What was the best-selling book the year you were born?

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All about bestsellers

Whether you’re an avid reader or avoid books at all costs, you’ve probably heard the term ‘bestseller’ before.

Bestsellers span genres, themes and styles. Books like Heartstopper, Percy Jackson and Pride and Prejudice are all examples of them.

Bestseller lists can be a useful way of understanding not just what was popular at any given time, but what ideas and subjects society thought were important. But what makes a book a bestseller? Who decides what goes on the list, and what are the bestselling books of all time? Here, BBC Bitesize takes a look at the history of the term and some of the most popular lists.

Want to know which book topped the charts the year you were born? Take our IYKYK quiz!

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What is a bestselling book?

A bestseller is a book that has achieved commercial success by selling a large number of copies compared to other books in a specific period of time.

It can be written in any fiction genre – such as romance, fantasy or mystery – or non-fiction subjects like history and science. What they all have in common is that they're popular with readers and often celebrated by literary critics.

For example, the Hunger Games prequel Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins sold over 1.5 million English-language copies in its first week. Another example is Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which has been adapted for TV by the BBC. The four books in the series have sold over 10 million copies globally.

A close-up image of a teenage boy wearing headphones. he's standing in front of a set of bookshelves, looking down at an open book he's holding in his hands.
Around 200,000 books are published in the UK alone every year.
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How many copies do you need to sell to become a bestseller?

But it’s not just the number of sales that determines whether a book is recognised as a bestseller – it also has to appear on a bestseller list.

Newspapers and magazines publish bestseller lists ranking the books that sell the most copies in a given week using data from bookshops and online retailers. Famous lists include those by The Sunday Times, The New York Times and Publishers Weekly.

But it’s not just about raw data. To prevent authors and publishers from bulk-buying copies of a book to inflate their numbers, the editors will analyse the data themselves and filter out any anomalies.

Each list is usually divided by category. For example, the New York Times has separate lists for children’s and young adult fiction, which are further broken down by age range and whether the books are stand-alones or part of a series. Usually, about 10-15 books are featured per category, ranked by the number of sales. That’s why you might have heard phrases like ‘from the number one Sunday Times bestselling author’ before.

There’s no sales threshold a book needs to meet in order to be featured on these lists, as it’s all relative to how many copies of other books are sold. However, for standard fiction and non-fiction categories, it’s estimated that about 5,000-10,000 copies need to be sold in a single week.

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When did the New York Times bestseller list begin?

A view of a New York street lined with yellow taxis, with the glass-fronted entrance of The New York Times building in the background.
The New York Times Bestseller List is the most influential bestseller list in the USA.

This particular bestseller list was first published on 12 October 1931 - but it looked very different to the one we know today. Just five fiction and four non-fiction books were featured.

At first, it only covered books sold in New York City, but by the 1940s it had expanded to cover 14 cities across the USA. Its first national ranking was published in 1942, and by 1945 it had a standardised system based on data from bookshops across 22 cities. It wasn’t until 1984 that subdivisions were added for genres like ‘Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous’.

The exact methodology the New York Times uses is secret, which has led to controversy. It was sued by an author in 1983 for missing his book off the list despite high sales, but the paper won the case by arguing the list wasn't just about maths - it was also editorial content.

The Sunday Times Bestseller List is the closest equivalent in the UK. It launched on 14 April 1974 and was the first weekly chart for national book sales in the country. Early entries included Jaws by Peter Benchley.

While the list was dismissed by some critics who were worried it would commercialise reading, it quickly became the main standard of success in the British literary world.

A view of a New York street lined with yellow taxis, with the glass-fronted entrance of The New York Times building in the background.
The New York Times Bestseller List is the most influential bestseller list in the USA.
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Can self-published books become bestsellers?

Another source of controversy when it comes to bestseller lists is that they tend to favour hardback books from traditional publishers over mass-market paperbacks and self-published titles.

Self-published books aren’t banned from appearing on these lists. However, the fact that many are weighted towards sales from physical bookshops and large chain retailers means it’s usually harder, as self-published books are less likely to be stocked there.

It’s also worth noting that sales of e-books and audiobooks aren’t taken into account by all bestseller lists. While the New York Times tracks print, e-book and audio sales, USA Today excludes audiobooks and the Sunday Times only counts print sales. This means books that rank highly on platforms like Amazon might not necessarily make it onto prestigious bestseller lists.

