# List of best-selling books

This page provides lists of best-selling 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.
According to Guinness World Records, as of 1995, the Bible was the best-selling book of all time, with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. Sales estimates for other printed religious texts include at least 800 million copies for the Qur'an and 200 million copies for the Book of Mormon. Also, a single publisher has produced more than 162.1 million copies of the Bhagavad Gita. The total number could be much higher considering the widespread distribution and publications by ISKCON. The ISKCON has distributed about 503.39 million Bhagavad Gita since 1965. Among non-religious texts, the Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, also known as the Little Red Book, has produced a wide array of sales and distribution figures—with estimates ranging from 800 million 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 lists of best-selling books below for these reasons.
Many books lack comprehensive sales figures as book selling and reselling figures prior to the introduction of point of sale equipment was based on the estimates of book sellers, publishers or the authors themselves. For example, one of the one volume Harper Collins editions of The Lord of the Rings was recorded to have sold only 967,466 copies in the UK by 2009 (the source does not cite the start date), but at the same time the author's estate claimed global sales figures of in excess of 150 million. Accurate figures are only available from the 1990s and in western nations such as US, UK, Canada and Australia, although figures from the US are available from the 1940s. Further, e-books have not been included as out of copyright texts are often available free in this format. Examples of books with claimed high sales include The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en and The Lord of the Rings (which has been sold as both a three volume series, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, as a single combined volume and as a six volume set in a slipcase) by J. R. R. Tolkien. Hence, in cases where there is too much uncertainty, they are excluded from the list.
Having sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling is the best-selling book series in history. The first novel 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 85 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, and 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

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## List of best-selling individual books
### More than 100 million copies

| Book | Author(s) | Original language | First published | Approximate sales | Genre |
| A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | English | 1859 | >200 million | Historical fiction |
| The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | French | 1943 | 200 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| The Alchemist (O Alquimista) | Paulo Coelho | Portuguese | 1988 | 150 million | Fantasy |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | J. K. Rowling | English | 1997 | 120 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| And Then There Were None | Agatha Christie | English | 1939 | 100 million | Mystery |
| Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢) | Cao Xueqin | Chinese | 1791 | 100 million | Family saga |
| The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | English | 1937 | 100 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll | English | 1865 | 100 million | Fantasy, absurdist fiction |

### Between 50 million and 100 million copies

| Book | Author(s) | Original language | First published | Approximate sales | Genre |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | C.S. Lewis | English | 1950 | 85 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| She: A History of Adventure | H. Rider Haggard | English | 1887 | 83 million | Adventure |
| The Da Vinci Code | Dan Brown | English | 2003 | 80 million | Mystery thriller |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | J. K. Rowling | English | 1998 | 77 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | English | 1951 | 65 million | Coming-of-age |
| The Bridges of Madison County | Robert James Waller | English | 1992 | 60 million | Romance |
| One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) | Gabriel García Márquez | Spanish | 1967 | 50 million | Magic realism |
| Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | English | 1955 | 50 million | Novel |
| Heidi | Johanna Spyri | German | 1880 | 50 million | Children's fiction |
| The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care | Benjamin Spock | English | 1946 | 50 million | Manual |
| Anne of Green Gables | Lucy Maud Montgomery | English | 1908 | 50 million | Children's novel |
| Black Beauty | Anna Sewell | English | 1877 | 50 million | Children's literature |
| The Name of the Rose (Il Nome della Rosa) | Umberto Eco | Italian | 1980 | 50 million | Historical novel, mystery |
| The Eagle Has Landed | Jack Higgins | English | 1975 | 50 million | War, thriller |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams | English | 1972 | 50 million | Children's fiction |
| The Hite Report | Shere Hite | English | 1976 | 50 million | nonfiction |
| Charlotte's Web | E. B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams | English | 1952 | 50 million | Children's fiction |
| The Ginger Man | J. P. Donleavy | English | 1955 | 50 million | Novel |
| The Purpose Driven Life | Rick Warren | English | 2002 | 50 million | Philosophical Manual |

