The Top 20 Best-Selling Novelists Ever
After hours of arduous research I have concluded that the following are the top 20 best-selling novelists of all time. Unfortunately I didn’t make the list.
20. Dan Brown – (Born: 1964) – Brown is a thriller fiction author, whose seminal work was the 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code.
Total Books Sold: circa 210 million
19. J. R. R. Tolkien – (1892-1973) – High fantasy novelist Tolkien is best remembered for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Total Books Sold: circa 240 million
18. Horatio Alger – (1832-1899) – All of 19th Century American author Horatio Alger’s books are about boys from poor backgrounds, who become successful.
Total Books Sold: circa 250 million
17. Louis L’Amour – (1908-1988) – L’Amour is the top-selling author of Western novels ever. He wrote 105 books.
Total Books Sold: circa 300 million
16. James Patterson – (Born: 1947) – This American thriller and romance author is one of the World’s bestselling living authors.
Total Books Sold: circa 310 million
15. Stephen King – (Born: 1947) – Contemporary author Stephen King is a prolific author of horror, science fiction, fantasy and supernatural fiction.
Total Books Sold: circa 350 million
14. Robert Ludlum – (1927-2001) – Ludlum wrote 27 thriller novels. His most famous being The Bourne Trilogy.
Total Books Sold: circa 370 million
13. Leo Tolstoy – (1828-1910) – This iconic Russian novelist and short story writer is best remembered for his epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
Total Books Sold: circa 380 million
12. Corin Tellado – (1927-2009) – Tellado published more than 4,000 novels. In 1994 she was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having sold the most books written in Spanish.
Total Books Sold: circa 400 million
11. Sidney Sheldon – (1917-2007) – After a successful career writing for television Sheldon started writing novels at the age of 50.
Total Books Sold: circa 400 million
10. Dean Koontz – (Born: 1945) – This American author of suspense thrillers is one of the world’s best-selling living authors.
Total Books Sold: circa 450 million
09. J.K. Rowling – (Born: 1965) – Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling is the United Kingdom’s best-selling living author.
Total Books Sold: circa 460 million
08. Jackie Collins – (Born: 1937) – English novelist Jackie Collins has written 29 novels, all of which went on to become best-sellers.
Total Books Sold: circa 500 million
07. Georges Simenon – (1903-1989) – This prolific Belgian author wrote nearly 200 novels in addition to many shorter works of fiction.
Total Books Sold: circa 550 million
06. Charles Dickens – (1812-1870) – Widely regarded as the greatest writer of the Victorian era, Dickens is also one of the biggest selling authors ever.
Total Books Sold: circa 550 million
05. Gilbert Patten – (1866-1945) – The King of the dime novels is best remembered as the author of the Frank Merriwell stories.
Total Books Sold: circa 600 million
04. Danielle Steel – (Born: 1947) – American romance and mainstream fiction novelist Danielle Steel is the World’s bestselling living novelist.
Total Books Sold: circa 800 million
03. Harold Robbins – (1916-1997) – The New York born playboy and master of publicity penned 25 bestselling novels.
Total Books Sold: circa 800 million
02. Barbara Cartland – (1901-2000) – This prolific romance author penned 723 novel over the course of her long life.
Total Books Sold: 1 billion
01. Agatha Christie – (1890-1976) – The Guinness Book of World Records lists the creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple as the best-selling novelist of all time.
Total Books Sold: 2 billion
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Ooh I love this type of post. Lots of inspiration for us there Guy. I never knew James Patterson wrote romance as well so that’s a bit of a revelation. 🙂
Me neither Heather. Have a good weekend.
Always interesting. No big shockers here except Deen Koontz. Did not think he sold that many. have a great weekend.
Koontz’s books seem to be everywhere apart from on my bookshelves. Have a good weekend John.
Interesting list, but there’s at least one obvious omission. Nora Roberts. 600 million plus. I couldn’t easily find an up to date number. I suspect you’ve not looked closely enough at the romance writers. Debbie Macomber has probably sold enough to be on the list, and there may be others.
Nora Roberts sure has sold a lot of books Jo. I suspect that the literary sources I compiled this information from largely ignored the romance genre. After all the majority of the literary establishment seems to still treat romance with disdain, this despite its ever-increasing popularity.
Erle Stanley Gardner did not make the cut?
No, not on this occasion.
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