bestseller

noun

best·​sell·​er ˈbes(t)-ˈse-lər 

variants or best seller

plural bestsellers or best sellers

: a popular product and especially a book whose sales are among the highest of its class

[Isabel] Allende's new book is spun from the stuff of epic romances: eternal love, lost innocence, distant locales, revolution. In short, all the elements of a sure bestseller.

—Julie K. L. Dam

The Harvard Book Store Café … is not only the obvious choice for the latest best seller but the intelligent break for a shopper's graze.

—Alice Rubenstein Gochman

Two million copies have been sold, and it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for four years.

—Judith Daniels

… the two Fisher-Price bestsellers are the company's Fun with Food [toy] series and the Fisher-Price Fun with Food Kitchen.

—The New Yorker

She knows what the mass market wants—Vanderbilt and Chaps [fragrances] are best sellers—and she has a flair for what appeals to a more specialized market …

—Amy Singer

best-sellerdom

ˈbes(t)-ˈse-lər-dəm 

noun

best-selling

ˈbes(t)-ˈse-liŋ 

adjective

Examples of bestseller in a Sentence

She has written several best sellers.

Recent Examples on the Web

Already a #1 Sunday Times bestseller and has been shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards, An African History of Africa corrects many of the misguided fallacies that pervade Western narratives about Africa. —Lynnette Nicholas, Essence, 18 Dec. 2024

Alongside Walden, Big Beach is developing a feature adaptation of Ramona Ausubel’s bestseller The Last Animal, with Ry Russo-Young at the helm. —Matt Grobar, Deadline, 18 Dec. 2024

The book was number one on Thursday in Amazon's nonfiction bestseller list for ebooks. —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 14 Dec. 2024

Since its publication in 2023, The Pumpkin Spice Cafe has won the TikTok Shop Book of the Year Award at the TikTok Book Awards and has also become a Sunday Times bestseller. —Tabitha Parent, People.com, 12 Dec. 2024

Amy Adams was working on developing a movie based on the bestseller, and having been a longtime fan of Heller’s work, sent it to the filmmaker as a possible collaboration. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2024

The former peaked at No. 13, while her most recent offering became her first top 10 bestseller in late 2023. —Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2024

Other favorites included bestsellers like Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient (2019) and Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True (2023). —Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 4 Dec. 2024

Merrell: Take up to 40% off during Merrell's Cyber Week sale, and score big savings on its bestsellers across the site. —Jamie Spain, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

best-seller

noun

best-sell·​er

ˈbes(t)-ˈsel-ər

: an article (as a book) whose sales are among the highest of its kind

best-selling

-ˈsel-iŋ

adjective