### Between 20 million and 50 million copies

| Book | Author(s) | Original language | First published | Approximate sales | Genre |
| The Tale of Peter Rabbit | Beatrix Potter | English | 1902 | 45 million | Children's literature |
| Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Richard Bach | English | 1970 | 44 million | Novella, self-help |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Eric Carle | English | 1969 | 43 million | Children's literature, picture book |
| A Message to Garcia | Elbert Hubbard | English | 1899 | 40 million | Essay/literature |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | English | 1960 | 40 million | Southern Gothic, Bildungsroman |
| Flowers in the Attic | V. C. Andrews | English | 1979 | 40 million | Gothic horror, family saga |
| Cosmos | Carl Sagan | English | 1980 | 40 million | Popular science, anthropology, astrophysics, cosmology, philosophy, history |
| Sophie's World (Sofies verden) | Jostein Gaarder | Norwegian | 1991 | 40 million | Philosophical novel, Young adult |
| Angels & Demons | Dan Brown | English | 2000 | 39 million | mystery-thriller |
| Alcoholics Anonymous | William Griffith Wilson | English | 1939 | over 37 million | Self-help |
| Kane and Abel | Jeffrey Archer | English | 1979 | 37 million | Novel |
| How the Steel Was Tempered (Как закалялась сталь) | Nikolai Ostrovsky | Russian | 1932 | 36.4 million copies in USSR | Socialist realist novel |
| War and Peace (Война и мир) | Leo Tolstoy | Russian | 1869 | 36 million copies in Russia | Historical novel |
| The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) | Carlo Collodi | Italian | 1881 | 35 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| The Diary of Anne Frank (Het Achterhuis) | Anne Frank | Dutch | 1947 | 35 million | Historical non-fiction, autobiography, memoir, bildungsroman / coming of age, Jewish literature |
| Your Erroneous Zones | Wayne Dyer | English | 1976 | 35 million | Self-help |
| The Thorn Birds | Colleen McCullough | English | 1977 | 33 million | Romantic family saga |
| The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | English | 2003 | 31.5 million | Bildungsroman, historical fiction |
| Valley of the Dolls | Jacqueline Susann | English | 1966 | 31 million | Novel |
| How to Win Friends and Influence People | Dale Carnegie | English | 1936 | Over 30 million | Self-help |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | English | 1925 | 30 million ("around") | Novel, tragedy |
| Gone with the Wind | Margaret Mitchell | English | 1936 | 30 million (est.) | Historical fiction |
| Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | English | 1938 | 30 million (est.) | Gothic novel |
| The Revolt of Mamie Stover | William Bradford Huie | English | 1951 | 30 million | Fiction |
| The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor) | Stieg Larsson | Swedish | 2005 | 30 million | Fiction |
| The Lost Symbol | Dan Brown | English | 2009 | 30 million | Fiction |
| The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | English | 2008 | 29 million in US | Young adult fiction |
| James and the Giant Peach | Roald Dahl | English | 1961 | 28 million | Children's novel |
| The Young Guard (Молодая гвардия) | Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev | Russian | 1945 | 26 million copies in USSR | Young adult historical novel |
| Who Moved My Cheese? | Spencer Johnson | English | 1998 | 28 – 30 million | Self-help, motivational, business fable, psychology, leadership, parable |
| A Brief History of Time | Stephen Hawking | English | 1988 | 25 million | Popular science |
| Paul et Virginie | Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre | French | 1788 | 25 million | Novel |
| Lust for Life | Irving Stone | English | 1934 | 25 million | Biographical novel |
| The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | English | 1908 | 25 million | Children's literature |
| The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen R. Covey | English | 1989 | 25 million | Self-help |
| Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (窓ぎわのトットちゃん) | Tetsuko Kuroyanagi | Japanese | 1981 | 25 million | Autobiographical novel |
| Virgin Soil Upturned (Поднятая целина) | Mikhail Sholokhov | Russian | 1935 | 24 million copies in USSR | Novel |
| The Celestine Prophecy | James Redfield | English | 1993 | 23 million | New-age spiritual novel |
| The Fault in Our Stars | John Green | English | 2012 | 23 million | Young adult romantic novel |
| The Girl on the Train | Paula Hawkins | English | 2015 | 23 million | Thriller |
| The Shack | William P. Young | English | 2007 | 22.5 million | Novel |
| Uncle Styopa (Дядя Стёпа) | Sergey Mikhalkov | Russian | 1936 | 21 million copies in USSR | Children's Literature, picture book |
| The Godfather | Mario Puzo | English | 1969 | 21 million | Crime novel |
| Love Story | Erich Segal | English | 1970 | 21 million | Romance novel |
| Catching Fire | Suzanne Collins | English | 2009 | 21 million in US | Young adult novel, adventure, dystopian, science fiction |
| Mockingjay | Suzanne Collins | English | 2010 | 20 million in US | Young Adult novel, adventure, war, science fiction, action thriller |
| Kitchen (キッチン) | Banana Yoshimoto | Japanese | 1988 | 20 million | Japanese novel |
| Andromeda Nebula (Туманность Андромеды) | Ivan Yefremov | Russian | 1957 | 20 million | Science fiction novel |
| Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | English | 2012 | 20 million | Crime thriller novel |
| The Bermuda Triangle | Charles Berlitz | English | 1974 | 20 million | |
| Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe | English | 1958 | 20 million | Novel |
| Wolf Totem (狼图腾) | Jiang Rong | Chinese | 2004 | 20 million | Semi-autobiographical novel |
| The Happy Hooker: My Own Story | Xaviera Hollander | English | 1971 | 20 million | Memoir |
| Jaws | Peter Benchley | English | 1974 | 20 million | Thriller |
| Love You Forever | Robert Munsch | English | 1986 | 20 million | Children's literature, picture book, fiction |
| The Women's Room | Marilyn French | English | 1977 | 20 million | Feminist novel |
| What to Expect When You're Expecting | Arlene Eisenberg and Heidi Murkoff | English | 1984 | 20 million | Pregnancy guide |
| Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | English | 1885 | 20 million | Picaresque novel, Bildungsroman, satire, Robinsonade |
| The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ | Sue Townsend | English | 1982 | 20 million | Young adult novel |
| Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | English | 1813 | 20 million | Classic regency novel, romance |
| Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft (Kon-Tiki ekspedisjonen) | Thor Heyerdahl | Norwegian | 1950 | 20 million | Travel literature |
| The Good Soldier Švejk (Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války) | Jaroslav Hašek | Czech | 1923 | 20 million (printed) | Unfinished satirical dark comedy novel |
| Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | English | 1963 | 20 million | Children's picture book |
| The Power of Positive Thinking | Norman Vincent Peale | English | 1952 | 20 million | Self-help |
| The Secret | Rhonda Byrne | English | 2006 | 20 million | Self-help |
| Fear of Flying | Erica Jong | English | 1973 | 20 million | Romantic novel |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | English | 1965 | 20 million | Science fiction novel |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Roald Dahl | English | 1964 | 20 million | Children's fantasy novel |
| The Naked Ape | Desmond Morris | English | 1968 | 20 million | Social Science, Anthropology, Psychology |
| Kokoro (こゝろ) | Natsume Sōseki | Japanese | 1914 | 20 million (as of 1994) | Novel |

