The ten best-selling individual books of all time, from A Tale of Two Cities to The Da Vinci Code, ranked by estimated copies sold, excluding religious and political texts.
A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens is the best-selling individual book, at more than 200 million copies, just ahead of The Little Prince at 200 million. The Alchemist is third at 150 million. The ranking uses Wikipedia's list of best-selling books, which excludes religious and political texts, as of October 2026.
A few individual books have sold 100 million copies or more. This list ranks the ten best-selling single titles (books, not series) by estimated copies sold worldwide. Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, listed at more than 200 million copies, edges out Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince at 200 million. Below The Alchemist and the first Harry Potter novel, four books share the 100 million mark. Religious, ideological and political books are excluded, as are books whose sales are too poorly documented to estimate.
Charles Dickens's novel of London and Paris before and during the French Revolution was first published in weekly installments in 1859. Wikipedia lists it at more than 200 million copies, the highest figure for any single book on its list, which puts it just ahead of The Little Prince. It opens with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
Written and illustrated by the French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and first published in 1943, The Little Prince has sold an estimated 200 million copies, second only to A Tale of Two Cities, whose figure is listed as more than 200 million. It follows a young prince who visits a series of planets.
Paulo Coelho's allegorical novel about Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd who travels to the Egyptian pyramids in search of treasure, was first published in Portuguese in 1988. It has sold an estimated 150 million copies, the most of any book on this list by a living author.
The first Harry Potter novel, published in 1997, has sold an estimated 120 million copies, the most of any single volume in the series. The seven-book series as a whole has sold more than 600 million copies.
Agatha Christie's 1939 mystery, in which ten strangers on an island are killed one by one according to a nursery rhyme, has sold an estimated 100 million copies, the highest figure for any mystery novel on the list. It is one of four books tied at 100 million.
Written in the mid-18th century and first printed in 1791, Cao Xueqin's novel of the rise and fall of the aristocratic Jia family is regarded as one of the greatest works of Chinese literature. It has sold an estimated 100 million copies, tied with three other books, and is the subject of a field of study known as Redology.
J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 tale of Bilbo Baggins's journey to the Lonely Mountain has sold an estimated 100 million copies, tied with three other books. It introduced Middle-earth; The Lord of the Rings is not ranked here because the source treats its sales, published as one, three or six volumes, as too uncertain to list.
Lewis Carroll's 1865 story of a girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a world of talking animals and playing cards has sold an estimated 100 million copies, tied with three other books on this list.
H. Rider Haggard's 1887 adventure novel about the immortal African queen Ayesha, "She-who-must-be-obeyed" has sold an estimated 83 million copies, the highest figure on the list below the 100 million mark.
Dan Brown's 2003 thriller, in which the symbologist Robert Langdon unravels a conspiracy involving the Holy Grail and the works of Leonardo da Vinci, has sold an estimated 80 million copies and was adapted into a 2006 film starring Tom Hanks.
| # | Name | Author | First published | Original language | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens | Charles Dickens | 1859 | English | Historical fiction |
| 2 | The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | 1943 | French | Fantasy, children's fiction |
| 3 | The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho | Paulo Coelho | 1988 | Portuguese | Fantasy, adventure |
| 4 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone — J. K. Rowling | J. K. Rowling | 1997 | English | Fantasy |
| 5 | And Then There Were None — Agatha Christie | Agatha Christie | 1939 | English | Mystery |
| 6 | Dream of the Red Chamber — Cao Xueqin | Cao Xueqin | 1791 | Chinese | Family saga |
| 7 | The Hobbit — J. R. R. Tolkien | J. R. R. Tolkien | 1937 | English | Fantasy |
| 8 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — Lewis Carroll | Lewis Carroll | 1865 | English | Fantasy, absurdist fiction |
| 9 | She: A History of Adventure — H. Rider Haggard | H. Rider Haggard | 1887 | English | Adventure |
| 10 | The Da Vinci Code — Dan Brown | Dan Brown | 2003 | English | Mystery thriller |
Books are ranked by the approximate sales figure in the best-selling individual books tables of Wikipedia's List of best-selling books, read on 18 October 2026. The figures are estimated copies sold, not printed, in any language; comics, textbooks and e-books are not counted. Each entry is one title, not a series, and series are ranked on a separate page. Religious, ideological, philosophical and political books (for example the Bible, the Qur'an and Quotations from Chairman Mao) are excluded because their print runs come from many unrelated publishers over centuries and cannot be estimated reliably. Books with claimed high sales but no reliable estimate, such as The Count of Monte Cristo, Don Quixote, Journey to the West and The Lord of the Rings, are also left out, following the source. A Tale of Two Cities is listed as more than 200 million and ranks above The Little Prince at 200 million. Four books are tied at 100 million (And Then There Were None, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Hobbit and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland); they are shown in the source's order, and their positions within the tie carry no ranking difference.
According to Guinness World Records, the Bible, with an estimated 5 to 7 billion copies sold and distributed. This list leaves out religious and political texts, whose sales cannot be estimated reliably, and ranks individual titles with sourced sales estimates.
Books such as the Bible and the Qur'an have been printed by many unrelated publishers over centuries, so reliable sales figures do not exist. Wikipedia's list, which this page follows, excludes all religious, ideological, philosophical and political books for that reason.
Its sales are too uncertain to rank. It has been published as one volume, three volumes and six volumes, and the figures quoted for it are estimates rather than documented sales, so the source excludes it.
More than 600 million copies, making it the best-selling book series. The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, accounts for an estimated 120 million of them.
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