List of best-selling books

This is an incomplete list that may not be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

This page provides lists of best-selling single-volume books and book series to date and in any language. "Best-selling" refers to the estimated number of copies sold of each book, rather than the number of books printed or currently owned. Comics and textbooks are not included in this list. The books are listed according to the highest sales estimate as reported in reliable, independent sources. This list is incomplete because there are many books, such as Don Quixote, A Tale of Two Cities, The Three Musketeers,Les Misérables, Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, that are commonly cited as "best-selling books" yet have no reliable sales figures. There is a separate section on this page for books known to have sold over 10 million copies but without figures for their exact sales.

The Bible is widely believed to be the best-selling book of all-time, with Guinness World Records estimating that over 5 billion copies have been sold.^[1] Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the Qur'an are also widely reported to be some of the most printed and also some of the most distributed books worldwide,^[2]^[3]^[4] with billions of copies of each of them believed to be in existence. Exact print figures for these and other books may also be missing or unreliable since these kinds of books may be produced by many different and unrelated publishers, in some cases over many centuries. All books of a religious, ideological, philosophical or political nature have been excluded from this list of best-selling books for these reasons.

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List of best-selling single-volume books[edit]

More than 100 million copies[edit]

Book	Author(s)	Original language	First published	Approximate sales
A Tale Of Two Cities	*Charles Dickens*	*English*	*1859*	*200 million^[5]*
The Lord of the Rings *(published as a series)*	*J. R. R. Tolkien*	*English*	*1954–1955*	*150 million^[6]*
The Hobbit	*J. R. R. Tolkien*	*English*	*1937*	*140.6 million^[7]*
*Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)*	*Antoine de Saint-Exupéry*	*French^{[Note 1]}*	*1943*	*140 million^[8]^[9]*
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*1997*	*107 million^[10]*
And Then There Were None	*Agatha Christie*	*English*	*1939*	*100 million^[10]*
*紅樓夢/红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber)*	*Cao Xueqin*	*Chinese*	*1754^[11]–1791*	*100 million^[12]*
She: A History of Adventure	*H. Rider Haggard*	*English*	*1887*	*100 million^[13]*

Between 50 million and 100 million copies[edit]

Book	Author(s)	Original language	First published	Approximate sales
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	*C. S. Lewis*	*English*	*1950*	*85 million^[14]*
The Da Vinci Code	*Dan Brown*	*English*	*2003*	*80 million^[15]*
Think and Grow Rich	*Napoleon Hill*	*English*	*1937*	*70 million^[16]*
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*2005*	*65 million^[10]*
The Catcher in the Rye	*J. D. Salinger*	*English*	*1951*	*65 million^[17]*
*O Alquimista (The Alchemist)*	*Paulo Coelho*	*Portuguese*	*1988*	*65 million^[18]*
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*1998*	*60 million^[10]*
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*1998*	*55 million^[10]*
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*2000*	*55 million^[10]*
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*2003*	*55 million^[10]*
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows	*J. K. Rowling*	*English*	*2007*	*50 million^[10]*
*Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude)*	*Gabriel García Márquez*	*Spanish*	*1967*	*50 million^[19]^[20]^[21]*
Lolita	*Vladimir Nabokov*	*English*	*1955*	*50 million^[22]*
*Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre (Heidi's Years of Learning and Travel)*	*Johanna Spyri*	*German*	*1880*	*50 million^[23]*
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care	*Dr. Benjamin Spock*	*English*	*1946*	*50 million^[24]*
Anne of Green Gables	*Lucy Maud Montgomery*	*English*	*1908*	*50 million^[25]*
Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions: The autobiography of a horse	*Anna Sewell*	*English*	*1877*	*50 million^[26]*
*Il Nome della Rosa (The Name of the Rose)*	*Umberto Eco*	*Italian*	*1980*	*50 million^[27]*
The Eagle Has Landed	*Jack Higgins*	*English*	*1975*	*50 million^[28]*
Watership Down	*Richard Adams*	*English*	*1972*	*50 million^[29]*
The Hite Report	*Shere Hite*	*English*	*1976*	*50 million^[30]*
Charlotte's Web	*E.B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams*	*English*	*1952*	*50 million^[31]*
The Ginger Man	*J. P. Donleavy*	*English*	*1955*	*50 million^[32]*
The Bridges of Madison County	*Robert James Waller*	*English*	*1992*	*50 million^[33]*
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ	*Lew Wallace*	*English*	*1880*	*50 million^[10]*
The Mark of Zorro	*Johnston McCulley*	*English*	*1924*	*50 million^[10]*

