What was the most popular book the year you were born?
If you're a book lover, you probably know the bestsellers from countless years past, and you may have even read a number of them. But do you know which book topped the global sales charts the year you were born? This list offers a unique way to find your next page-turner.
| Book | Author | Original language | First published | Approximate total sales | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Mysterious Affair at Styles | Agatha Christie | English | 1920 | no exact sales numbers available | crime fiction: mystery (novel) |
| We | Yevgeny Zamyatin | Russian | 1921 | no exact sales numbers available | science fiction: dystopian (novel) |
| Siddhartha | Hermann Hesse | German | 1922 | no exact sales numbers available | philosophical fiction (novel) |
| The Prophet | Kahlil Gibran | English | 1923 | 11,000,000 | poetry |
| A Passage to India | E. M. Forster | English | 1924 | no exact sales numbers available | political fiction (novel) |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | English | 1925 | 30,000,000 | fiction (novel) |
| The Sun Also Rises | Ernest Hemingway | English | 1926 | no exact sales numbers available | fiction (novel) |
| To the Lighthouse | Virginia Woolf | English | 1927 | no exact sales numbers available | fiction (novel) |
| Lady Chatterley's Lover | D. H. Lawrence | English | 1928 | no exact sales numbers available | fiction: erotic romance (novel) |
| Im Westen nichts Neues (All Quiet on the Western Front) | Erich Maria Remarque | German | 1929 | 20,000,000 | fiction (novel) |
| Cimarron | Edna Ferber | English | 1930 | no exact sales numbers available | political fiction: western (novel) |
| The Good Earth | Pearl S. Buck | English | 1931 | no exact sales numbers available | historical fiction (novel) |
| Как закалялась сталь (Kak zakalyalas' stal', How the Steel Was Tempered) | Nikolai Ostrovsky | Russian | 1932 | 36,400,000 | fiction (novel) |
| God's Little Acre | Erskine Caldwell | English | 1933 | 14,000,000 | fiction (novel) |
| Goodbye, Mr. Chips | James Hilton | English | 1934 | no exact sales numbers available | psychological fiction (novel) |
| Поднятая целина (Podnyataya Tselina; Virgin Soil Upturned) | Mikhail Sholokhov | Russian | 1935 | 24,000,000 | fiction (novel) |
| Gone with the Wind | Margaret Mitchell | English | 1936 | 30,000,000 | historical fiction (novel) |
| The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | English | 1937 | 100,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | English | 1938 | 30,000,000 | crime fiction: romance (novel) |
| And Then There Were None | Agatha Christie | English | 1939 | 100,000,000 | fiction: mystery (novel) |
| How Green Was My Valley | Richard Llewellyn | English | 1940 | no exact sales numbers available | historical fiction: drama (novel) |
| For Whom the Bell Tolls | Ernest Hemingway | English | 1941 | no exact sales numbers available | fiction: war story (novel) |
| The Poky Little Puppy | Janette Sebring Lowrey | English | 1942 | 15,000,000 | children's fiction: picture book |
| Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | French | 1943 | 140,000,000 | fiction (novel) |
| Strange Fruit | Lillian Smith | English | 1944 | no exact sales numbers available | historical fiction (novel) |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell | English | 1945 | 20,000,000 | political fiction: satire (novel) |
| The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care | Dr. Benjamin Spock | English | 1946 | 50,000,000 | non-fiction |
| Het Achterhuis (The Diary of a Young Girl, The Diary of Anne Frank) | Anne Frank | Dutch | 1947 | 35,000,000 | biography, autobiography |
| 人間失格 (Ningen Shikkaku; No Longer Human) | Osamu Dazai | Japanese | 1948 | 12,000,000 | fiction (novel) |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | English | 1949 | 30,000,000 | dystopian fiction: social and political science |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | C. S. Lewis | English | 1950 | 85,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | English | 1951 | 65,000,000 | fiction: realistic, coming-of-age |
| Charlotte's Web | E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams | English | 1952 | 50,000,000 | children's fiction (novel) |
| The Crucible | Arthur Miller | English | 1953 | no exact sales numbers available | play: tragedy |
| The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien | English | 1954 | 150,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | English | 1955 | 50,000,000 | fiction: general fiction (novel) |
| Peyton Place | Grace Metalious | English | 1956 | 12,100,000 | fiction (novel) |
| The Cat in the Hat | Dr. Seuss | English | 1957 | 10,500,000 | children's fiction: picture book |
| Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe | English | 1958 | 20,000,000 | historical fiction (novel) |
| Doctor Zhivago | Boris Pasternak | Russian | 1959 | no exact sales numbers available | historical fiction: romance (novel) |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | English | 1960 | 40,000,000 | fiction: thriller (novel) |
| Catch-22 | Joseph Heller | English | 1961 | 10,000,000 | historical fiction (novel) |
| A Wrinkle in Time | Madeleine L'Engle | English | 1962 | 14,000,000 | science fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | English | 1963 | 20,000,000 | children's fiction: picture book |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Roald Dahl | English | 1964 | 20,000,000 | children's fiction (novel) |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | English | 1965 | 20,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Valley of the Dolls | Jacqueline Susann | English | 1966 | 31,000,000 | fiction: romance (novel) |
| Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) | Gabriel García Márquez | Spanish | 1967 | 50,000,000 | fiction: magic realism (novel) |
| The Naked Ape | Desmond Morris | English | 1968 | 20,000,000 | anthropology, biology |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Eric Carle | English | 1969 | 43,000,000 | children's fiction (picture book) |
| Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Richard Bach | English | 1970 | 44,000,000 | fiction: parable (novella) |
| The Exorcist | William Peter Blatty | English | 1971 | 11,000,000 | horror fiction (novel) |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams | English | 1972 | 50,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Fear of Flying | Erica Jong | English | 1973 | 20,000,000 | psychological fiction: erotica (novel) |
| Jaws | Peter Benchley | English | 1974 | 20,000,000 | horror fiction (novel) |
| The Eagle Has Landed | Jack Higgins | English | 1975 | 50,000,000 | fiction: war, thriller (novel) |
| The Hite Report | Shere Hite | English | 1976 | 50,000,000 | self-help |
| The Thorn Birds | Colleen McCullough | English | 1977 | 33,000,000 | historical fiction: romance (novel) |
| Eye of the Needle | Ken Follett | English | 1978 | 10,000,000 | historical fiction: thriller (novel) |
| Flowers in the Attic | V. C. Andrews | English | 1979 | 40,000,000 | horror fiction (novel) |
| Il Nome della Rosa (The Name of the Rose) | Umberto Eco | Italian | 1980 | 50,000,000 | historical fiction: mystery (novel) |
| 窓ぎわのトットちゃん (Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window) | Tetsuko Kuroyanagi | Japanese | 1981 | 18,000,000 | autobiography, children's literature |
| The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ | Sue Townsend | English | 1982 | 20,000,000 | children's fiction (novel) |
| Pet Sematary | Stephen King | English | 1983 | no exact sales numbers available | horror fiction (novel) |
| You Can Heal Your Life | Louise Hay | English | 1984 | 50,000,000 | self-help, spirituality |
| Das Parfum (Perfume) | Patrick Süskind | German | 1985 | 15,000,000 | horror fiction (novel) |
| Love You Forever | Robert Munsch | English | 1986 | 20,000,000 | fiction: picture book |
| ノルウェイの森 (Noruwei no Mori, Norwegian Wood) | Haruki Murakami | Japanese | 1987 | 12,000,000 | fiction: romance (novel) |
| The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | Portuguese | 1988 | 65,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen R. Covey | English | 1989 | 25,000,000 | self-help |
| The Things They Carried | Tim O'Brien | English | 1990 | 2,000,000 | psychological fiction: war story (novel) |
| Sofies verden (Sophie's World) | Jostein Gaarder | Norwegian | 1991 | 40,000,000 | philosophical fiction |
| The Bridges of Madison County | Robert James Waller | English | 1992 | 60,000,000 | fiction: romance (novel) |
| The Celestine Prophecy | James Redfield | English | 1993 | 23,000,000 | religious fiction: parable (novel) |
| Guess How Much I Love You | Sam McBratney | English | 1994 | 15,000,000 | children's fiction |
| The Horse Whisperer | Nicholas Evans | English | 1995 | 16,000,000 | psychological fiction (novel) |
| Into the Wild | Jon Krakauer | English | 1996 | no exact sales numbers available | non-fiction: biography |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | J. K. Rowling | English | 1997 | 120,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | J. K. Rowling | English | 1998 | 77,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | J. K. Rowling | English | 1999 | 65,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | J. K. Rowling | English | 2000 | 65,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| Life of Pi | Yann Martel | English | 2001 | 10,000,000 | fiction: adventure (novel) |
| The Purpose Driven Life | Rick Warren | English | 2002 | 33,000,000 | non-fiction, Christian literature |
| The Da Vinci Code | Dan Brown | English | 2003 | 80,000,000 | fiction: mystery, thriller (novel) |
| 狼图腾 (Wolf Totem) | Jiang Rong | Chinese | 2004 | 20,000,000 | historical fiction (novel) |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | J. K. Rowling | English | 2005 | 65,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| The Secret | Rhonda Byrne | English | 2006 | 20,000,000 | self-help |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | J. K. Rowling | English | 2007 | 65,000,000 | fiction: fantasy (novel) |
| The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | English | 2008 | 29,000,000 | science fiction: thriller (novel) |
| Catching Fire | Suzanne Collins | English | 2009 | 21,000,000 | science fiction: thriller (novel) |
| Mockingjay | Suzanne Collins | English | 2010 | 20,000,000 | science fiction: thriller (novel) |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | E.L. James | English | 2011 | 125,000,000 | fiction: erotic romance (novel) |
| The Fault in Our Stars | John Green | English | 2012 | 23,000,000 | fiction: romance (novel) |
| The Goldfinch | Donna Tartt | English | 2013 | 3,000,000 | fiction: thriller (novel) |
| All the Light We Cannot See | Anthony Doerr | English | 2014 | 4,000,000 | historical fiction (novel) |
| The Girl on the Train | Paula Hawkins | English | 2015 | 20,000,000 | psychological fiction: thriller (novel) |
| The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck | Mark Manson | English | 2016 | 6,000,000 | self-help |
| Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman | English | 2017 | 1,800,000 | psychological fiction: romance (novel) |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | English | 2018 | 3,000,000 | coming-of-age fiction: mystery (novel) |
And there you have it—nearly 100 years of the best literature from around the world. Have you read your birth year's bestseller yet? All the massively popular books on this list promise an unforgettable reading experience.
