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This page provides lists of best-selling individual 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 Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
or currently owned. Comics and
textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...
s 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 '' The Count of Monte Cristo'' by
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...
, ''
Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
'' by
Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best know ...
, and ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 c ...
'' (which has been sold as both a trilogy of books, '' The Fellowship of the Ring'', '' The Two Towers'', and '' Return of the King'', and as a single issue) by J. R. R. Tolkien, that lack comprehensive sales figures. According to ''
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' as of 1995, the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...
is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5billion copies sold and distributed. Sales estimates for other printed religious texts include at least copies for the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
and 190 million copies for the
Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...
. Among non-religious texts, the ''
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung ''Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung'' () is a book of statements from speeches and writings by Mao Zedong (formerly romanized as Mao Tse-tung), the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, published from 1964 to about 1976 and wid ...
'', also known as the ''Little Red Book'', has produced a wide array of sales and distribution figures — with estimates ranging from 800million to over 6.5 billion printed volumes. Some claim the distribution ran into the "billions" and some cite "over a billion" official volumes between 1966 and 1969 alone as well as "untold numbers of unofficial local reprints and unofficial translations." 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 thus been excluded from the below lists of best-selling books for these reasons. Having sold more than 500 million copies worldwide,Forbes
on ''Harry Potter'': "It and the six subsequent books have now sold 500 million copies worldwide." (22 May 2013) ''
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...
'' by J. K. Rowling is the best-selling book series in history. The first
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
in the series, '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it one of the best-selling books of all time. As of June 2017, the series has been translated into 80 languages, placing ''Harry Potter'' among history's most translated literary works. The last four books in the series consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books of all time, where the final installment, '' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', sold roughly fifteen million copies worldwide within twenty-four hours of its release. With twelve million books printed in the first US run, it also holds the record for the highest initial print run for any book in history.


Key


List of best-selling individual books


More than 100 million copies


Between 50 million and 100 million copies


Between 20 million and 50 million copies


Between 10 million and 20 million copies


List of best-selling book series


More than 100 million copies


Between 50 million and 100 million copies


Between 30 million and 50 million copies


Between 20 million and 30 million copies


Between 15 million and 20 million copies


Notes

The '' Perry Rhodan'' series has sold more than 1 billion copies, but is not listed because that figure includes magazine sales, not novels alone. Similarly, the '' Jerry Cotton'' series has sold over 300 million copies, but most of these were in magazine format. The figures given for some books are for the number printed instead of confirmed sales.


List of best-selling regularly updated books


More than 100 million copies


Between 50 million and 100 million copies

}) , , Choi Park Lai's family, among others , , Chinese , , 1891(Only counting versions published by Choi's family) , , >70 million (Only counting version published by Choi) , - , '' Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'' , ,
Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...
, , English , , 1898 , , 55 million


Between 30 million and 50 million copies


Between 20 million and 30 million copies


Between 10 million and 20 million copies


See also

*
List of best-selling comic series This page provides lists of best-selling comic book series to date. It includes Japanese manga, American comic books, and European comics. This list includes comic books that have sold at least 100million copies. There are three separate lists, ...
* List of best-selling manga * List of best-selling fiction authors * Publishers Weekly lists of bestselling novels in the United States * List of literary works by number of translations *
Lists of books This is a list of book lists (bibliographies) on Wikipedia, organized by various criteria. General lists * List of 18th-century British children's literature titles * List of 19th-century British children's literature titles * List of Americ ...


References


External links


The Internet Public Library


at the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...
{{Books Best-selling
Books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physica ...
Literature records