Between 30 million and 50 million copies[edit]

Book	Author(s)	Original language	First published	Approximate sales
The Tale of Peter Rabbit	*Beatrix Potter*	*English*	*1902*	*45 million^[34]*
Jonathan Livingston Seagull	*Richard Bach*	*English*	*1970*	*40 million^[35]*
A Message to Garcia	*Elbert Hubbard*	*English*	*1899*	*40 million^[24]*
*Sofies verden (Sophie's World)*	*Jostein Gaarder*	*Norwegian*	*1991*	*40 million^[36]*
Flowers in the Attic	*V. C. Andrews*	*English*	*1979*	*40 million^[37]*
Angels & Demons	*Dan Brown*	*English*	*2000*	*39 million^[38]*
*Как закалялась сталь (Kak zakalyalas' stal'; How the Steel Was Tempered)*	*Nikolai Ostrovsky*	*Russian*	*1932*	*36.4 million copies in USSR^[39]*
*Война и мир (Voyna i mir; War and Peace)*	*Leo Tolstoy*	*Russian*	*1869*	*36.0 million copies in USSR^[39]*
Le avventure di Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino (The Adventures of Pinocchio)	*Carlo Collodi*	*Italian*	*1881*	*35 million^[40]*
You Can Heal Your Life	*Louise Hay*	*English*	*1984*	*35 million^[41]*
Your Erroneous Zones	*Wayne Dyer*	*English*	*1976*	*35 million^[42]*
The Late, Great Planet Earth	*Hal Lindsey, C. C. Carlson*	*English*	*1970*	*35 million^[43]*
Kane and Abel	*Jeffrey Archer*	*English*	*1979*	*34 million^[44]*
In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?	*Charles M. Sheldon*	*English*	*1896*	*30 million^[24]*
To Kill a Mockingbird	*Harper Lee*	*English*	*1960*	*40 million^[45]*
Valley of the Dolls	*Jacqueline Susann*	*English*	*1966*	*30 million^[24]*
Gone with the Wind	*Margaret Mitchell*	*English*	*1936*	*30 million^[46]*
*Het Achterhuis (The Diary of a Young Girl, The Diary of Anne Frank)*	*Anne Frank*	*Dutch*	*1947*	*30 million^[47]*
The Purpose Driven Life	*Rick Warren*	*English*	*2002*	*30 million^[48]*
The Thorn Birds	*Colleen McCullough*	*English*	*1977*	*30 million^[49]*
The Revolt of Mamie Stover	*William Bradford Huie*	*English*	*1951*	*30 million^[50]*
*Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)*	*Stieg Larsson*	*Swedish*	*2005*	*30 million^[51]*
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	*Eric Carle*	*English*	*1969*	*30 million^[52]*

Between 20 million and 30 million copies[edit]

