 million
34	''Your Erroneous Zones''	Wayne W. Dyer	English	1976	34 million
35	''Westminster Shorter Catechism''	Church of Scotland	English	1647
36	''In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?''	Charles M. Sheldon	English	1896	30 million
37	''Think and Grow Rich''	Napoleon Hill	English	1918	30 million
38	''Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary''	A. S. Hornby	English	1948	30 million
39	''To Kill a Mockingbird''	Harper Lee	English	1960	30 million
40	''Valley of the Dolls''	Jacqueline Susann	English	1966	30 million
41	''The Thorn Birds''	Colleen McCullough	English	1977	30 million
42	''	William J. Bennett	English	1993	30 million
43	''Daily Light on the Daily Path''	Jonathan and Samuel Bagster	English	1875
44	''My Utmost for His Highest''	Oswald Chambers	English	1935
45	''Gone with the Wind''	Margaret Mitchell	English	1936	28 million
46	''Uncle Tom's Cabin''	Harriet Beecher Stowe	English	1852	28 million
47	''Pride and Prejudice''	Jane Austen	English	1813	28 million

Notes

1. 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).
2. The ''Holy Bible'' is controversial regarding authorship. While many claim it to be in fact a "holy book" of divine inspiration, secular critics and some biblical scholars do not accept supernatural guidance or authorship. Secular Biblical scholars usually place a creation date closer to 900 B.C. for the earliest texts. Conservative Biblical scholars place the earliest date around 1400 B.C.
3. Unlike other entries, this refers to the date that various "books" of the Bible were written.
4. The ''Qu'ran'' is controversial regarding authorship. While traditional views claim divine inspiration, secular critics or those of different faith traditions do not accept supernatural guidance or authorship but instead credit Muhammad and others with authorship.
5. The ''Book of Mormon'' is controversial regarding authorship. While traditional views of the religion claim divine inspiration, secular critics or those of different faith traditions do not accept supernatural guidance to its discovery or authorship by ancient prophets, but instead credit Joseph Smith with authorship.
6. [3]


★ 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 100 million is a low estimate of copies of the full story sold, whether published as one volume, three, or some other configuration.[1]

★ "Quotations from Chairman Mao" was made mandatory for all people living in China during Mao Zedong's rule, and the fear of police beating (which often took place, as all people were required to carry a copy at all times) only compounded the issue.

List of best-selling book series

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	1977 — Present	750 million
3	''Harry Potter''	J. K. Rowling	English	7	1997 — 2007	at least 512 million (According to list above)
4	''The New Park Street Pulpit'' and ''The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit'' ''Penny Sermons''	Charles Haddon Spurgeon	English	3,561	1854 — Present	over 300 million
5	''Goosebumps''	R. L. Stine	English	62	1992 — 1998	300 million
6	''Choose Your Own Adventure''	various authors	English	185	1979 — 1998	250 million
7	''Noddy''	Enid Blyton	English	24	1949 -	200 million
8	''Nancy Drew''	Carolyn Keene	English	175	1930 — Present	200 million
9	''Peter Rabbit''	Beatrix Potter	English	6	1902 - 1930	150 million
10	''Dirk Pitt''	Clive Cussler	English	19	1973 — Present	120 million
11	宮本武蔵 (''Musashi'')	Eiji Yoshikawa	Japanese	7	1935 - 1939	120 million
12	''Clifford the Big Red Dog''	Norman Bridwell	English		1963 — Present	110 million
13	''Chicken Soup for the Soul''	Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen	English	over 105	1997 — Present	100 million
14	''Mr. Men''	Roger Hargreaves, Adam Hargreaves	English	43	1971 — Present	100 million
15	''Guinness World Records'' (published every year)	various authors	English	52	1955 — Present	100 million
16	''The Chronicles of Narnia''	C. S. Lewis	English	7	1949 - 1954	100 million
17	''American Spelling Book'' (Webster's Dictionary)	Noah Webster	English		1783	100 million
18	''The Railway Series'' (''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'')	W.V. Awdry,Christopher Awdry	English		1945 - 1996	90 million
19	''Nijntje'' (''Miffy'')	Dick Bruna	Dutch		1955 — Present	85 million
20	''Gospel Hymn Series''	Ira D. Sankey	English		1875 — 1891	over 80 million
21	''World Almanac'' (published every year)	various authors	English	121	1868 — Present	80 million
22	六星占術によるあなたの運命 (''Rokusei Senjutsu(Six-Star Astrology) Tells Your Fortune'')	Kazuko Hosoki	Japanese	146	1986 — Present	over 70 million
23	''Winnie-the-Pooh''	A. A. Milne; illustrated by E. H. Shepard	English	4	1926 - 1928	70 million
24	''Left Behind''	Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins	English	16	1996 — Present	63 million
25	''Star Trek''	various authors	English		1966 — Present	60 million
26	''The McGuffey Readers''	William Holmes McGuffey	English		1853	60 million
27	''Dragonlance''	various authors	English	over 150	1984 — Present	50 million
28	アンパンマン (''Anpanman'')	Takashi Yanase	Japanese	over 678	1970 — Present	50 million
29	''Angélique''	Anne Golon (Sergeanne Golon)	French	15	1956 - 1985	50 million
30	Sherlock Holmes	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle	English	9

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

★ William Shakespeare's collective works have been conservatively estimated at having sold 4 billion copies.

★ 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].

★ 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 (in the US and UK alone).

Best-selling children's books in the U.S. only (through the end of 2000)

According to Publishers Weekly, 2001 ^[6]

Hardcover

No.	Book	Author	First published
1	''The Poky 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

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	1960
7	''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''	J.K. Rowling	1997
8	''Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret''	Judy Blume	1972
9	''Shane''	Jack Schaefer	1949
10	''The Indian in the Cupboard''	Sean Brennan	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.

★ Top 10 bestsellers in all categories, updated daily. Lists of main literary award winners.

See also

★ Lists of books

★ Literature

★ Novel

★ List of bestselling novels in the United States

★ 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written

Sources

# The Internet Public Library
# Ask Men's top ten bestseller list
# How 'Harry Potter' and 'The Rings' measure up
# managerSeminare