Talk:List of best-selling books

Number of copies of sold of Your Erroneous Zones is erroneous

Number of copies sold seems to be wrong. This source says it's 100 million sold worldwide:

Yairharel (talk) 00:55, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

Don Quixote - Let's just get this over with

DemianStratford is the latest user to add Don Quixote to this list with the widely contested figure of 500 million. The consensus ever since 2008 has been to exclude Don Quixote from the list due to it lacking a comprehensive, reliable sales figure and the "500 million" figure lacking basis in reliable sources. Yet, over the course of four days since the most recent addition, only two challenges have been made, both of which were promptly reverted. And this isn't the first time someone has added this entry; the last time it was added in September 2023, I reverted it due to it lacking reliable sources nine days after the edit in question. Right now, I object to including Don Quixote to this list. I want to try to settle this once and for all without turning this into an edit war.

To Demian's credit, he does supply sources that are more reputable than the ones I previously reverted. However, this does not mean they are good enough. Looking at the sources include, we got a random trivia game by Britannica, a BBC listicle aimed at children, a listicle from the questionable Business Insider, a listicle by a book publisher that might suffer from citogenesis, a random writer's advice blog, and a listicle from a website that specializes in geography. I do not find these to be sufficient sources for backing up the "500 million" claim, especially since such a figure would be unheard of for a book. Exceptional claims require exceptional sources.

However, the main reason why I believe Don Quixote should not be included is Professor William Egginton's The Man Who Invented Fiction. While he never mentions the claimed 500 million sales figure, in footnote 20 of the introduction, Egginton addresses the similar claim that Cervantes is the "most widely read author of all time" and that Don Quixote is the "most published work of literature in history". I believe his argument strongly applies in this discussion as it pretty much serves as an academic vindication of our rationale since 2008. Egginton states that while the claim bestseller status of Don Quixote has a "rational basis" due to the sheer number of editions and translations over the span of 400 years, it is a "speculative and ultimately unprovable claim" and "we cannot how know how many copies have been made, sold, or, much less, read in the four hundred years since Don Quixote was first published". Egginton is a university professor, prolific writer, and researcher that specializes in Spanish literature and he is saying that we don't know the actual sales figure of Don Quixote. The claimed figure of 500 million is unverifiable.

TL;DR the sources used for the latest attempt including Don Quixote are insufficient to actually support a questionable sales figure that, as corroborated by a prolific university professor, is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty. As such, I move to revert this and any additional attempt at including Don Quixote in the list unless an excellent, high-quality source can be found declaring once-and-for-all the sales figure of the novel. Lazman321 (talk) 05:11, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

There is unlikely to ever be such a source for that or Tale of Two Cities as given at the moment. We really need a FAQ.

Please feel free to remove any entry you feel is insufficiently well sourced. We can discuss here if there is disagreement.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:22, 9 May 2024 (UTC).

I found this source which puts the number at around 60 million, a much more realistic estimate. 500 million is just preposterous for a non-religious book and any source claiming such a high number cannot be taken seriously unless they provide some hard evidence.-- Adriano 7 (talk) 11:29, 17 May 2024 (UTC).

Another dubious claim The Ginger Man

While our 45 million is less than some claims for this book (60 million is the most I've seen) not only is this prima facie a very unlikely figure, in 2010 the touted figure was over 2 million. Adding to the uncertainty in this case the author bought the publisher. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 06:44, 9 May 2024 (UTC).

The Alchemist

Our sources are not great for this one. This article from 2014 gives a claim of 65 million, far less than the 140 million we give, though maybe it has sold another 75 million in the subsequent decade. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:18, 9 May 2024 (UTC).

Harry Potter

On June 14, 2024, I removed most of the Harry Potter books from the list. At the time, the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was said to have sold 77 million copies, and the books published afterward were said to have sold 65 million. I removed them due to the sources being, at most, questionable, seemingly written by no-name websites that are more focused on entertainment than journalism.[1][2] I also could not verify the sales figures myself through other sources. In the edit summary of my removal, I asked that if anyone disagreed, we could discuss it in the talk page.

It appears someone did disagree, as 13 days later, 198.24.95.26 (talk · contribs · WHOIS), without explanation, restored the books I had removed from this list with a source that I find to be even more questionable, considering it comes from a Wordle tool. So, to complete the process of WP:Bold, revert, discuss, I am opening up a discussion. What do you think? Should we keep or remove these books? Lazman321 (talk) 00:59, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

Started similar discussion at WP:RSN#Hypable, Fansided, and Wordsrated in list of best-selling books. Lazman321 (talk) 14:50, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

Here's the issue. If someone sees a claim missing that they "know" to be true they will add it back. This article, unfortunately, is the major source for third party claims of numbers of books sold, that are then used as sources. I happen to believe that the HP claims are substantially correct, as it is a modern book published by a reputable publisher. However some of the other top ranked items are almost certainly wrong, in some cases I have spent considerable time researching them. I believe that we need an RFC to resolve these longstanding issues, and if necessary an AFD. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 15:41, 4 July 2024 (UTC).

I'd support an RfC, though not an AfD, to resolve the issues this list currently has. In the meantime, I've removed the Harry Potter entries. Lazman321 (talk) 16:19, 10 July 2024 (UTC)