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This page includes a list of the 25 best-selling books of all-time as well as the 25 best-selling book series of all-time. Best-selling books are ranked by number of copies sold, not my personal ratings.
Also, it is worth noting that some religious and political books such as The Bible, Quran, and Quotations from Chairman Mao are believed to have more than a billion copies each in existence. However, sales numbers for these books are nearly impossible to track because many are given away by churches or governments. Additionally, these books have often been printed by a wide range of publishers over centuries, many of them unreported. For these reasons, major religious and political texts are not listed here, but we can all agree that they are among the top selling books of all-time.1
25 Best-Selling Books of All-Time
#1 – Don Quixote (500 million copies sold) 2
by Miguel de Cervantes
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#2 – A Tale of Two Cities (200 million copies sold)
by Charles Dickens
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#3 – The Lord of the Rings (150 million copies sold)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#4 – The Little Prince (142 million copies sold)
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#5 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (107 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#6 – And Then There Were None (100 million copies sold)
by Agatha Christie
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#7 – The Dream of the Red Chamber (100 million copies sold)
by Cao Xueqin
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#8 – The Hobbit (100 million copies sold)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#9 – She: A History of Adventure (100 million copies sold)
by H. Rider Haggard
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#10 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (85 million copies sold)
by C.S. Lewis
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#11 – The Da Vinci Code (80 million copies sold)
by Dan Brown
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#12 – Think and Grow Rich (70 million copies sold)
by Napoleon Hill
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#13 – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (65 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#14 – The Catcher in the Rye (65 million copies sold)
by J.D. Salinger
Print
#15 – The Alchemist (65 million copies sold)
by Paulo Coelho
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#16 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (60 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#17 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (55 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#18 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (55 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#19 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (55 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#20 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (50 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#21 – One Hundred Years of Solitude (50 million copies sold)
by Gabriel García Marquez
Print | Audiobook
#22 – Lolita (50 million copies sold)
by Vladimir Nabokov
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#23 – Anne of Green Gables (50 million copies sold)
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#24 – Charlotte’s Web (50 million copies sold)
by E.B. White
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#25 – Black Beauty (50 million copies sold)
by Anna Sewell
Print | eBook | Audiobook
25 Best-Selling Book Series of All-Time
#1 – Harry Potter series (450 million copies sold)
by J.K. Rowling
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#2 – Goosebumps series (300 million copies sold)
by R.L. Stein
Print | eBook
#3 – Perry Mason series (300 million copies sold)
by Erle Stanley Gardner
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#4 – Berenstain Bears series (260 million copies sold)
by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Print | eBook
#5 – Choose Your Own Adventure series (250 million copies sold)
by various authors
Print
#6 – Sweet Valley High (250 million copies sold)
by Francine Pascal
Print | eBook
#7 – Noddy series (200 million copies sold)
by Enid Blyton
Print
#8 – Nancy Drew series (200 million copies sold)
by Carolyn Keene
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#9 – Thomas the Tank Engine series (200 million copies sold)
by W. Awdry
Print | eBook
#10 – San-Antonio series (200 million copies sold)
by Frédéric Dard
Print
#11 – Robert Langdon series (200 million copies sold)
by Dan Brown
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#12 – The Baby-sitters Club (172 million copies sold)
by Ann Martin
Print | eBook
#13 – Star Wars series (150 million copies sold)
by various authors
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#14 – Little Critter series (150 million copies sold)
by Mercer Mayer
Print
#15 – Peter Rabbit (150 million copies sold)
by Beatrix Potter
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#16 – Chicken Soup for the Soul series (130 million copies sold)
by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#17 – American Girl series (120 million copies sold)
by various authors
Print | eBook
#18 – The Chronicles of Narnia series (120 million copies sold)
by C.S. Lewis
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#19 – Mr. Men (120 million copies sold)
by Roger Hargreaves
Print | eBook
#20 – The Twilight Saga (120 million copies sold)
by Stephenie Meyer
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#21 – Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (120 million copies sold)
by Jeff Kinney
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#22 – Clifford the Big Red Dog series (110 million copies sold)
by Norman Bridwell
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#23 – James Bond 007 series (100 million copies sold)
by Ian Fleming
Print | eBook | Audiobook
#24 – Martine (100 million copies sold)
by Gilbert Delahaye and Marcel Marlier
Print
#25 – Fifty Shades trilogy (100 million copies sold)
by E. L. James
Print | eBook | Audiobook
II. Best Nonfiction Books
These are the best nonfiction books to read, listed by category.
- Best Art and Creativity Books
- Best Biographies and Memoirs
- Best Business Books
- Best Fitness Books
- Best History Books
- Best Philosophy Books
- Best Psychology Books
- Best Science Books
- Best Self-Help Books
- Best Writing Books
III. Best Fiction Books
These are the best fiction books to read, listed by category.
- Best Novels of All-Time
- Best Fantasy Books
- Best Mystery Books
Or, browse all book recommendations.
Footnotes
Sales data for the best-selling books can be found on this page.
Don Quixote was published in 1605, so it is very old and sales figures are hard to track. Although the exact number of copies sold is unknown, it is thought to be over 500 million and certainly more than any other non-political or non-religious book on the list.