### Between 10 million and 20 million copies

| Book | Author(s) | Original language | First published | Approx. sales | Genre |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | English | 2018 | 18 million | Coming-of-age, murder mystery |
| Follow Your Heart (Va' dove ti porta il cuore) | Susanna Tamaro | Italian | 1994 | 18 million | Sentimental, epistolary novel |
| Matilda | Roald Dahl | English | 1988 | 17 million | Children's literature |
| The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | English | 2005 | 16 million | Young adult fiction |
| The Horse Whisperer | Nicholas Evans | English | 1995 | 16 million | |
| Goodnight Moon | Margaret Wise Brown | English | 1947 | 16 million | Children's literature |
| The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) | Michael Ende | German | 1979 | 16 million | Children's literature |
| All the Light We Cannot See | Anthony Doerr | English | 2014 | 15.3 million | Historical fiction, war novel |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | E. L. James | English | 2011 | 15.2 million in the U.S. | Erotica |
| The Outsiders | S. E. Hinton | English | 1967 | 15 million | |
| Guess How Much I Love You | Sam McBratney | English | 1994 | 15 million | |
| Shōgun | James Clavell | English | 1975 | 15 million | |
| The Poky Little Puppy | Janette Sebring Lowrey | English | 1942 | 15 million | |
| The Pillars of the Earth | Ken Follett | English | 1989 | 15 million | Historical fiction |
| Perfume (Das Parfum) | Patrick Süskind | German | 1985 | 15 million | |
| The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | English | 1939 | 15 million | |
| The Shadow of the Wind (La sombra del viento) | Carlos Ruiz Zafón | Spanish | 2001 | 15 million | |
| Interpreter of Maladies | Jhumpa Lahiri | English | 2000 | 15 million | |
| Becoming | Michelle Obama | English | 2018 | 14 million | |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | English | 1979 | 14 million | Science fiction |
| Tuesdays with Morrie | Mitch Albom | English | 1997 | 14 million | |
| God's Little Acre | Erskine Caldwell | English | 1933 | 14 million | |
| A Wrinkle in Time | Madeleine L'Engle | English | 1962 | 14 million | |
| Long Walk to Freedom | Nelson Mandela | English | 1994 | 14 million | |
| The Old Man and the Sea | Ernest Hemingway | English | 1952 | 13 million | |
| Life After Life | Raymond Moody | English | 1975 | 13 million | |
| Momo | Michael Ende | German | 1973 | 13 million | Children's literature |
| Peyton Place | Grace Metalious | English | 1956 | 12.1 million | |
| The Giver | Lois Lowry | English | 1993 | 12 million | Dystopian fiction |
| Me Before You | Jojo Moyes | English | 2012 | 12 million | |
| Norwegian Wood (ノルウェイの森) | Haruki Murakami | Japanese | 1987 | 12 million | |
| The Plague (La Peste) | Albert Camus | French | 1947 | 12 million | |
| No Longer Human (人間失格) | Osamu Dazai | Japanese | 1948 | 12 million | |
| Man's Search for Meaning (Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager) | Viktor Frankl | German | 1946 | 12 million | |
| The Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) | Dante Alighieri | Italian | 1304 | 11–12 million (during the 20th century) | |
| The Prophet | Kahlil Gibran | English | 1923 | 11 million | |
| The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | John Boyne | English | 2006 | 11 million | |
| The Exorcist | William Peter Blatty | English | 1971 | 11 million | Horror |
| The Gruffalo | Julia Donaldson | English | 1999 | 10.5 million | Children's literature, picture book |
| Fifty Shades Darker | E. L. James | English | 2012 | 10.4 million in the U.S. | Erotica |
| Tobacco Road | Erskine Caldwell | English | 1932 | 10 million | |
| Ronia, the Robber's Daughter | Astrid Lindgren | Swedish | 1981 | 10 million | |
| The Cat in the Hat | Dr. Seuss | English | 1957 | 10.5 million | Children's literature, picture book |
| Diana: Her True Story | Andrew Morton | English | 1992 | 10 million | |
| The Help | Kathryn Stockett | English | 2009 | 10 million | |
| Catch-22 | Joseph Heller | English | 1961 | 10 million | |
| The Stranger (L'Étranger) | Albert Camus | French | 1942 | 10 million | |
| Eye of the Needle | Ken Follett | English | 1978 | 10 million | |
| The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold | English | 2002 | 10 million | |
| Wild Swans | Jung Chang | English | 1992 | 10 million | |
| Santa Evita | Tomás Eloy Martínez | Spanish | 1995 | 10 million | |
| Night (Un di Velt Hot Geshvign) | Elie Wiesel | Yiddish | 1958 | 10 million | |
| Confucius from the Heart (于丹《论语》心得) | Yu Dan | Chinese | 2006 | 10 million | |
| The Total Woman | Marabel Morgan | English | 1974 | 10 million | |
| Knowledge-value Revolution (知価革命) | Taichi Sakaiya | Japanese | 1985 | 10 million | |
| Problems in China's Socialist Economy (中国社会主义经济问题研究) | Xue Muqiao | Chinese | 1979 | 10 million | |
| What Color Is Your Parachute? | Richard Nelson Bolles | English | 1970 | 10 million | |
| The Dukan Diet | Pierre Dukan | French | 2000 | 10 million | |
| The Joy of Sex | Alex Comfort | English | 1972 | 10 million | |
| The Gospel According to Peanuts | Robert L. Short | English | 1965 | 10 million | |
| The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck | Mark Manson | English | 2016 | 10 million | |
| Life of Pi | Yann Martel | English | 2001 | 10 million | |
| The Front Runner | Patricia Nell Warren | English | 1974 | 10 million | |
| The Goal | Eliyahu M. Goldratt | English | 1984 | 10 million | |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | English | 1953 | 10 million | |
| Angela's Ashes | Frank McCourt | English | 1996 | 10 million | |
| The Story of My Experiments with Truth (સત્યના પ્રયોગો અથવા આત્મકથા) | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi | Gujarati | 1925–1929 | 10 million | |
| Bridget Jones's Diary | Helen Fielding | English | 1996 | 10 million (as of 2005) | |
| It Ends with Us | Colleen Hoover | English | 2016 | 10 million | Romance, Fiction |

