JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling have written books that are amongst the list of the best selling books of all time. The list, topped by The Bible covers all genres and if fantasy readers ever felt that they were amongst a minority then this shows that they couldn’t be more wrong. I have listed below the top 20 selling books of all time and also included the fantasy books that appear in the top 50.

1. The Bible - between 4 and 6 billion
2. Quotations from Chairman Mao - 900 million
3. The Qur’an - 800 million
4. Don Quixote - 500 million
5. Xinhau Zidian - 400 million
6. Book of Common Prayer - 300 million
7. Pilgrim’s Progress - 250 million
8. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs - 150 million
9. Book of Mormon - 120 million
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - 117 million
11. And Then There Were None - 110 million
12. The Lord of the Rings - 100 million
13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 77 million
14. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 66 million
15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 65 million
16. The Catcher in the Rye - 65 million
17. The Da Vinci Code - 64 million
18. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 60 million
19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 58 million
20. Heidi’s Years of Wandering and Learning - 52 million

Other notable fantasy entries are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at #48 having sold between 25 and 30 million copies. This must make JK Rowling one of, if not the best selling authors of all time. I will find out who they are and post the results at a later date.