We all know that Harry Potter is the bestselling fantasy book in history, but what about science fiction? Since there is no historical sales data, we can only guess.
According to Bowker’s list of 80 Years of Bestsellers, in the years between 1895 and 1975, Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, published in 1968, was the only “pure†work of science fiction to make the list of paperbacks that had reported publisher sales of at least 2 million copies. (Ironically, the book never made the New York Times or Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.)
If your definition of the genre is more inclusive, then you can add George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World to the list. Thanks to high school and college required reading lists, they continue to sell thousands of copies every year.
No works of science fiction appeared on Bowker’s list of bestselling hardcovers for those years. Since the market for science fiction and books in general has vastly increased in the years after 1975, it is almost certain that 2001: A Space Odyssey has been overtaken.
The likely candidates are probably from among the works of —
- Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote very successful sequels to 2001, including 2010: Odyssey Two, which was number 9 on PW list of bestselling fiction titles for 1982;
- Isaac Asimov, author of the very popular Foundation series, including Foundation’s Edge, which was number 12 on PW’s 1982 fiction list;
- Robert Heinlein, who wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, which was very popular with 1960’s college kids; and
- Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series.
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