No, ‘Little Women’ is not on the list and the population is doomed.
If you thought the Harry Potter madness of the early noughties was bad – turns out, it still doesn’t have a peg on the most popular book of all time.
The LoveReading blog has catalogued a list of the best selling books of all time – and some are bound to surprise you.
A few killer classics are in there — To Kill A Mockingbird, Gone With The Wind — but you might be a bit confused by other contenders.
Read more: Nine things you need to know about To Kill A Mockingbird.
The 25 best-selling books of all time.
The Qur’an took out top spot — having sold more than THREE BILLION copies — while The Bible came in second, with over 2.5 billion sold.
Coming in third place was Quotations from Mao Tsetung (800 million copies sold), while fourth position was awarded to Don Quixote (500 million).
Read more: The 39 best books of all time.
Considering The Qur’an was first published in the year 644, it does have a considerable jump (just a millennium or so) on the majority of the pack.
So, don’t be too disappointed if your favourite didn’t make the list.
What’s your favourite book?
Read more:
This book already has more pre-orders than the final Harry Potter book.
Top Comments
THE BIBLE is the best selling book of all time, BY A LONG SHOT. Many researchers show upwards of 6.9 BILLION COPIES. Very few best selling lists even have the Quran on them at all.
People have bought them, but have they read them? I've only read three of them, and I've actually bought two of those.
Out of the 12* I own, I've read all of them.
*12 counting the Harry Potter books and the Millennium Trilogy as one book each as per the list, but I have read and I own the complete series. Admittedly I haven't read the entire Bible, but I have certainly read reasonable proportion of it.