Book	Author(s)	Original language	First published	Approximate sales
*Молодая гвардия (Molodaya Gvardiya; The Young Guard)*	*Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev*	*Russian*	*1945*	*26 million copies in USSR^[39]*
Who Moved My Cheese?	*Spencer Johnson*	*English*	*1998*	*26 million^[53]*
The Great Gatsby	*F. Scott Fitzgerald*	*English*	*1925*	*25 million^[54]*
The Wind in the Willows	*Kenneth Grahame*	*English*	*1908*	*25 million^[55]*
Nineteen Eighty-Four	*George Orwell*	*English*	*1949*	*25 million^[56]*
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People	*Stephen R. Covey*	*English*	*1989*	*25 million^[57]*
*Поднятая целина (Podnyataya Tselina; Virgin Soil Upturned)*	*Mikhail Sholokhov*	*Russian*	*1935*	*24 million copies in USSR^[39]*
The Celestine Prophecy	*James Redfield*	*English*	*1993*	*23 million^[58]*
The Hunger Games	*Suzanne Collins*	*English*	*2008*	*23 million^[59]*
*Дядя Степа (Dyadya Styopa; Uncle Styopa)*	*Sergey Mikhalkov*	*Russian*	*1936*	*21 million copies in USSR^[39]*
The Godfather	*Mario Puzo*	*English*	*1969*	*21 million^[60]*
Love Story	*Erich Segal*	*English*	*1970*	*21 million^[61]*
*狼图腾 (Wolf Totem)*	*Jiang Rong*	*Chinese*	*2004*	*20 million^[62]*
The Happy Hooker: My Own Story	*Xaviera Hollander*	*English*	*1971*	*20 million^[63]*
Jaws	*Peter Benchley*	*English*	*1974*	*20 million^[64]*
Love You Forever	*Robert Munsch*	*English*	*1986*	*20 million^[65]*
The Women's Room	*Marilyn French*	*English*	*1977*	*20 million^[66]*
What to Expect When You're Expecting	*Arlene Eisenberg and Heidi Murkoff*	*English*	*1984*	*20 million^[67]*
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	*Mark Twain*	*English*	*1885*	*20 million^[68]*
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾	*Sue Townsend*	*English*	*1982*	*20 million^[69]*
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft	*Thor Heyerdahl*	*Norwegian*	*1950*	*20 million^[70]*
*Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války (The Good Soldier Švejk)*	*Jaroslav Hašek*	*Czech*	*1923*	*20 million^[71]*
Where the Wild Things Are	*Maurice Sendak*	*English*	*1963*	*20 million^[72]*
The Power of Positive Thinking	*Norman Vincent Peale*	*English*	*1952*	*20 million^[73]*
The Shack	*William P. Young*	*English*	*2007*	*20 million^[74]*
The Secret	*Rhonda Byrne*	*English*	*2006*	*20 million^[75]*
Fear of Flying	*Erica Jong*	*English*	*1973*	*20 million^[76]*
Dune	*Frank Herbert*	*English*	*1965*	*20 million^[77]*

Between 10 million and 20 million copies[edit]