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What are the best-selling books of all time?

A portrait of a young Jane Austen. She is looking off to the left, wearing a pale blue dress with a necklace and bonnet.
Jane Austen's six completed novels were all published anonymously during her lifetime.

Many books we now consider classics, such as Frankenstein and Jane Eyre, were originally published before official bestseller lists existed.

However, many of these older texts have been republished in modern times, meaning we now have sales data for them. Jane Austen’s books were initially published anonymously and had limited print runs, but have since sold tens of millions of copies and spawned numerous TV and film adaptations.

It probably won’t come as a surprise that the Bible is the bestselling book of all time, having sold an estimated five to seven billion copies worldwide. It’s followed by the Qur’an, the main Islamic religious text.

When it comes to fiction, the 1,000-page Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes tops the list, followed by Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Harry Potter is the bestselling series of all time, at over 500 million copies sold.

In terms of fiction books published in the 20th century, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has sold the most copies, at around 140 million. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows holds that title for books published in the 21st century, at over 65 million copies.

The success of the Harry Potter books actually prompted the New York Times to create a separate list for children’s fiction in 2000, because they were dominating the adult list.

A portrait of a young Jane Austen. She is looking off to the left, wearing a pale blue dress with a necklace and bonnet.
Jane Austen's six completed novels were all published anonymously during her lifetime.
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What was the bestselling novel the year you were born?

We've compiled a list of the bestselling fiction books of every year since the New York Times list began in 1931. Rather than looking at raw sales data, we've based this on the books that spent the longest in the chart each year.

Keep in mind that, until 1941, the list only took into account sales from New York City. For 2011 onwards, results are based on combined print and e-book sales, but for all previous years only hardcover sales were counted.

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Bestsellers of the 1930s

A black and white photograph of Margaret Mitchell. sitting at a desk and writing with a pen on paper.
Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind.
  • 1931: Maid in Waiting by John Galsworthy
  • 1932: The Fountain by Charles Langbridge Morgan
  • 1933: Anthony Adverse by Harvey Allen
  • 1934: So Red the Rose by Stark Young
  • 1935: Europa by Robert Briffault
  • 1936: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • 1937: Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts
  • 1938: The Citadel by A. J. Cronin
  • 1939: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A black and white photograph of Margaret Mitchell. sitting at a desk and writing with a pen on paper.
Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind.
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Bestsellers of the 1940s

A black and white photograph of George Orwell, who's looking directly at the camera with a closed-lipped smile. There's a BBC microphone next to him.
George Orwell, author of works including Animal Farm and 1984.
  • 1940: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
  • 1941: The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin
  • 1942: The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
  • 1943: The Robe by Lloyd Douglas
  • 1944: Strange Fruit by Lilian Smith
  • 1945: The Green Years by A. J. Cronin
  • 1946: The Hucksters by Frederic Wakeman
  • 1947: Gentleman’s Agreement by Laura F. Hobson
  • 1948: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
  • 1949: Point of No Return by John P. Marquard
A black and white photograph of George Orwell, who's looking directly at the camera with a closed-lipped smile. There's a BBC microphone next to him.
George Orwell, author of works including Animal Farm and 1984.
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Bestsellers of the 1950s

A black and white photograph of Agatha Christie, who seems to be laughing while looking directly at the camera.
Agatha Christie is the second-bestselling author of all time, after William Shakespeare.
  • 1950: The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson
  • 1951: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
  • 1952: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
  • 1953: Desiree by Annemarie Selinko
  • 1954: Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson
  • 1955: The View from Pompey’s Head by Hamilton Basso
  • 1956: The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Connor
  • 1957: Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
  • 1958: Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
  • 1959: Exodus by Leon Uris
A black and white photograph of Agatha Christie, who seems to be laughing while looking directly at the camera.
Agatha Christie is the second-bestselling author of all time, after William Shakespeare.
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Bestsellers of the 1960s

Author John le Carré standing against a mountainous background next to the sea. He's looking directly at the camera and has one hand on his hip.
John Le Carré is known for novels including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
  • 1960: Hawaii by James Michener
  • 1961: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
  • 1962: Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
  • 1963: The Group by Mary McCarthy
  • 1964: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
  • 1965: The Source by James Michener
  • 1966: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
  • 1967: The Arrangement by Elia Kazan
  • 1968: Airport by Arthur Hailey
  • 1969: The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Author John le Carré standing against a mountainous background next to the sea. He's looking directly at the camera and has one hand on his hip.
John Le Carré is known for novels including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
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Bestsellers of the 1970s

A close-up image of Colleen McCullough. She's smiling broadly directly at the camera, and appears to be sitting on a bed against a plain wall.
Australian novelist Colleen McCullough's second novel, Thorn Birds, sold over 30 million copies.
  • 1970: Love Story by Erich Segel
  • 1971: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
  • 1972: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
  • 1973: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
  • 1974: Burr by Gore Vidal
  • 1975: The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey and Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow
  • 1976: Trinity by Leon Uris
  • 1977: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
  • 1978: Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon
  • 1979: The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum
A close-up image of Colleen McCullough. She's smiling broadly directly at the camera, and appears to be sitting on a bed against a plain wall.
Australian novelist Colleen McCullough's second novel, Thorn Birds, sold over 30 million copies.
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Bestsellers of the 1980s

A black and white image of author Stephen King. he's leaning towards the camera, wearing a shirt and jacket with a slight smile.
Stephen King, known as the 'King of Horror', has written over 70 books.
  • 1980: The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
  • 1981: Noble House by James Clavell
  • 1982: The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum
  • 1983: The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré
  • 1984: The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum
  • 1985: Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
  • 1986: It by Stephen King
  • 1987: Fine Things by Danielle Steele
  • 1988: The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy
  • 1989: The Russia House by John le Carré
A black and white image of author Stephen King. he's leaning towards the camera, wearing a shirt and jacket with a slight smile.
Stephen King, known as the 'King of Horror', has written over 70 books.
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Bestsellers of the 1990s

A colour photo of JK Rowling at a book signing. She's sitting at a desk and smiling at the camera, with bookshelves in the background.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling is the fastest-selling book in history.
  • 1990: The Plains of Passage by Jean M Auel
  • 1991: Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley
  • 1992: The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
  • 1993: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
  • 1994: The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
  • 1995: The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
  • 1996: Primary Colours by Joe Klein
  • 1997: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  • 1998: The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
  • 1999: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
A colour photo of JK Rowling at a book signing. She's sitting at a desk and smiling at the camera, with bookshelves in the background.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling is the fastest-selling book in history.
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Bestsellers of the 2000s

Author Dan Brown is smiling directly at the camera. He's an older man with grey hair, wearing a smart jacket and shirt.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown remained on The New York Times Bestseller List for over two-and-a-half years.
  • 2000: The Brethren by John Grisham
  • 2001: A Painted House by John Grisham; On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark; Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson; Valhalla Rising by Clive Cussler; Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
  • 2002: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
  • 2003: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
  • 2004: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
  • 2005: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
  • 2006: For One More Day by Mitch Albom
  • 2007: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  • 2008: The Appeal by John Grisham
  • 2009: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Author Dan Brown is smiling directly at the camera. He's an older man with grey hair, wearing a smart jacket and shirt.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown remained on The New York Times Bestseller List for over two-and-a-half years.
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Bestsellers of the 2010s

A cllose-up photo of Delia Owens, who is an older woman with shoulder-length grey hair. The trees in the background are blurred.
Zoologist and conservationist Delia Owens was an internationally bestselling non-fiction author before her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, was published.
  • 2010: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
  • 2011: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  • 2012: Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
  • 2013: Inferno by Dan Brown
  • 2014: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  • 2015: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
  • 2016: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
  • 2017: Camino Island by John Grisham
  • 2018: The President Is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
  • 2019: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
A cllose-up photo of Delia Owens, who is an older woman with shoulder-length grey hair. The trees in the background are blurred.
Zoologist and conservationist Delia Owens was an internationally bestselling non-fiction author before her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, was published.
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Bestsellers of the 2020s

Author Andy Weir is sitting in front of a microphone with his hands clasped before him, smiling broadly and wearing a baseball cap.
Andy Weir is known for science-fiction novels The Martian, Artemis and Project Hail Mary.
  • 2020: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  • 2021: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
  • 2022: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  • 2023: It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
  • 2024: The Women by Kristin Hannah
  • 2025: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Author Andy Weir is sitting in front of a microphone with his hands clasped before him, smiling broadly and wearing a baseball cap.
Andy Weir is known for science-fiction novels The Martian, Artemis and Project Hail Mary.
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