The books are listed according to the highest sales estimate as reported in reliable, independent sources. A list of the best selling books of all time, fiction and nonfiction best sellers. With all those caveats in mind and not including ebook sales, here are. That said, the most popular books are indeed novels, with the most popular. It was first published in 1605 and a second edition was released in 1615. Weve put together this list of the top 20 most sold books worldwide, with the number of copies theyve sold. Fifty shades of grey has become the fastest ever selling paperback in the. The 21 bestselling books of all time howstuffworks. 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. 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. The book is considered one of the most influential pieces of spanish literature of the spanish golden age, and appears among the list of best fiction canonical novels ever published.
It is estimated to have sold about 500 million copies. The list is fascinating in its own right, even without the dominance of the big writers. These are the 12 most popular books of all time indy100. This page provides lists of bestselling individual books and book series to date and in any. The most prolific and popular novel of all time, don quixote, is a.
In case you need a new read, heres a list of the best selling books of all time. The 20 bestselling books of all time updated 2020 wealthy. This page provides lists of best selling individual books and book series to date and in any language. This page includes a list of the 25 best selling books of alltime as well as the 25 best selling book series of alltime. 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. 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. And for more great reads, revisit these 40 books you hated in high school.
And for more classic reading content, check out these 40 books every women over 40 should have on her bookshelf. List of most expensive books and manuscripts wikipedia. Get to know which book has sold how many copies worldwide. 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. The alltime most popular books in the world revealed stylist. Best selling books are ranked by number of copies sold, not my personal ratings. With all those caveats in mind and not including e book sales, here are the 21 best selling books of all time, as far as we can tell. The most prolific and popular novel of all time, don quixote, is a testament to how great storytelling has no expiration date. Comics and textbooks are not included in this list.
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. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold of all fiction books written or cowritten by an. Having sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, harry potter by j. Today the novel is more popular than ever, with new readers continually discovering it and telling their friends to pick up a copy.
Read about the most popular books in history at howstuffworks. Here are the 10 bestselling books of all time information news. This is a list of best selling fiction authors to date, in any language. Since religious and political books, such as the holy bible, are often given away for free, they have not been included on this list. While the novel enjoys surges in popularity now and then, especially in spain, the sales number is a guess. 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.
Set in the postcivil war american south, the novel follows a young african. Best selling refers to the estimated number of copies sold of each book, rather than the number of books printed or currently owned. It is the oldest book on this list, so its had a long time to accrue sales. As of june 2017, the series has been translated into 80. Though the epistolary novel a novel in the form of letters written by one or more characters was most popular before the 19th century, alice walker became a champion of the style with her 1982 pulitzer prize and national book awardwinning novel the color purple.
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