## List of best-selling book series
### More than 100 million copies

| Book series | Author(s) | Original language | No. of installments | Years of Publication | Approximate sales |
| Harry Potter | J. K. Rowling | English | 7 + 3 companion books + 4 scripts | 1997–2007 | 600 million |
| Goosebumps | R. L. Stine | English | 62 + spin-off series | 1992–present | 400 million |
| Perry Mason | Erle Stanley Gardner | English | 82 + 4 short stories | 1933–1973 | 300 million |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid | Jeff Kinney | English | 19 + 5 spin-offs | 2007–present | 290 million |
| Berenstain Bears | Stan and Jan Berenstain | English | 428 | 1962–present | 260 million |
| Choose Your Own Adventure | Various authors | English | 185+ | 1979–present | 250 million |
| Sweet Valley High | Francine Pascal and ghostwriters | English | 400 | 1983–2003 | 250 million |
| The Railway Series | Rev. W. Awdry, Christopher Awdry | English | 42 | 1945–2011 | 201 million |
| Noddy | Enid Blyton | English | 24 | 1949–present | 200 million |
| Nancy Drew | Various authors as Carolyn Keene | English | 175 | 1930–present | 200 million |
| San-Antonio | Frédéric Dard | French | 173 | 1949–2001 | 200 million |
| Robert Langdon | Dan Brown | English | 5 | 2000–present | 200 million |
| Geronimo Stilton | Elisabetta Dami | Italian | 200+ | 1997–present | 180 million |
| Percy Jackson & the Olympians | Rick Riordan | English | 7 + 5 companion books + 4 spin-off series | 2005–present | 180 million |
| The Baby-sitters Club | Ann Martin | English | 335 | 1986–present | 172 million |
| Twilight | Stephenie Meyer | English | 4 + 2 companion books + 1 novella | 2005–2020 | 160 million |
| Star Wars | Various authors | English | over 300 | 1977–present | 160 million |
| Little Critter | Mercer Mayer | English | over 200 | 1975–present | 150 million |
| Peter Rabbit | Beatrix Potter | English | 6 | 1902–1930 | 150 million |
| Fifty Shades | E. L. James | English | 3 | 2011–2015 | 150 million |
| American Girl | Various authors | English | 141 + spin-off series | 1986–present | 160 million |
| Chicken Soup for the Soul | Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen | English | 105 | 1997–present | 130 million |
| Clifford the Big Red Dog | Norman Bridwell | English | over 80 | 1963–2014 | 129 million |
| Frank Merriwell | Gilbert Patten | English | 209 | 1896–1936 | 125 million |
| Dirk Pitt | Clive Cussler | English | 24 | 1973–present | 120 million |
| 宮本武蔵 (Musashi) | Eiji Yoshikawa | Japanese | 7 | 1935–1939 | 120 million |
| The Chronicles of Narnia | C. S. Lewis | English | 7 | 1950–1956 | 120 million |
| Mr. Men | Roger Hargreaves, Adam Hargreaves | English | 43 | 1971–present | 120 million |
| SAS | Gérard de Villiers | French | 200 | 1965–2013 | 120 million |
| The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | English | 4 | 2008–present | 100 million |
| James Bond | Ian Fleming | English | 14 | 1953–1966 | 100 million |
| Martine | Gilbert Delahaye, Marcel Marlier | French | 60 | 1954–2014 | 100 million |
| Millennium | Stieg Larsson, David Lagercrantz | Swedish | 6 | 2005–present | 100 million |