Book	Author(s)	Original language	First published	Approximate sales
Goodnight Moon	*Margaret Wise Brown*	*English*	*1947*	*16 million^[78]*
*Die unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story)*	*Michael Ende*	*German*	*1979*	*16 million^[79]*
Guess How Much I Love You	*Sam McBratney*	*English*	*1994*	*15 million^[80]*
Shōgun	*James Clavell*	*English*	*1975*	*15 million^[81]*
The Poky Little Puppy	*Janette Sebring Lowrey*	*English*	*1942*	*15 million^[82]*
The Pillars of the Earth	*Ken Follett*	*English*	*1989*	*15 million^[83]*
How to Win Friends and Influence People	*Dale Carnegie*	*English*	*1936*	*15 million^[84]*
*Das Parfum (Perfume)*	*Patrick Süskind*	*German*	*1985*	*15 million^[85]*
The Grapes of Wrath	*John Steinbeck*	*English*	*1939*	*15 million^[86]*
The Horse Whisperer	*Nicholas Evans*	*English*	*1995*	*15 million^[87]*
*La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind)*	*Carlos Ruiz Zafón*	*Spanish*	*2001*	*15 million^[88]*
*窓ぎわのトットちゃん (Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window)*	*Tetsuko Kuroyanagi*	*Japanese*	*1981*	*14.36 million (in Japan and China)^[89]^[90]*
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	*Douglas Adams*	*English*	*1979*	*14 million^[91]*
Tuesdays with Morrie	*Mitch Albom*	*English*	*1997*	*14 million^[92]*
God's Little Acre	*Erskine Caldwell*	*English*	*1933*	*14 million^[93]*
*Va' dove ti porta il cuore (Follow Your Heart)*	*Susanna Tamaro*	*Italian*	*1994*	*14 million^[94]*
A Wrinkle in Time	*Madeleine L'Engle*	*English*	*1962*	*14 million^[95]*
The Old Man and the Sea	*Ernest Hemingway*	*English*	*1952*	*13 million^[39]*
The Outsiders	*S. E. Hinton*	*English*	*1967*	*13 million^[96]*
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	*Roald Dahl*	*English*	*1964*	*13 million^[97]*
Life After Life	*Raymond Moody*	*English*	*1975*	*13 million^[98]*
*ノルウェイの森, Noruwei no Mori (Norwegian Wood)*	*Haruki Murakami*	*Japanese*	*1987*	*12 million^[99]*
Peyton Place	*Grace Metalious*	*English*	*1956*	*12 million^[100]*
*La Peste (The Plague)*	*Albert Camus*	*French*	*1947*	*12 million^[101]*
*人間失格 (No Longer Human)*	*Osamu Dazai*	*Japanese*	*1948*	*12 million^[102]*
The Naked Ape	*Desmond Morris*	*English*	*1968*	*12 million^[103]*
*Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager (Man's Search for Meaning)*	*Viktor Frankl*	*German*	*1946*	*12 million^[104]*
*Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy)*	*Dante Alighieri*	*Italian*	*1304*	*11-12 million (during 20th century)^[105]*
Things Fall Apart	*Chinua Achebe*	*English*	*1958*	*11 million^[106]*
The Prophet	*Khalil Gibran*	*English*	*1923*	*11 million^[107]^{[better source needed]}*
The Exorcist	*William Peter Blatty*	*English*	*1971*	*11 million^[108]*
The Gruffalo	*Julia Donaldson*	*English*	*1999*	*10.5 million^[109]*
Catch-22	*Joseph Heller*	*English*	*1961*	*10 million^[110]*
Eye of the Needle	*Ken Follett*	*English*	*1978*	*10 million^[111]*
A Brief History of Time	*Stephen Hawking*	*English*	*1988*	*10 million^[112]*
The Cat in the Hat	*Dr. Seuss*	*English*	*1957*	*10 million^[113]*
The Lovely Bones	*Alice Sebold*	*English*	*2002*	*10 million^[114]*
Wild Swans	*Jung Chang*	*English*	*1992*	*10 million^[115]*
Santa Evita	*Tomás Eloy Martínez*	*Spanish*	*1995*	*10 million^[116]*
*Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (Night)*	*Elie Wiesel*	*Yiddish*	*1958*	*10 million^[117]*
The Kite Runner	*Khaled Hosseini*	*English*	*2003*	*10 million^[118]*
*于丹《论语》心得 (Confucius from the Heart)*	*Yu Dan*	*Chinese*	*2006*	*10 million^[119]*
The Total Woman	*Marabel Morgan*	*English*	*1974*	*10 million^[120]*
*知価革命 (Knowledge-value Revolution)*	*Taichi Sakaiya*	*Japanese*	*1985*	*10 million^[121]*
*中国社会主义经济问题研究 (Problems in China's Socialist Economy)*	*Xue Muqiao*	*Chinese*	*1979*	*10 million^[122]*
What Color is Your Parachute?	*Richard Nelson Bolles*	*English*	*1970*	*10 million^[123]*
The Dukan Diet	*Pierre Dukan*	*French*	*2000*	*10 million^[124]*
The Joy of Sex	*Alex Comfort*	*English*	*1972*	*10 million^[125]*
The Gospel According to Peanuts	*Robert L. Short*	*English*	*1965*	*10 million^[126]*
Life of Pi	*Yann Martel*	*English*	*2001*	*10 million^[127]*
The Giver	*Lois Lowry*	*English*	*1993*	*10 million^[128]*