If you only have time to read one or two books, i recommend looking at the top novels section below. The 30 biggest selling books of all time might surprise. This page provides lists of bestselling individual books and book series to date and in any language. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold of all fiction books written or cowritten by an author.
Jul, 2017 the fifty shades trilogy just topped 10 million copies sold in the u. At one time mein kampf was the number one produced book in germany. The husbands secretthe husbands secret liane moriarty liane moriarty. The top 100 books of all time and of the last year is out. Oct 10, 2016 sure, the bestselling book of alltime is, of course, the bible.
It was adapted for a film starring gillian anderson and david arquette. The first novel in the series, harry potter and the sorcerers stone, has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books of all time. Sold originally published in 2006 was a national book award finalist, a quill award winner, and an american library association top ten best book for young adults. List of bestselling books of all time that sold more than 10m copies by gender. Read about the most popular books in history at howstuffworks. Best selling books are ranked by number of copies sold, not my personal ratings. And then it is only a vague guess, probably inflated by the xtains. The rubiks cube is an iconic product from the 1980s rubiks cube fever swept the world then, and it hasnt stopped since. A tale of two cities charles dickens 200 million copies sold dickens may demand a lot of concentration but this story set in the gray slate streets of london and the violent streets of paris truly has everything of a great story stashed between its pages. Take a look at few of the bestselling books of all time and see how many you have read. Quotations from chairman mao authored by mao zedong book sales. The second and third books, fifty shades darker and fifty. Mar 24, 2020 the most startling result is that even going out to the top 20, we still fell just shy of the topselling individual book by dr. What does that mean anyway if it was produced in the biggest number.
To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source and the album must have sold at least 20 million copies. The 30 biggest selling books of all time might surprise you. The bible has sold billions of copies and is the best selling book of all time. Since religious and political books, such as the holy bible, are often given away for free, they have not been included on this list. Here are the 10 bestselling books of all time information news. Several reputable list makers, including amazon, say that the two best selling books are the bible and as quotations from chairman mao tse tung. It is the oldest book on this list, so its had a long time to accrue sales. Hebrew, greek, aramaic many copies of the holy bible have been freely given away during missionary work. Jan 18, 2015 now, lets take a look at the bestselling book series of all time where, not surprisingly, j.
The books phenomenal popularity may be because it was essentially an unofficial requirement for every chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times during the latter half of maos rule, especially during. Dec 12, 20 i tallied all the scores for each book and weighted it by how many times the book appeared on the six lists. Amazons list of top 20 bestselling books of all time reveals what they are reading most. If we were to add together sales of the lord of the rings and the hobbit, arguably a series, they would fit in right around the middle, with 250 million books sold.
What are the three bestselling books of all time in the. This book is the story of a pilot who finds himself isolated in a desert and encounters a prince who happened. Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the bible is the worlds bestselling and most widely distributed book. Just last week i was looking for a new book, so naturally i headed over to amazon to take a look at the best seller list. African american literature book club celebrating our literary legacy since 1997 black literature is for everyone african american literature book club. Similarly, many notable book series that sold very widely are poorly documented or consist of multiple subseries. A tale of two cities by charles dickens, the lord of the rings by j. While the novel enjoys surges in popularity now and then, especially in spain, the sales number is a guess.
Sep 22, 2006 to make the bible the most printed book you have to add up all its flavors. Authors of comic books are not included unless they have been published in book format. There are 150 books on the wikipedia bestselling list. There is, of course, no way to tally sales from the 1600s, so although some sources suggest that this has sold 500 million copies, theres no way anyone could. The 30 biggest selling books of all time might surprise you the bible is widely believed to be the bestselling book of alltime but it has in. I tallied all the scores for each book and weighted it by how many times the book appeared on the six lists. Some phenomenal book usually covered on the media recently is not even in the top 20 best selling all the time. Also, it is worth noting that some religious and political books such as the bible, quran, and quotations from chairman mao are believed to. The all time best books on sales the ultimate curated list.
Aug 09, 2017 list of bestselling books of all time that sold more than 10m copies by country. Scholars can debate endlessly over which book is the best of all time, but finding out which ones have enjoyed the most commercial success should be a more concrete endeavor. Nov 14, 2017 in honor of the kindles 10year anniversary, amazon released new data from amazon charts, sharing some of the most popular kindle books of all time, based on kindle sales in both fiction and. Numbers of books sold is a good thermometer to guide book readers. Now, lets take a look at the bestselling book series of all time where, not surprisingly, j. The book has remained in the top slot in the uk bestseller lists for the 16th week running. There is, of course, no way to tally sales from the 1600s, so although some sources suggest that this has sold 500 million copies, theres no way anyone could know for certain. Fifty shades is uks bestselling book of all time the. The book thief anniversary editionthe book thief anniversary edition markus zusak markus zusak. This created a comprehensive score to determine the consolidated top 10. See how it compares with the most popular book series ever. The lovereading blog has catalogued a list of the best selling books of all time and some are bound to surprise you. Aug 07, 2012 e l james fifty shades of grey has sold more than 5.
