Bestselling Books Of 2011

Total U.S. book sales of 2011 have been compiled by Nielsen's Bookscan. Their lists feature about 75% of American book sales, and don't include sales from Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. The data is from January 3rd to December 4th 2011.

Top of the non-fiction chart is "Heaven Is For Real", a book co-authored by a Nebraskan pastor. According to Amazon, the book is about "the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear."

The fiction chart is topped by two different editions of "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, while "The Hunger Games" tops the YA/Children's chart.

How many have you read?

Adult Non-Fiction

1 "Heaven Is For Real" Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson Publishers)
2 "Steve Jobs" Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster)
3 "Unbroken" Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)
4 "Killing Lincoln" Bill O’Reilly (Henry Holt & Company)
5 "Strengths Finder 2.0" Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
6 "A Stolen Life" Jaycee Dugard (Simon & Schuster)
7 "Bossypants" Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur Books)
8 "The 17 Day Diet" Mike Moreno (Free Press)
9 "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" Rebecca Skloot (Broadway Books)
10 "In The Garden Of Beasts" Erik Larson (Crown Publishing Group)

Adult Fiction

1 "The Help" Kathryn Stockett (Berkley Publishing Group)
2 "The Help" (Movie Tie-In Edition) Kathryn Stockett (Berkley Publishing Group)
3 "Water For Elephants" Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books Of Chapel Hill)
4 "Cutting For Stone" Abraham Verghese (Vintage Books)
5 "A Dance With Dragons" George R. R. Martin (Bantam Books)
6 "The Confession" John Grisham (Dell Publishing Company)
7 "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Stieg Larsson (Vintage Books)
8 "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest" Stieg Larsson (Knopf Publishing Group)
9 "The Litigators" John Grisham (Doubleday Books)
10 "Room" Emma Donoghue (Back Bay Books )

Children and Young Adults

1 "The Hunger Games" Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
2 "Cabin Fever" Jeff Kinney (Abrams)
3 "Catching Fire" Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
4 "Inheritance" Christopher Paolini (Alfred A. Knopf)
5 "Mockingjay" Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
6 "The Son Of Neptune" Rick Riordan (Hyperion Books)
7 "The Throne Of Fire" Rick Riordan (Hyperion Books)
8 "The Ugly Truth" Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books)
9 "The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book" Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books)
10 "Elf On The Shelf" Carol V. Aebersold (Cca & B)

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Lleah]

10:36 PM on 01/01/2012

My "best of the year"......Salvage the Bones...Jessmyn Ward / The Sense of an Ending....Julian Barnes / Stiltsville....Susanna Daniel / To Be Sung Underwater....Tom McNeal.

[gwilder]

05:44 PM on 01/01/2012

the question should be, how many has even bought a book in 2011?

[gwilder]

05:41 PM on 01/01/2012

Maybe three, I'm always busy writing my own.

[L I Beral]

11:04 PM on 12/31/2011

"Killing Lincoln" should be listed under Fiction.

[CodyW]

03:21 PM on 12/29/2011

I have been watching a lot of these books on the Amazon top numbers in the sales chart for weeks and it is so great to see all of these stories up for grabs in the charts. I wonder what the Best Books of 2012 will hold? For a new author trying to make it, it is inspiring that someday, I will get my title "America vs. America." powered into the top numbers someday. I think it is important that people make the connection between politics and the people themselves. I see all of this stuff about Obama being the worst president ever, but I don't see anything done about it. Maybe this book will help.
http://www.amazon.com/America-vs-Cody-Weinmann/dp/146367936X.
http://www.amazon.com/America-vs-special-ebook/dp/B005LA37KY

[jhNY]

03:13 PM on 12/29/2011

None. But I did read Bruno Schulz for the first time, both volumes of his shot stories, and Dostoevsky's "Memoirs From the House of the Dead", Christopher Woodward's "In Ruins",Joan C. Kessler's collection of French 19th century tales of the fantastic "Demons of the Night", and re-read Lampedusa's "The Leopard" and David Gilmour's biography of Lampedusa.

Bet I read better stuff than the stuff on the best-seller list of 2011, and had more fun doing it.

[centexlib]

02:39 PM on 12/29/2011

I was pleasantly surprised that "Cutting for Stone" made the list. I loved the book and have recommended it often. Beautifully written.

[naschkatze]

02:20 PM on 12/29/2011

3

[larrykat]

12:41 PM on 12/29/2011

"Heaven is for Real" is on the non-fiction list??

[inkongirl]

11:54 AM on 12/29/2011

I've read 5 from this list. I hated "The Help", but it was better than the movie, which I almost walked out of. And I read the Hunger Games trilogy with my daughter. We'll probably skip that movie.

[Jennifer Kley]

12:42 PM on 01/01/2012

Pray tell, what made you almost walk out of the movie vs. the book being ok with you? I haven't seen the movie and was wondering...
http://thecubiclerebel.wordpress.com/

[inkongirl]

01:31 PM on 01/01/2012

The book I could throw across the room.

[Gunfighter]

11:01 AM on 12/29/2011

Having read an awful lot this year, I can proudly say that I haven't read any of the crap on this list.

[starrynights]

10:55 AM on 12/29/2011

It's a shame that the science fiction genre is almost always ignored.

[larrykat]

12:40 PM on 12/29/2011

Exactly. The "science" in front of the "fiction" seems to automatically put it in a lower caste. I confess I am not tuned into the latest sci-fi writers (I always stay current with William Gibson at least), I challenge anyone to tell me that much of Bradbury or Le Guin or Lem or Zelazny (and on and on) is not simply great fiction.

[tbain94113]

09:52 AM on 12/29/2011

The funniest book on the market and soon to be a best seller is:
http://bookstore.trafford.com/Products/SKU-000523073/The-Shit-Book.aspx

[Dawn Castle]

09:25 AM on 12/29/2011

Oh my gosh. I'm a sheep. 6 of the adult fiction and very sorry that I read the help. i usually avoid feel good books but i thought this might have something substantial in it. nope. wasted my money. loved the "girl" series and anything by george r.r. martin. can't wait for the next one.

[anitafeeney]

07:17 AM on 12/29/2011

have not read a one of them