Best-Selling Single-Volume Books of All Time

This chart ranks the best-selling individual books (single volumes, not series) of all time by estimated copies sold, measured in millions. Figures exclude religious and ideological texts distributed for free, which are counted separately.

About This Dataset

Best-Selling Single-Volume Books of All Time
This chart ranks the best-selling individual books (single volumes, not series) of all time by estimated copies sold, measured in millions. Figures exclude religious and ideological texts distributed for free, which are counted separately.
✨ AI Insight

Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities and Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince share the top of this list at around 200 million copies each, the only single volumes to reach that mark. Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist follows at 150 million and the first Harry Potter book at 120 million. A striking feature is the age range: nineteenth-century classics sit alongside twentieth-century works and a cluster of titles tied at 100 million, including Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber and Tolkien's The Hobbit. The gentle decline from 200 million down to The Da Vinci Code at 80 million shows how a small group of enduring titles has vastly outsold even famous modern bestsellers.

Source:  Wikipedia (List of best-selling books)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

🏆
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) leads with 200 in All Time.
📊
Average value in All Time: 123  ·  median: 100.
↔️
Gap in All Time: A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) is 2.5× larger than The Da Vinci Code (Brown).

Best-Selling Single-Volume Books of All Time

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Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin
⬡
Data Points
10
10 categories  ·  1 year
↑
Top Value
200
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) · All Time
◈
Metrics
1
Estimated Copies Sold (Millions)
◷
Period
All Time
Single year snapshot

Category Rankings

Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) · All Time

# Category All Time
🥇 A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) 200
🥈 The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) 200
🥉 The Alchemist (Coelho) 150
4 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling) 120
5 And Then There Were None (Christie) 100
6 Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin) 100
7 The Hobbit (Tolkien) 100
8 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) 100
9 She: A History of Adventure (Haggard) 83
10 The Da Vinci Code (Brown) 80
Statistical Summary — Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) · All Time
200
Maximum
80
Minimum
123
Average
100
Median

What This Data Shows

Auto-generated trend summaries per category

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A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Recorded 200 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
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The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery)
Recorded 200 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
The Alchemist (Coelho)
Recorded 150 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling)
Recorded 120 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
And Then There Were None (Christie)
Recorded 100 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin)
Recorded 100 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
The Hobbit (Tolkien)
Recorded 100 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)
Recorded 100 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
She: A History of Adventure (Haggard)
Recorded 83 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source
→
The Da Vinci Code (Brown)
Recorded 80 Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) in All Time.
Source

Full Data Table

10 records across 1 year

✓ 10 sourced
Category Metric All Time Source
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 200
The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 200
The Alchemist (Coelho) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 150
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 120
And Then There Were None (Christie) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 100
Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 100
The Hobbit (Tolkien) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 100
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 100
She: A History of Adventure (Haggard) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 83
The Da Vinci Code (Brown) Estimated Copies Sold (Millions) 80

Data Sources & References

All external sources cited in this dataset

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