Michelle obamas becoming sold 2 million copies in its first 15 days, according to her publishers, penguin random house. A denn is a prison, and bunyan wrote most of the book in bedford county gaol, having been arrested for his beliefs during the great persecution of 16601690. Having sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, harry potter by j. Writer james chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of copies each book sold over the last 50 years he found. Owenss debut was one of the biggestselling novels in recent years and easily topped one million copies sold in the year, a rare occurrence for the print edition of an adult fiction book. Here are the 10 bestselling books of all time information news. To keep the list manageable, only authors with estimated sales of at least 100 million are included. Similarly, many notable book series that sold very widely are poorly documented land of oz or consist of multiple subseries tom swift. The book that is most underrated well, collins complete diy manual is not exactly underrated, because it has sold more than 3m copies since it came out in 1986. The 20 bestselling books of all time updated 2020 wealthy. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold of each book.
Books that have sold over 50 million copies stacker. With all those caveats in mind and not including e book sales, here are the 21 bestselling books. The publisher is appleton of new york and the publication date is 1866. Note the caveat at the top about excluding certain books the bible, the quran, maos book. The barefoot investor was australias bestselling book in. Its also sold a little over 440,000 more than michael wolffs fire and fury. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold of all fiction books written or co. The 21 bestselling books of all time howstuffworks. Jul 05, 2019 in 2018, it was announced that 500 million copies of the entire harry potter series had been sold. May 25, 2018 thousands of books are written, published and distributed every day. Coming in at number one, green eggs and ham has sold well over 8,100,000 copies, with 8,143,088 copies sold as of 2001.
Officially, 740 million copies were published between 1966 and 1968, and reportedly almost every citizen owned a copy. If you have more than one book in your bibliography, the sales info tab defaults to an all books view, which displays the total number of copies of your entire bibliography sold. These are the 12 most popular books of all time indy100. The most popular novel on this list was spanish novel don quixote which came in at fourth place with 500m copies sold, followed by j. Discover all statistics and data on e books now on. We usually focus on which books do well, or what the top books of the year were, but we never really consider which genre is the one bringing in the bucks.
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. Is selfpublishing a good way to attract a traditional publishers attention. How many copies does a bestseller book need to sell. One of the most sobering factors that impacts book sales is the sheer number of books released each year over 2 million new titles were released worldwide last year verses how many books people actually read each year. These top selling books of all time span multiple centuries, covering many genres like horror and. This debut book by ernest cline was released in 2011 and soon became a worldwide publishing phenomenon. Thats a long way from 1997, when the series started with a reported 500copy first print run for. Sep 07, 2010 the huffington post article actually named 16 books that have sold the most copies worldwide, noting that the bible is the top seller in the world. With all those caveats in mind and not including e book sales, here are the 21 bestselling books of all time, as far as we can tell. Most popular books of all time the koran three billion copies sold. With that aside, the books that have sold more than 100 million copies are, in descending order, don quixote, a tale of two cities, the lord of the rings, harry. From fiction to cookbooks, see what else made the cut. See the 20 bestselling books of 2019 oprah magazine. Obama, carter, clintons top the daily beasts list of bestselling politiciansturnedauthors.
Owenss book has sold over 907,000 copies in 2019 and more than 1. This authors sold 10,000 copies of hisher book prior to being contacted by a traditional publisher. This copy that sold via abebooks was one of the first thousand copies printed for the american market. Is fifty shades of grey really the uks bestselling book. Former first lady michelle obama tops the 2018 list of bestselling books with her debut memoir, becoming. I have before, but its time to do it again, because ive been watching a great crop of hungry and talented debut novelists throwing themselves out of the nest recently, and its on my mind. On average, this means one in fifteen people in the world owns a harry potter book. The most popular book of all time is the koran, not jk. He has sold about 750 million copies of his novels.
First editions of wellloved books can become the most prized in literature. Jul 15, 2015 harper lees new novel go set a watchman, the followup to to kill a mockingbird, is set to become one of the fastestselling books of all time. Researchers have collated the figures for the number of editions, translations and copies sold of the worlds most popular books these are the most loved tomes. A survey by the bible society concluded that around 2. Did you know you can estimate how many sales any ebook or print book on amazon is currently selling just by looking at its listing on amazon. All you have to do is find the amazon sales rank for any ebook or print book on amazon and type that number in to our simple amazon book sales calculator below. Jan 05, 2019 thats a huge number, even though the limited media coverage of the genre can often undersell how popular childrens books really are. The average sales per title are utterly without meaning. The bible tops the list of the most read books in the world. I believe that claim is a reference to a 1991 survey conducted by the library of congress of 2,000 book of the month readers, so take that as you will. Where the crawdads sing by delia owens topped the list and michelle obamas memoir becoming came in close second. The bestselling author has sold more than 350 million copies and several of his books like it, the shining, and the green mile have resulted in film adaptations. The alltime most popular books in the world revealed. The bestselling book in the united states as of the week ending september 30, 2019 was guts by raina telgemeier with over 76 thousand copies sold, followed by the institute by stephen king, which sold nearly 50 thousand copies.
We can now reveal that, since that moment, half a billion harry potter books have now been sold. The bible is the worlds bestselling book, having sold more than five billion copies. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold of all fiction books written or cowritten by an author. Selfpublishing childrens books a look at the numbers. What is the book with the highest number of copies sold in the world, not including the bible, etc wikipedia has a good list of bestselling books. Is atlas shrugged the second most popular book next to the. The bookscan sales of those books literally ranged from 1,000 to 1. Im doing a research and im would like to know actually how many copies of a specific book has been sold until now. How to retrieve the number of copies sold for a specific book. I really dont know where can i find this number and what is the more accurate way to get an accurate value. Publishers weekly is the international news website of book publishing and bookselling.
