Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros is the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years, shifting over 2.7 million copies in its first week. The fantasy romance, or "romantasy," title broke records following its release in January 2025, driven by BookTok and high anticipation.
If you haven't heard of Onyx Storm – the latest novel from Rebecca Yarros – you're certainly in the minority. This highly-anticipated fantasy book was released last month and has sold more than 2.7 million copies in its first week – making it the fastest-selling novel for adults since tracking began 20 years ago.
The fastest selling book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh - and final - novel in JK Rowling's (UK) Harry Potter series, which sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours (or 345,833 books per hour), following its release in the USA at 00.01 on 21 July 2007.
Is Onyx Storm the fastest selling adult book in 20 years?
Rebecca Yarros's 'Onyx Storm' Is the Fastest-Selling Adult Novel in 20 Years. The book, the third in a series, has sold 2.7 million copies in its first week, and provided yet another example of the romantasy genre's staying power. A few years ago, Rebecca Yarros almost quit writing.
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What is the #1 book ever sold?
The best-selling book of all time is The Bible, with estimates ranging from 5 to 7 billion copies sold, making it the most widely distributed book in history, followed by religious texts like The Quran and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Little Red Book). For secular books, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is often cited as the best-selling novel, with over 500 million copies, while the Harry Potter series is the best-selling book series overall.
For a period of several years, they indicated a first printing with a number line that began with “2”. Anness Publishing uses a number line that reads 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2. The 1 indicates that this is a first printing. This same number line in a third print run would look like this: 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4.
Why do you see 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page of many books? that tells you it is the fourth printing. It is very common for a publisher to print only a few thousand copies of the book in the first printing.
The 10 most popular books often feature high sales and cultural impact, with classics like Don Quixote, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Little Prince topping lists, alongside modern phenomena like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, showing a mix of religious texts (Bible, Quran), fantasy epics, classic literature, and children's stories dominating global readership.
Hormozi just made history. He broke the Guinness World Record for most books sold in 24 hours. (Yes, even beating J.K. Rowling for the #1 spot.) He sold 2.9M+ copies of his new book in ONE day.
In books, especially romance, MMF stands for a love triangle or polyamorous relationship involving two Men and one Female (Male/Male/Female), where the specific order signifies the nature of their interactions: the two men also have a romantic/sexual relationship with each other (often called "crossed swords"), distinguishing it from MFM, where the men are only romantically involved with the woman and not each other.
There's no single "spiciest" dark romance book, as spiciness is subjective, but popular contenders known for extreme heat and dark themes include Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton, Shantel Tessier's L.O.R.D.S. series, Fairy Tale by Veronica Lancet, and titles by Rina Kent (like God of Malice) and K.A. Knight (like Den of Vipers), often praised on TikTok (#BookTok) and Goodreads for intense, boundary-pushing content, though trigger warnings are crucial.
The #1 best-selling book of all time is The Bible, with estimated sales/distribution exceeding 5 billion copies, followed by religious texts like the Quran and Quotations from Chairman Mao (Little Red Book). For fiction, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is often cited as the best-selling novel, with around 500 million copies sold, though modern series like Harry Potter also dominate sales.
A first-edition, uncorrected proof copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the first book) sold for around £11,000 (over $13,000 USD) at auction in February 2024, after being bought in 1997 for just 40p (about 50 cents) as a "throw-in" with other books. Another signed first edition of the same book sold for £13,000 in 2001, setting a record at the time, according to Gazette and Herald.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally. The ISBN is intended for a monographic publication: text that stands on its own as a product, whether printed, audio or electronic.
A "first edition" book refers to the initial publication of a book, whether it's a hardcover or paperback version, a limited edition, or a special release. It represents the earliest form of the book that was distributed to the public.