If you total up sales of all seven books in the series, j. The quran took out top spot having sold more than three billion copies while the bible came in second, with over 2. List of bestselling books of all time that sold more than. Outlander, 20th anniversary collectors editionoutlander, 20th anniversary collectors edition diana gabaldon diana gabaldon.
Further down the page, youll find more great novels. As of june 2017, the series has been translated into 80. The bible is easily one of the bestselling books of all time, but exact sales numbers are hard to nail down. Jul 21, 2015 the first book in rowlings fantasy series was published in 1997 and has sold more than 107 million copies to date.
A list of the best selling books of all time, fiction and nonfiction best sellers. It will be more disappointing than surprising to most christians to know there are no fewer than three works of erotic fiction in the top 20 list and it will be no surprise at all to discover they all belong to that now famous series, fifty shades. I feel that goodreads should sponsor its own list of best selling books of all time. Bestselling books are ranked by number of copies sold, not my personal ratings. All time is not that long a timeframe when it comes to books in german. List of bestselling books of all time that sold more than 10m. An incredible 350 million individual rubiks cubes have been sold over the last 35 years, making it the bestselling single toy of all time. It is also the most widely and given some of the liberties taken, wildly translated book of all time, too. This is a list of the worlds bestselling albums of recorded music. Printed books as we know them and the language called german have only been around for about 500 years, give or take a century. Even as we progress into 2015 and with alternative home entertainment platforms springing up by the day, dvds still remain one of the preferred platforms. The 21 bestselling books of all time howstuffworks.
Having sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, harry potter by j. Sure, the bestselling book of alltime is, of course, the bible. As more people seek education, the demand for knowledge increases and authors are striving to fulfill the demand. Have i talked about ya being built on the backs of women before.
Even as we progress into 2015 and with alternative home entertainment platforms springing up by the day, dvds still. The 20 bestselling books of all time updated 2020 wealthy. The first book in rowlings fantasy series was published in 1997 and has sold more than 107 million copies to date. The second bestselling book of all time crisis magazine. Book one of the fifty shades trilogy fifty shades of grey.
Platinum record for michael jackson s thriller 1982, the bestselling album of all time. The best selling young adult books of all time book riot. To keep the list manageable, only authors with estimated sales of at least 100 million are included. These top selling books span multiple centuries, covering many genres and original. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold. Weve put together this list of the top 20 most sold books worldwide, with the number of copies theyve sold. The most startling result is that even going out to the top 20, we still fell just shy of the topselling individual book by dr. Amazons most sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and preordered through, amazon books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs once a customer has read a certain percentage roughly the length of a free reading sample. Thousands of books are written, published and distributed every day. Is fifty shades of grey really the uks bestselling book. This page includes a list of the 25 bestselling books of alltime as well as the 25 best selling book series of all time. Get to know which book has sold how many copies worldwide.
For example, some might list the top selling novels of all time, or include all types of writing as a book. See how it compares to the top 100 bestsellers of all time. Best selling books in the world top ten at bookseller world. Jul 20, 2016 the 30 biggest selling books of all time might surprise you the bible is widely believed to be the bestselling book of all time but it has in fact been pitted for first place. It shows dan browns da vinci code is the big seller of the last decade, followed closely by jk rowlings harry potter novels. May 14, 2017 amazons most sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and preordered through, amazon books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs once a customer has read a certain percentage roughly the length of a free reading sample. Listing the top selling books of all times is a bit challenging. This page includes a list of the 25 bestselling books of alltime as well as the 25 bestselling book series of alltime. Think and grow rich is a motivational and personal development book composed by napoleon hill in 1937 during the great economic depression and before the world war ii. The fifty shades trilogy just topped 10 million copies sold in the u.
The following list shows hard copy sales figures from a slew of sources. The top 20 bestselling books of all time on amazon. With all those caveats in mind and not including ebook sales, here are the 21 bestselling books of all time, as far as we can tell. Best selling books of all time 100 books goodreads.
Just to remind some of the commentators, this is number of books sold in all time according to sources of wikipedia. E l james fifty shades of grey has sold more than 5. To make the bible the most printed book you have to add up all its flavors. List of bestselling books of all time that sold more than 10m copies by country. Aug 08, 2015 if you thought the harry potter madness of the early noughties was bad turns out, it still doesnt have a peg on the most popular book of all time. The most bestselling harry potter which is harry potter and the deathly hallows the final series only achieve sales figures about 44 million copies, meanwhile twilight first book as the best selling twilight series.
A survey by the bible society concluded that around 2. We can just look at the sales numbers and rank them. For the record, the excluded books have sold an estimated hundreds of millions of copies each several billion, in the bibles case and would have taken most of the top positions on the list. It is one of the top selling books of all time and is inspired by the meaningful life of the most successful scottishamerican businessman andrew carnegie.