The 10 Best-Selling Book Series Of All Time

The list here is based on the top ten bestselling book series as listed in World Atlas. Here are the top 10 best-selling book series of all time.

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[RonHarrisMe]

I remember, back way before the movies, I had this friend I worked with. He was a burly guy around 50 years old, some would call him a mans, man. I walked into his office, and I noticed he was so enthralled in this book, he had no idea I had even entered the room. I asked him, what was he reading... and without a single pause the extremely lengthy and with immense detail, the explanation began, he said "Harry Potter", and he literally started from the beginning very excited to tell me about Harry's parents, what happened to them, his childhood..etc.. etc. If you could see this man's eyes as he was telling me this story...the excitement. I think he enjoyed telling me about it as much as he liked reading it. I kind of knew then...this book was something special.

[HeavyTopspin]

Just have to love that LOTR isn't on the list because of a "lack of comprehensive sales figures", but the publisher estimates over 600M sold, which would put it on top of this list.

[MrOwl-mwfb]

Another fantastic Whistler production from Simon and the fantastic crew he keeps in the basement.

[heathergarnham]

Almost expected Babysitter Club to be on here, pretty much every girl I knew growing up read them.

[champagneredneck]

10.) Noddy

9.) Nancy Drew

8.) The Railway Series

7.) San Antonio Series

6.) Robert Langdon

5.) Sweet Valley High

4.) Berenstein Bears

3.) Perry Mason

2.) Goosebumps

1.) Harry Potter

[pamelamays]

Because Harry Potter kept toppling the New Times best seller, list beating out books written for an an adult audience, the series had to be placed in a whole different category.

[jackrotz]

I remember when Goosebumps were very popular. They were spooky, and at times silly.
I was in 6th grade, I believe, when i started collecting them, and now about 100 or so are still in my basement bookself..

So yeah, I'm not surprised by the number 2 spot, it's deserved. Everyone was reading them! even the kids who couldn't read!!!

[TRquiet]

I like how he mentions the critical dismissal of Sweet Valley High books by subtly misidentifying them as Sweet Water High.

[TouchofShunshine]

I love The Berenstain Bears as a child. I read them over and over.

[Adrian-zdcs]

Grew up on and loving The Berenstain Bears then as a young adult became a fan of Goosebumps.
Clearly, I am not alone 🤗👍

[theblitz]

I was surprised neither The Secret Seven nor The Famous Five appeared.

[drzarkov]

Three that I was surprised didn't make the list were the 18 Allan Quartermain, 20+ Sherlock Holmes, 40+ Tarzan series. But as population increases, more newer series will outsell the classics.

[davidrenton]

not sure about the numbers here, Agatha Christie has sold upto on some accounts 4 billion books, surely Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple form a significant % of that

[pamelamays]

I used to read Goosebumps novels with my now adult son.
As a child I got into The Bobsey Twins.
Way back in the day my Mom read Nancy Drew books.
Little House is yet another great book series.
And let us not forget the dozens of books featuring characters created by Agatha Christie.

[michaelpipkin]

I remember having 1, 400 Goosebumps books.
It might have been 30, 000. I'm not sure...

Can you please do a MegaProjects on the history of Monster Trucks?

[Blaqjaqshellaq]

The success of the Noddy series was due not just to Enid Blyton's writing but also to the illustrations by Harmsen van der Beek.
While several authors wrote under the pen name Carolyn Keene, most of the early Nancy Drew books were the work of Mildred Wirt.

[cynthiasimpson]

I've got a bunch of the Perry Mason books, which I got through haunting used book stores. Erle Stanley Gardner was an attorney before he started writing books, and was a founding member of the Court of Last Resort, about which he wrote a book with the same title, and which I've also got.

[foxhoundp]

I didn't like Thomas as a kid but my nephew did, I have to admit it was pretty cool riding on an actual train with Thomas and Percy on each end 😂 so cute and kinda cool they can put all that working animatronics in the front and still have a functional engine that can pull at least 10 passenger cars.

[aceundead]

The Barenstein/Barenstain Bears is weird. Growing up i was obsessed with the books until around 8-10 then as a teen it reappeared in my life, and i could swear the name had changed, because i distinctly remember it being Barenstein and the argument around it being whether it was said "stine, or steen."

[IamSnowbird]

I only read a few Nancy Drew books. I really loved another series by the same publisher, Cherry Ames.