In order to better understand the role of religious books in the book industry, we researched, analyzed, and compiled religious book sales figure statistics.

• As of 2022, religious book sales have reached a total revenue of 757.7 million dollars.
• Sales revenue of religious books increased by 7.46% compared to 2021 and has increased for the third consecutive year.
• 2022 marks the fifth year in a row that the sales of religious books have surpassed 600 million and, for the second time, went over $700 million.
• Over the last 10 years, religious book sales have increased by over 32.5%.
• Religious material is sold mainly in print formats, making up for 76% of the category’s sales.
• 61.7% of total sales came from the hardcover format, accounting for over $435.7 million in revenue.
• 12.5% of religious sales come from digital formats, with e-books accounting for 6.9% and audiobooks contributing 5.6% of the revenue.

Year	Religious books sales revenue ($ million)	Change
2012	$576.6
2013	$572.0	-0.80%
2014	$554.0	-3.15%
2015*	$455.2	-17.83%
2016*	$493.0	8.30%
2017	$568.0	15.21%
2018	$644.9	13.54%
2019	$640.6	-0.67%
2020	$667.2	4.15%
2021	$705.10	5.68%
2022	$757.70	7.46%

• Religion publishing is worth over $1.27 billion as of 2022, which is a 10.56% decrease over 2021.
• This figure combines religious press revenue with the revenue of religious books from other sources.
• Over the last 7 years, the religion publishing industry’s value increased by more than 20.8%.
• The only years with negative growth in the industry were 2020 and 2022.
• As of 2020, over 179 million copies of religious books are sold in a year.

Year	Religious book market value ($ billion)	Change
2016	$1.05
2017	$1.18	12.60%
2018	$1.25	5.90%
2019	$1.27	1.00%
2020	$1.16	-8.00%
2021	$1.42	21.90%
2022	$1.27	-10.56%

Christian bookstores statistics

• Back in 1983, there were 3,290 Christian bookstores that were generating over $1 billion in revenue.
• By 2005, the number of bookstores dropped to 2,256, while one year later, in 2016, there were only around 1,128 Christian bookstores remaining.
• Less than 1,000 Christian bookstores remain open in the US as of 2020, including church bookshops.
• Less than 20% of all Christian book sales go through these bookshops, while the remaining 80% is sold through other channels.
• Years ago, the situation was the opposite – more than 80% of Christian books were sold through Christian bookstores.

Best-selling religious books of all time

As of 2015, the Guinness Book of World Records estimated that the Bible is the best-selling religious book of all time and the best-selling book overall.

• It is estimated that between 5 and 7 billion copies of the Bible have been sold.
• Over 800 million copies of The Holy Quran have been sold worldwide. However, some estimates suggest that over 3 billion copies of the book could be printed.
• The Book of Mormon has been translated into over 122 languages and sold over 185 million copies worldwide.