Best Selling Black Books

This is a corpus of best selling books by Black authors from 2004 through September, 2021. The database includes backlist titles published earlier, but the sales data is from 2004 to September 2021. This was created as a part of an assignment to create a LibGuide for the Pratt Library and Information Studies program.

We defined "best selling" - which is a subjective term in publishing - as books that have sold over fifty-thousand (50,000) copies. We compiled book titles from a combination of best-sellers lists (e.g., The New York Times), publically available lists of books by Black authors from a variety of literary organizations, and by searching the sales of well-known Black authors on NPD Bookscan.

We're sure that we missed some best-selling books by Black authors but to our knowledge this is the first collection of high selling books by Black authors based on actual sales. We hope this will be used as a resource by writers, publishers, marketers, librarians, and anyone interested in the history and legacy of successful Black writers in book publishing.

Note: RTD means 'Retail Sales To Date', and YTD means 'Yearly Sales To Date.' Each column can be sorted by ascending or descending order, or by category, including gender (female or male), type of book (fiction, non-fiction, or poetry), publisher, author, format, imprint, etc.

Imprint

  • Harperone 3
  • Amistad Press 2
  • William Morrow & Company 2
  • Harper Perennial 1
  • Harpercollins 1

Gender

  • Female 5
  • Male 4

Type

  • Non-fiction · 9 ✖

Publisher

  • Harpercollins Publishers · 9 ✖

Format

  • Trade Paperback · 9 ✖
ISBN ▼ Title Type Author Gender Publisher Format Publication Date Imprint RTD Sales YTD Sales
9780060646912 A Testament of Hope: the Essential Writings and Speeches Non-fiction Martin Luther King Male Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2003-04-29 Harperone 56703 3794
9780060959470 All About Love: New Visions Non-fiction Bell Hooks Female Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2018-01-30 William Morrow & Company 271804 48866
9780061357909 The Measure of a Man Non-fiction Sidney Poitier Male Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2007-01-26 Harperone 625216 787
9780062282712 Bad Feminist Non-fiction Roxane Gay Female Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2014-08-05 Harper Perennial 281311 9575
9780062363602 Hidden Figures: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race Non-fiction Margot Lee Shetterly Female Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2016-12-06 William Morrow & Company 554496 15128
9780062505521 I Have a Dream - Special Anniversary Edition: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World Non-fiction Martin Luther King Male Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2003-04-29 Harperone 52205 2545
9780062662378 Hidden Figures Young Readers' Edition Non-fiction Margot Lee Shetterly Female Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2016-11-29 Harpercollins 279046 34782
9780064461818 Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad Non-fiction Ann Petry Female Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2007-08-14 Amistad Press 57350 8
9780064472883 Bad Boy: a Memoir Non-fiction Walter Dean Myers Male Harpercollins Publishers Trade Paperback 2020-05-12 Amistad Press 133131 3273