Business Book Sales Statistics

• Approximately 80.64 million business and economics category print books were sold in 2021.
• This represents 25% of adult non-fiction print sales which were over 322.56 million in total.
• 2021 showed 10% rise from over 73.31 million for the business and economics category when compared to the previous FY.
• Furthermore, print sales in the business and economics category reached a 10-year high.
• This category represents the second largest adult non-fiction subject after religious texts.
• As of 2022, business & money is also ranked third within the top ebook sales categories on Amazon.
• However as of 2022, business books with a focus on personal finance & investment recorded the largest year-on-year sales declines.
• Despite these declines, as of 2022 print unit sales for the sub-category still show a 27% increase when compared to 2019.
• The business & money category was ranked sixth within the top U.S. audiobook genres as of 2017.

Best-selling business books of all time

Business and finance books are known to provide practical advice, analyze economic trends and share real-world case studies, with titles that have featured in the best-selling audiobooks of all time.

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill was published in 1937. It has sold over 70 million copies as of 2022.
• In 2007, the book was ranked sixth on BusinessWeek’s best-selling paperback business books. 
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki has sold more than 44 million copies since its 1997 publication.
• The book was featured on the New York Times bestsellers list for over six years, as of 2016
• It is claimed that the author’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show had the greatest influence on his overall sales numbers.
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
• The audio version of the book has also sold 1.5 million copies. 
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
• Annually it sells in excess of 250,000 copies.
• The book was ranked the seventh most influential book in American history in a Library of Congress survey in 2013.

Business books by copies sold

#	Title	Author	Estimate copies sold*	Year published	Pages
1	Think and Grow Rich	Napoleon Hill	70 million	1937	238
2	Rich Dad Poor Dad	Robert T. Kiyosaki	44 million	2000	336
3	The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People	Stephen Covey	40 million	1989	381
4	How to Win Friends and Influence People	Dale Carnegie	30 million	1936	291
5	Who Moved My Cheese?	Spencer Johnson	30 million	1998	94
6	Freakonomics	Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner	7 million	2005	336
7	Atomic Habits	James Clear	5 million	2018	320
8	Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion	Robert B. Cialdini	5 million	1984	592
9	The E-Myth Revisited	Michael E. Gerber	5 million	1986	288
10	The Goal	Eliyahu M. Goldratt	5 million	1984	384
11	In Search of Excellence	Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr.	4.5 million	1982	400
12	Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead	Sheryl Sandberg	4.2 million	2013	247
13	Good to Great	Jim Collins	4 million	2001	320
14	Blue Ocean Strategy	W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne	3.5 million	2004	240
15	Influence: Science and Practice	Robert B. Cialdini	3 million	1984	260
16	Thinking Fast And Slow	Daniel Kahneman	2.6 million	2011	499
17	Zero to One	Peter Thiel	2.5 million	2014	224
18	The 4-Hour Workweek	Tim Ferriss	2.1 million	2007	308
19	Getting to Yes	Roger Fisher and William Ury	2 million	1981	200
20	Never Split the Difference	Chris Voss	2 million	2016	260
21	Losing My Virginity	Richard Branson	2 million	1998	624
22	Principles	Ray Dalio	2 million	2017	592
23	The Power of Habit	Charles Duhigg	2 million	2012	371
24	Getting Things Done	David Allen	1.6 million	2001	267
25	The Infinite Game	Simon Sinek	1.6 million	2019	251

FAQ

What are the benefits of reading business books?

• Business people who read at least seven business books a year earn over 2.3 times more than those who read only one per year.

How many categories of business books are there?

• The business and economics print books category comprises more than 100 subjects and over 200 sub-category subjects.

What type of content is included in business books?

• Financial literacy and independence are amongst the key themes within bestselling business category books.