### Between 50 million and 100 million copies

| Book series | Author(s) | Original language | No. of installments | First published | Approximate sales |
| A Song of Ice and Fire | George R. R. Martin | English | 5 + 3 novellas + 1 guide | 1996–present | 90 million |
| The Wheel of Time | Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson | English | 15 | 1990–2013 | 90 million |
| Discworld | Terry Pratchett | English | 42 | 1983–2015 | 90 million |
| Nijntje (Miffy) | Dick Bruna | Dutch | 119 | 1955–present | 85 million |
| Alex Cross | James Patterson | English | 21 | 1993–present | 81 million |
| Anpanman (アンパンマン) | Takashi Yanase | Japanese | 150 picture books | 1973–2013 | 80 million |
| Captain Underpants | Dav Pilkey | English | 12 plus spinoffs | 1997–2015 | 80 million |
| Fear Street | R. L. Stine | English | 114 | 1989–present | 80 million |
| Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking) | Astrid Lindgren | Swedish | 3 + 3 picture books | 1945–2001 | 80 million |
| The Vampire Chronicles | Anne Rice | English | 13 | 1976–2021 | 80 million |
| OSS 117 | Jean Bruce | French | 265 | 1949–1992 | 75 million |
| Winnie-the-Pooh | A. A. Milne; illustrated by E. H. Shepard | English | 2 | 1926–1928 | 70 million |
| Magic Tree House series | Mary Pope Osborne | English | 56 | 1992–present | 70 million |
| Left Behind | Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins | English | 16 | 1996–2007 | 65 million |
| A Series of Unfortunate Events | Lemony Snicket aka Daniel Handler | English | 13 | 1999–2006 | 65 million |
| Little House on the Prairie | Laura Ingalls Wilder | English | 12 | 1932–2006 | 60 million |
| All Creatures Great and Small | Alf Wight, as James Herriot | English | 8 | 1970–1992 | 60 million |
| Jack Reacher | Lee Child | English | 29 Novels + 21 Short Stories | 1997–present | 60 million |
| The Magic School Bus | Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen | English | 131 | 1986–2010 | 58 million |
| Where's Wally? | Martin Handford | English | 13 | 1987–present | 55 million |
| Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus | John Gray | English | 15 | 1992–present | 50 million |
| The Hardy Boys | Various authors as Franklin W. Dixon | English | 190 | 1927–present | 50 million |
| The Bobbsey Twins | Various authors as Laura Lee Hope | English | 72 | 1904–1979 | 50 million |
| Tarzan | Edgar Rice Burroughs | English | 26 | 1914–1995 | 50 million |

### Between 30 million and 50 million copies

| Book series | Author(s) | Original language | No. of installments | First published | Approximate sales |
| The Shadowhunter Chronicles | Cassandra Clare | English | 14 + 8 companion books | 2007–present | 50 million |
| Earth's Children | Jean M. Auel | English | 6 | 1980–2011 | 45 million |
| A Child's First Library of Learning | Various authors | English | 29 | 1980– | 45 million |
| Junie B. Jones | Barbara Park | English | 30 | 1992–2013 | 44 million |
| Harry Bosch | Michael Connelly | English | 15 | 1992– | 42 million |
| Harry Hole | Jo Nesbø | Norwegian | 13 | 1997–present | 40 million |
| Warriors | Erin Hunter | English | 78 | 2003–present | 40 million |
| 连环画 铁道游击队 (Picture-and-story book Railway Guerilla) | original author: Liu Zhixia | Chinese | 10 | 1955–1962 | 36.52 million |
| かいけつゾロリ (Kaiketsu Zorori) | Yutaka Hara | Japanese | 60 | 1987–present | 35 million |
| Paddington Bear | Michael Bond | English | 70 | 1958–present | 35 million |
| Animorphs | K A Applegate and ghostwriters | English | 54 | 1996-2001 | 35 million |
| Divergent trilogy | Veronica Roth | English | 3 + 1 companion book | 2011–2013 | 35 million |
| ノンタン (Nontan) | Sachiko Kiyono | Japanese | 40 | 1976–2016 | 33.6 million |
| グイン・サーガ (Guin Saga) | Kaoru Kurimoto, Yu Godai | Japanese | 149 | 1979–2024 | 33 million |
| The Inheritance Cycle | Christopher Paolini | English | 5 + 1 companion book | 2002–2023 | 33 million |
| Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Robert Kiyosaki, Sharon Lechter | English | 18 | 1997– | 32 million |
| とある魔術の禁書目録 (Toaru Majutsu no Index) | Kazuma Kamachi | Japanese | 46 | 2004– | 30 million |
| 徳川家康 (Tokugawa Ieyasu) | Sōhachi Yamaoka | Japanese | 26 | 1950–1967 | 30 million |
| Ramona | Beverly Cleary | English | 8 | 1955–1999 | 30 million |
| The Dark Tower | Stephen King | English | 8 | 1982–2012 | 30 million |
| Dork Diaries | Rachel Renée Russell | English | 15 | 2009–2018 | 30 million |
| The Destroyer | Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, various authors | English | 150 | 1971–present | 30 million |

### Between 20 million and 30 million copies

| Book series | Author(s) | Original language | No. of installments | First published | Approximate sales | Genre |
| 地球往事 (Remembrance of Earth's Past) | Liu Cixin | Chinese | 3 | 2008–2010 | 29 million | science fiction |
| 三毛猫ホームズシリーズ (Calico Cat Holmes series) | Jirō Akagawa | Japanese | 43 | 1978–present | 28 million | detective, mystery |
| Curious George | Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey | English | 58 | 1941–present | 27 million | Children's Literature |
| Shannara | Terry Brooks | English | 20 | 1977–present | 26 million |
| Kurt Wallander | Henning Mankell | Swedish | 10 | 1991–2002 | 25 million |
| Sagan om Isfolket (The Legend of the Ice People) | Margit Sandemo | Swedish | 47 | 1982–1989 | 25 million |
| The Sword of Truth | Terry Goodkind | English | 21 | 1998–present | 25 million |
| Outlander | Diana Gabaldon | English | 8 | 1991–present | 25 million |
| ズッコケ三人組 (Zukkoke Sanningumi) | Masamoto Nasu | Japanese | 50 | 1978–2004 | 25 million | Children's Literature |
| 鬼平犯科帳 (Onihei Hankachō) | Shōtarō Ikenami | Japanese | 24 | 1968–1990 | 24.4 million, only bunkobon | jidaigeki |
| Brain Quest | Various authors | English | | 1992–present | 23.7 million |
| South Beach Diet | Arthur Agatston | English | 6 | 2003–present | 22 million |
| ソードアート・オンライン (Sword Art Online) | Reki Kawahara | Japanese | 27 | 2009–present | 30 million |
| 竜馬がゆく (Ryoma ga Yuku) | Ryōtarō Shiba | Japanese | 5 | 1963–1966 | 21.5 million | jidaigeki |
| Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer | English | 8 + 1 companion book | 2001–2012 | 21 million | |
| The Cosmere | Brandon Sanderson | English | 30+ | 2005–present | 21 Million | |
| Dune series | Frank Herbert | English | 30+ | 1965 | 20 million | Science fiction novel |
| I Survived | Lauren Tarshis | English | 25 | 2010–2020 | more than 20 million |
| Découvertes Gallimard | Various authors | French | more than 700 | 1986–present | more than 20 million |
| Redwall | Brian Jacques | English | 22 | 1986–2011 | 20 million |
| Maisy | Lucy Cousins | English | 23 | 1990–present | 20 million |
| Dragonlance | Various authors | English | more than 150 | 1984–present | 20 million |
| 幻魔大戦 (Genma Taisen) | Kazumasa Hirai | Japanese | 20 | 1979–1983 | 20 million |
| 青春の門 (The Gate of Youth) | Hiroyuki Itsuki | Japanese | | 1970–present | 20 million |
| スレイヤーズ (Slayers) | Hajime Kanzaka | Japanese | 50 | 1989–present | 20 million |
| The Foundation Trilogy | Isaac Asimov | English | 3 | 1950–1953 | 20 million |
| Horrible Histories | Terry Deary | English | 24 | 1993–present | 20 million |
| Rainbow Magic | Daisy Meadows | English | 80+ | 2003–present | 20 million |
| Morgan Kane | Louis Masterson | Norwegian | 90 | 1966– | 20 million |
| The Southern Vampire Mysteries | Charlaine Harris | English | 13 | 2001–2013 | 20 million |

### Between 15 million and 20 million copies

| Book series | Author(s) | Original language | No. of instalments | First published | Approximate sales |
| Doc Savage | Lester Dent, various authors | English | 203 | 1933–present | 20 million |
| 涼宮ハルヒシリーズ (Haruhi Suzumiya Series) | Nagaru Tanigawa | Japanese | 11 | 2003–present | 20 million |
| 一億人の昭和史 (1-oku nin no Shōwa shi / Shōwa History of 100 million people) | Tomiyasu Takahara, Various authors | Japanese | 95 | 1975-1980 | 19 million |
| 科学のアルバム (Kagaku no album / Science's Album) | Various authors | Japanese | | 1970–present | 19 million |
| 剣客商売 (Kenkaku Shōbai) | Shotaro Ikenami | Japanese | 18 | 1972–1989 | 18 million |
| Erast Fandorin series | Boris Akunin | Russian | 12 | 1998–present | 18 million |
| Dragonriders of Pern | Anne McCaffrey | English | 23 | 1967–present | 18 million |
| 吸血鬼ハンターD (Vampire Hunter D) | Hideyuki Kikuchi | Japanese | 39 | 1983–present | 17 million |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams, plus a final book by Eoin Colfer | English | 6 | 1979–2008 | 16 million |
| ぼくらシリーズ (Bokura series) | Osamu Soda | Japanese | 36 | 1985–present | 15 million |
| Bridget Jones | Helen Fielding | English | 3 | 1996–present | 15 million |
| His Dark Materials | Philip Pullman | English | 3 | 1995–2000 | 15 million |
| 銀河英雄伝説 (Legend of the Galactic Heroes) | Yoshiki Tanaka | Japanese | 14 | 1982–1989 | 15 million |
| The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency | Alexander McCall Smith | English | 23 | 1999–present | 15 million |
| Der Regenbogenfisch (Rainbow Fish) | Marcus Pfister | German | | 1992–present | 15 million |
| The Riftwar Cycle | Raymond E. Feist | English | 25 | 1982–present | 15 million |
| The Thrawn trilogy | Timothy Zahn | English | 3 | 1991–93 | 15 million |
| Wiedźmin (The Witcher) | Andrzej Sapkowski | Polish | 9 | 1990–2013 | 15 million |
| 14ひきのシリーズ (The family of fourteen) | Kazuo Iwamura | Japanese | | 1983–present | 15 million |