According to an analysis of the last five decades, Stephen Hawking’s science book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes has spent most of its time on the bestseller list.
According to the Sunday Times, Hawking, who died in 2018 at the age of 76, was on the bestseller lists for 264 weeks.
Scottish author JK Rowling featured one book in the weekly top 100 list, her first Harry Potter book, while cookbook author Delia Smith caused a stir with three top 20 entries.
Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” made the magical world she created famous and is regularly referred to as one of the most important books of all time.
However, their works did not appear in the top 20 of the analysis, which sorted the titles by the number of weeks they spent on the bestseller list between 1974 and 2024.
“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” came in 23rd.
“Some bestseller lists, for example for non-fiction and children’s books, were not published weekly,” the Sunday Times said.
John Gray’s relationship books “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” and “Smith’s Complete Cooking Course” came in second and third place respectively.
Gray was on the bestseller list for 236 weeks starting in 1996 and Smith was there for 225 weeks starting in 1982.
The 83-year-old television presenter reached seventh place with “Delia Smith’s Summer Collection” and 15th place with “Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course”.
Travel writer Bill Bryson is the most frequently featured author with five titles in the top 100, with his book “Notes From A Small Island” coming in fourth.
Laura Hackett, deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times, said: “For 50 years, the Sunday Times bestseller list has documented and influenced the development of British literary culture and remains the ultimate barometer of commercial success.”
“We are delighted to celebrate the remarkable achievements of authors who have featured in the charts since 1974. This top 100 list not only underlines the enduring popularity of timeless works, but also demonstrates the wide range of genres that have captivated British readers across generations.”
Frank McCourt’s My Mother’s Ashes, which documents his upbringing in poverty in Limerick, came in fifth, while Charlie Mackesy’s picture book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse came in sixth.
Jung Chang’s “Wild Swans,” about women in a Chinese family across generations, came in eighth, while Rosemary Conley’s “Complete Hip & Thigh Diet” came in ninth and Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari’s scientific work “Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind” came in tenth.
Other authors in the top 20 include Adam Kay’s NHS memoir This is Going To Hurt: Secret Diaries Of A Junior Doctor, which was adapted into a BBC series of the same name starring Ben Whishaw, and The Thursday Murder Club by Pointless creator Richard Osman.
Osman’s book is being turned into a Netflix film, starring Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Richard E. Grant and Sir Ben Kingsley.
Those who appear multiple times in the top 100 include Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding, thriller writer Dan Brown, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer and Osman.
The list was compiled from data collected weekly by Nielsen BookScan since 1988.
The top 20 best-selling books are as follows:
– A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
– Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray
– Delia Smith’s Complete Cooking Class by Delia Smith
– Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
– My Mother’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
– The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
– Delia Smith’s Summer Collection by Delia Smith
– Wild Swans by Jung Chang
– Rosemary Conley’s Complete Hip and Thigh Diet by Rosemary Conley
– Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
– Prisoners Of Geography by Tim Marshall
– The Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden
– A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
– This is going to hurt by Adam Kay
– Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course by Delia Smith
– Atomic Habits by James Clear
– The Secret Diary of 13 3/4 Year Old Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
– Good Vibes, Good Life by Vex King
– The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
– A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
The list is available on TheTimes.com.
