bestseller

American  

[best-sel-er] / ˈbɛstˈsɛl ər /

Or best seller

noun

• bestsellers
  plural

1. a book that is among those having the largest sales during a given period.

2. any product that among those of its kind is selling particularly well at a given time.

   This car was a bestseller last year.

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bestseller British  

/ ˌbɛstˈsɛlə /

noun

1. a book, record, CD, or other product that has sold in great numbers, esp over a short period

2. the author of one or more such books, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bestsellerdom
  noun
• best-selling
  adjective
• bestselling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bestsellers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bestseller

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90; best + seller

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bestseller bestsellers

When an oversize book was published in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, and rose quickly to the No. 1 spot on nonfiction bestseller lists, its title seemed a perfect two-word distillation of America’s mood.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

It was a bestseller when it first hit bookshop shelves nearly 10 years ago — and after Nolan mentioned Wilson’s work in an early interview promoting his big-screen adaption, its sales spiked.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Last month, the Atlantic wrote that “Daggermouth,” a self-published dystopian romance whose rights were snapped up by Simon & Schuster, and which has consistently topped bestseller lists, contained hallmarks of AI use.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

His original zero-based budgeting message had pillars like “give every dollar a job,” and was outlined in 2017’s “You Need a Budget,” a Wall Street Journal bestseller.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

A recent bestseller advocated “zero tolerance” for errors and brandished the words horror, satanic, ghastly, and plummeting standards on its first page.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Actor and writer Stephen Fry's "The Odyssey" currently tops the history bestsellers on Amazon's UK website.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

Bilton is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, served as special correspondent at Vanity Fair and has worked as a producer and executive producer on several documentaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

While the New York Times bestsellers from 2025 skew in favor of the 6-by-9 trim, the popularity of 5-by-8 books appears to be on the rise.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026

Collectively, those imprints have produced more than 50 New York Times bestsellers.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2026

They read some popular psychology—Eric Berne’s Games People Play sticks in my mind, because my father still quotes from it—and bestsellers like Leon Uris’s Topaz.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove