best selling books in history

Legendary English mystery novelist Agatha Christie wrote the thrilling And Then There Were None, the fifth bestselling book in history with over 100 million copies to date. Originally titled Ten Little Niggers after the British blackface song which plays a major role in the storys plot, the book was released in the United States as And Then There Were None the final five words in the original American version of the song. The story goes that ten people who have all killed another person in some way are invited to an island where they are slowly killed off themselves. Christies masterpiece, this novel is the best selling mystery book in history.

Though the other Harry Potter books all made the list, they have been omitted to keep the list from being monotonous. At positions 11 and 1418, they sold between 5065 million copies each. The first book in this sevenpart fantasy series, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone Sorcerers Stone in the U.S. was J.K. Rowlings first published novel. Twelve publishing houses turned the book down before one finally accepted it. Rowlings writing in this first book has been compared to Ancient Greek poet Homer, childrens author Roald Dahl, and romance writer Jane Austen. As a series, Harry Potter is the bestselling book series in history.

Le Petit Prince known in English as The Little Prince is the 1943 novella of French aristocrat Antoine de SaintExupery. The third mosttranslated book in the world its in over 250 languages and dialects, this novella tells the story of a lonely young alien prince who fell to Earth. Though geared towards children, Le Petit Prince has adult themes especially related to the bizarreness of the adult world which make it a joy for anyone to read.

The second best selling book though sold as a series of all time is The Lord of the Rings trilogy pack of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Published individually, The Hobbit sold 140.6 million copies but is omitted from the list just as the remainder of the Harry Potter books were. Selling over 150 million copies, J.R.R. Tolkiens fantasy novels follow the hobbit Frodo, wizard Gandalf, and their compatriots as they set about to save their land of MiddleEarth. The book series is so popular in Great Britain it was voted by the people as the Nations BestLoved Novel in the BBCs The Big Read competition. Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice was number two.

The best selling novel in history is A Tale of Two Cities by English author Charles Dickens. Written as a critique of English society, the novel largely takes place in Paris before and during the French Revolution. Depicting the French peasantrys dissatisfaction with French aristocrats in the years leading up to the revolution and then their dissatisfaction with the revolutionaries brutality towards said aristocrats, Dickens wrote the book as a parallel of British society in the mid19th century.

Miguel de Cervantes novel about a man who becomes so infatuated with tales of knights that he decides to become one is one of the first novels ever written, originally published in 1612. Quixotes misadventures as he travels across the Spanish countryside seeking wrongs to right and downtrodden people to uplift have amused and enthralled generations of readers, and gave us the idiomtilting at windmills"" to indicate a noble but futile endeavor.
While the novel enjoys surges in popularity now and then, especially in Spain, the sales number is a guess. It is the oldest book on this list, so its had a long time to accrue sales. There is, of course, no way to tally sales from the 1600s, so although some sources suggest that this has sold 500 million copies, theres no way anyone could know for certain. Weve placed it at this point on the list as a book that has had a great deal of worldwide popularity over a great span of time, but with an indeterminate total sales number.