Harry Potter Fastest-Selling Book in History

Posted on July 26, 2000

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling's fourth Harry Potter book, is the fastest-selling book in history as reported in the July 17 issue of Publishers Weekly. According to the weekly trade publication, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is outselling Publishers Weekly's #1 adult bestseller (Danielle Steele's The House on Hope Street) by approximately 100 to one. The Harry Potter books are published by Scholastic, Inc.

Released on July 8, 2000, the 3.8 million initial print-run of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the largest in publishing history. The book broke all sales records with an estimated 3 million copies sold after just 48 hours. Scholastic has gone back to press for an additional 3 million copies.

There are currently 27.6 million copies of the first three Harry Potter books in print including three hardcover novels and the paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Each of the books has held the #1 position on The New York Times adult best-seller list and for 16 weeks the titles were #1, #2 and #3 on the hardcover list and #1 on the paperback list.