From the Huffington Post:
The 15 Biggest Bestsellers EVER After The Bible
1. “Quotations from Chairman Mao” (The Little Red Book) (800 million+)
2. The Qur’an (800 million)
3. “Xinhua Dictionary” (primary editor: Wei Jiangong) (400 million)
4. “The Lord of the Rings,” J. R. R. Tolkien (150 million)
5. “The Book of Mormon,” Joseph Smith, Jr. (120 million)
6. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” J. K. Rowling (107 million)
7. “And Then There Were None,” Agatha Christie (100 million)
8. “The Da Vinci Code,” Dan Brown (80 million)
9. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” J. K. Rowling (65 millon)
10. “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” J. K. Rowling (60 million)
11. “The Catcher in the Rye,” J. D. Salinger (60 million)
12. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” J. K. Rowling (55 million)
13. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” J. K. Rowling (55 million)
14. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” J. K. Rowling (55 million)
15. “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” Lew Wallace (50 million)
Some may quibble (check out the comments – such passion!) but it seems to be driven by the increasing population of the world and distribution logistics and publishing system improvements.
Stephen
2 Responses
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I always thought the IKEA catalog was up there.
Like most free stuff I guess it doesn’t count as a bestseller! Maybe librarians would classify it s a serial instead of a book anyway.