Its not uncommon at all for a publisher to, say, print 5,000 copies, but only sell 3,000 copies to bookstoresother markets, of which, 2,000 copies are actually sold to customers. 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. Its no surprise that this novel has sold so many copiesits practically mandatory on curriculum. As of the latest update, becoming has now sold 365,000 more copies than bookscans no. It shows dan brown s da vinci code is the big seller of the last decade, followed closely by jk rowling s harry potter novels. The most prolific and popular novel of all time, don quixote, is a testament to how great storytelling has no expiration date. The total number of copies print, e book and audio sold by author helen bryan, whose two historical novels, war brides and the sisterhood, were put. Rowlings harry potter series at fifth place with 450m copies. Sep 23, 20 the pilgrims progress is the ultimate english classic, a book that has been continuously in print, from its first publication to the present day, in an extraordinary number of editions. The barefoot investor was australias bestselling book in 2017. Top 20 alltime best selling childrens books amreading.
The final, mammoth volume in the harry potter series was released in 2007 and had sold 44 million copies just one year later and thats before the paperback version had even come out. Everything you wanted to know about book sales but were. To see copies sold for an individual book, click the orange triangle next to the all books heading and select an individual book. Even if you could somehow pin down the number of copies actually sold, the books are required reading for adherents of some of the worlds largest religions. Seusss books have sold 650 million copies in 95 countries.
Jul 11, 2019 publishers weekly released their list of the topselling books in 2019 so far. Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the bible is the worlds bestselling and most widely distributed book. The standard of originality is lost to the adherence to cookie cutter plots. Bestselling books are ranked by number of copies sold, not my personal ratings. Sep 23, 2019 this statistic displays the most sold ebooks in finland in 2018. While finding precise sales numbers for any given author is nearly impossible, the list is based on approximate numbers provided or repeated by reliable sources. That year, yosyotto, a 2011 novel of a single father by eve hietamies was the most sold electronic book, with 14. Bookworms listen up because publishers weekly revealed the topselling print books in 2019, so far. Jun 01, 2018 do authors selling the most copies make the most money. All books of a religious, ideological, philosophical or political nature have thus been excluded from the below lists of bestselling books for these reasons. Stacker explores books that have sold over 50 million copies. Nov 15, 20 researcher james chapman has compiled this look at the top 10 most read books in the world. Jul 03, 2016 top 20 alltime best selling childrens books. Is the most popular book of all time the one that has been read the most often or the one that has sold the most copies.
What is the book with the highest number of copies sold in. Quotations from the works of mao tsetung came in second with 820 million copies sold, and harry potter came in third with 400 million copies sold. Having sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, 6 7 8 harry potter by j. The list is ranked by and takes into account the number of editions, translations and copies sold.
Some of robbins most famous works are never love a stranger 1948 and the carpetbaggers 1961. Very few of the highest sellers disclosed finances. In addition, her 20 novel, the husbands secret, sold 89,000 copies. On average, how many copies does a first time novel. In the 1980s, william peter blatty, the author of the exorcist, sued the new york times when his latest book, legion, didnt make it onto the list, even though he. This article discusses the worlds bestselling books. This page provides lists of bestselling individual books and book series to date and in any language. When we originally created this amazon book sales calculator, we did so with the selfpublished author in mind.
Authors selling the most copies were the most likely to invest in their projects. This debut book by ernest cline was released in 2011 and soon became a. For example, how do you measure the popularity of a book. Excluding religious, political, or ideological texts, this list covers 39 books that have reached this achievement, the overwhelming majority of which are fictional novels featuring stories that capture our imagination or change how we view the world. I dont want to talk about the big, bad book the cold publishing equations. As more people seek education, the demand for knowledge increases and authors are striving to fulfill the demand. However, i have since heard from several authors whose books were published by a traditional or independent publisher who are now using the calculator as a guideline to make sure the royalty reports from their publishers are accurate.
For an escape from sweaterweather season or as part of your new years resolution to read more, consider choosing your next read from this top 20 list of the 2018 bestselling books. Coming in at number one is the highest selling little golden book and. Jan 06, 2017 do you know which book genres make the most money. The 500 million sales are across the seven books in the series and the three companion volumes, in print and ebook versions. Jan 10, 2019 of course, becoming and magnolia table werent the only books published in 2018. In my version of the the list, the bible remained the top seller in the world, with sales figures ranging widely. The book with most sales in 2018 across all formats on, and in amazon books stores was a sciencefiction novel ready player one. Get to know which book has sold how many copies worldwide. 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. There are vastly different numbers for mass market paperback novels, tradepaperback original novels or trade nonfiction, hardback original trade books, and for nontrade titles in any of a. Chances are one of stephen kings works whether in movie or book form have sent chills up your spine. The top 100 books of all time and of the last year is out. This page includes a list of the 25 bestselling books of alltime as well as the 25 bestselling book series of alltime. What is the book with the highest number of copies sold in the world.
Thousands of books are written, published and distributed every day. Atlas shrugged has sold around 7 million copies since it was published, which puts it at around half as many copies. If you have one of these rare books sitting on a shelf somewhere, get ready to cash in. Fortunately, the author selling the highest number of copies did. Chapman created the list by examining how many individual copies of the books had been printed and sold over the last 50 years. That 75k number is pretty skewed by the existence of anthony doerrs runaway literary hit, all the light we cannot see, which sold over 1. Books that have sold 50 million copies or more include the da vinci code by dan brown, catcher in the rye by j.
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