Revealed: The 100 all-time bestselling books list – how many have you read?

Popular cook joins writers such as Bill Bryson in Sunday Times list of most bought works since 1974

Three of Delia Smith’s cookbooks feature on The Sunday Times’ all-time bestsellers list.
Smith is the only chef to feature more than once in the top 100 of the definitive list of bestselling books in the last 50 years. The full list discloses British taste for non-fiction and self-improvement.
The list features books which have spent the most weeks on the bestsellers list, according to analysis from the last five decades.
Smith’s guides to cookery have spent hundreds of weeks gracing the top of the most-sold pile.
Her easy-to-understand style and tasty recipes make her the obvious choice for the first-time cook, with scores of students given a copy as a moving-out present.
Complete Cookery Course, the author’s book from 1982, sits third in the definitive list of Sunday Times bestsellers.
Non-fiction features heavily, with Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time topping the rankings, with 264 weeks spent on bestseller lists.
It gives an overview of theoretical physics, including Hawking’s own work on black holes.
Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari’s comprehensive popular science tome, was named 10th on the overall list, with Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography, about the political consequences of national boundaries, at number 11.
Bill Bryson’s humorous travel books and memoirs boast five titles on the overall list – the most of any author – with Notes from a Small Island totalling 225 weeks as a bestseller.
The classic book about quirks of British life sits comfortably in fourth place.
Memoirs are particularly prominent, with the Irish-American writer Frank McCourt’s brutal portrait of his upbringing, Angela’s Ashes, ranking at number five in the list.
Biographical volumes such as Wild Swans by Jung Chang, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, and Adam Kay’s bombastic retelling of life as a junior doctor, This Is Going to Hurt, also feature in the top 20.
Dave Pelzer’s book about his abusive childhood, A Child Called “It”, was also ranked as one of the most popular books of the past 50 years, peaking at number 78.
Interestingly, fiction does not predominate on the list of lists – however, some novels have earned a place in the overall rankings.
The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman, is among the top 20 bestselling bestsellers, at number 19.
Other beach-friendly page turners feature, including Dan Brown’s international phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, and the comic hit Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding.
Guides to life and diet litter bookshelves across the country, according to the data on the bestsellers of the past 50 years.
Rosemary Conley’s Complete Hip and Thigh Diet became a hit with its promise to help people purge weight from specific parts of their body, and it ranked number nine on the overall list of bestsellers.
In the top 20 was Vex King’s more recent guide to self-care and “overcoming toxic energy”, Good Vibes, Good Life – ranking at number 18.
James Clear’s Atomic Habits was a must-buy, and lower down the list the Canadian author and commentator Jordan B Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, which became popular among young men, also features.
Some children’s stories have stood the test of time, and remain on the shelves of adults who are still drawn to their humour, not least The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾, by Sue Townsend.
On the more serious side, Richard Adams’s Watership Down also features on the list of lists.
JK Rowling’s first instalment of the never-endingly popular Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, is ranked at number 23, with its comparatively lowly position possibly a result of children’s bestseller lists being recorded differently, according to The Sunday Times.
Laura Hackett, the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times, said of the collated list of biggest bestsellers: “We are delighted to celebrate the remarkable achievements of authors who have populated the chart since 1974.
“This top 100 list not only highlights the enduring popularity of timeless works but also showcases the diverse range of genres that have captivated British readers across generations.”
Read the full list:
100. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
99. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
98. The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Philippa Perry
97. And Away… by Bob Mortimer
96. The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
95. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
94. Rosemary Conley’s Inch Loss Plan by Rosemary Conley
93. Schott’s Original Miscellany by Ben Schott
92. The Secret Barrister by The Secret Barrister
91. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
90. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
89. Chronicle of the 20th Century, edited by Derrik Mercer
88. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
87. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
86. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
85. First Man In by Ant Middleton
84. Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
82. McCarthy’s Bar by Pete McCarthy
82. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
81. Down Under by Bill Bryson
80. The Dukan Diet by Pierre Dukan
79. A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer
77. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
77. Life on Earth by David Attenborough
76. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson
75. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
74. Pinch of Nom: Everyday Light by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone
73. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
72. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
71. The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
70. The World According to Clarkson by Jeremy Clarkson
69. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
68. Writing Home by Alan Bennett
67. The Complete Yes Minister by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay
66. Rosemary Conley’s Hip and Thigh Diet by Rosemary Conley
65. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
64. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
63. Some Other Rainbow by John McCarthy and Jill Morrell
62. The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
61. Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton
60. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
59. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
58. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
57. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
56. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
55. An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan
54. Watership Down by Richard Adams
53. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
52. The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer
51. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson
50. Let Sleeping Vets Lie by James Herriot
49. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith
48. Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
47. James Herriot’s Yorkshire by James Herriot and Derry Brabbs
46. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
44. Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith
44. Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
43. The Driving Manual
42. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
41. Food Combining for Health by Doris Grant
40. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
39. Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
38. Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle
37. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
36. Alistair Cooke’s America by Alistair Cooke
35. A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen
34. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
33. Seasons of My Life by Hannah Hauxwell
32. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
31. Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin
30. RHS Gardeners’ Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers by Christopher Brickell
29. Complete Theory Test for Cars and Motorcycles
28. The Little Book of Calm by Paul Wilson
27. Longitude by Dava Sobel
26. The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski
25. Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab
24. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
23. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
22. Pinch of Nom by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone
21. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
20. A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
19. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
18. Good Vibes, Good Life by Vex King
17. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
16. Atomic Habits by James Clear
15. Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course by Delia Smith
14. This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
13. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
12. The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden
11. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
10. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
9. Rosemary Conley’s Complete Hip & Thigh Diet by Rosemary Conley
8. Wild Swans by Jung Chang
7. Delia Smith’s Summer Collection by Delia Smith
6. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
5. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
4. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
3. Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course by Delia Smith
2. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray
1. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking