Bestseller lists

If you're strolling down the Marylebone High Street in London, you'll stumble across a popular bookstore called Daunt Books. Inside, sunlight pours through stained glass windows, dappling rows of books organized by country, rather than theme, to appeal to armchair travelers who want to explore the world through reading.  Read more

In 1983, William Blatty-author of The Exorcist-sued the New York Times.1 His lawsuit alleged that the Times had incorrectly excluded his latest novel, Legion (a sequel to The Exorcist), from its bestseller list-the coveted ranking that purports to show the books that have sold the most copies that week in the United States.  Read more

Julia Donaldson pictured above has extended her seemingly unstoppable record-setting run of earning eight figures through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. The £14.1m that the Gruffalo co-creator chalked up in 2021 is the 12th year on the trot she has eclipsed £10m, as she claimed the bestselling author in Britain crown for the second year in a row.  Read more

There's a sign in Danielle Steel's office that reads, "There are no miracles. There is only discipline." It's a dutiful message, and yet the sheer amount that Steel has accomplished in her five-decade career does seem like the stuff of dreams.

The average American reads 12 or 13 books a year, but with over 3 million books in print, the choices they face are staggering.

Despite the introduction of 100,000 new titles each year, only a tiny fraction of these attract a large enough readership to make The New York Times Best Seller list.  Read more