Many people watch a series that is usually three books long and move on to the next book or author on their reading list. Some authors, however, have series that are over 300 books long and that has helped make the top 15 best selling series of all time.
That made me wonder which book series is the best selling series of all time. There are some books that I was surprised to see on the list while others I knew I would see. What I was surprised about was how many books some of these series had.
Best Selling Series of All Time
- Harry Potter -J. K. Rowling
- Goosebumps – R. L. Stine
- Perry Mason – Erle Stanley Gardner
- Berenstain Bears – Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Choose Your Own Adventure – Multiple authors
- Sweet Valley High – Francine Pascal
- Robert Langdon – Dan Brown
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney
- Noddy – Enid Blyton
- The Railway Series – Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry
- San-Antonio – Frédéric Dard
- Nancy Drew – Carolyn Keene
- The Baby-Sitters Club – Ann Martin
- Star Wars – Multiple authors
- Fifty Shades – E. L. James
Harry Potter Tops the List
If you guessed Harry Potter to be the top-selling series of all time, then you would have been right. The seven-book series has gone on to sell over 500 million copies. Even individually, the books would be pretty high on the list as they are some of the best-selling books of all time.
R.L. Stine comes in second on the list with his popular Goosebumps series. If you were a kid growing up, then you most likely came across one of 62 novels in the series by Stine. He released all of them in from1992-1997 which is an impressive feat. Even then, I didn’t realize how popular those books are.
Third on the list is the Perry Mason series by Erle Stanley Gardner’s series which has over 80 books in the series. I have never heard or read any of the Perry Mason novels so seeing it on this list and this high is shocking. Gardner published novels in the series from 1933 to 1973, an impressive run to say the least. Following that, The Berenstain Bears is fourth on this with 184 books by different authors with over 300 million copies sold. They were published under the title Choose Your Own Adventure.
Other notable series on the list include the Robert Langton series by Dan Brown, Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene, and the Fifty Shades series by E. L. James.
Conclusion
There were a lot of surprises on this list and a bunch of books and authors I never came across. The loyalty and admiration the fans of these books and authors lets them continue the series as they please. As most readers know, it is hard saying goodbye to a beloved character and with some of the series on this list, you don’t have to!
Which books surprised you or and didn’t surprise you? What books did you think would make the top 15 best selling series of all time list but didn’t? Let us know in the comment below!
I would have thought the Hardy Boys would have made the list.
What about One Piece? It’s a series that’s definitely outsold Harry Potter.
Idk how they do manga. This information is a little outdated and until someone goes out of their way to include every form of reading material, it’s not going to change. Manga does deserve to be included and I will look into it for another article 👍
I have read the entire series of Perry Mason books. Ever heard of Rider Haggard and his “She’ series or of Leslie Charteris and his “Saint” stories. Or of High Drummond, or author James Hadley Chase?
The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child?
Who made this BS list?
One Piece literally outsold Harry Potter!
I cannot believe The Hardy Boys series is not on this list and the Nancy Drew series is.
That’s certainly not fair. The Hardy Boys books are far superior to Nancy Drew.
One very important book missing in your list is Gibran Kahlil Gibran book “The Prophet”
Shame indeed !!
Samir Mokdad,
mokdadsamir@gmail.com
Sweden.