Anna Todd is a New York Times bestselling author famous for the massively popular After series, which started as a Wattpad fanfiction and became a global phenomenon with millions of copies sold and adapted into films. She also writes other successful books like The Spring Girls and the Brightest Stars trilogy, and has founded her own media company, Frayed Pages Media.
The #1 best-selling book of all time is The Bible, with estimated sales or distribution figures ranging from 5 to 7 billion copies, making it far ahead of any other single title, including other highly distributed religious texts like the Quran and political works like Mao's Little Red Book, and leading fiction titles like Don Quixote and the Harry Potter series.
Anna Todd -- The After Series Reading Order
Anna Todd (writer/producer/influencer) is the New York Times bestselling author of the After series, the Brightest Stars trilogy, The Spring Girls, the After graphic novels and The Last Sunrise.
1. William Shakespeare
Right now, top-selling books vary by region, but prominent titles include Freida McFadden's The Housemaid, Dan Brown's The Secret of Secrets, Jeff Kinney's Partypooper, Liane Moriarty's Here One Moment, and James Clear's evergreen Atomic Habits, with recent fiction and popular series dominating charts in places like the US, UK, and Australia, according to lists from The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and local booksellers.
1. Agatha Christie. Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world's longest-running play – The Mousetrap.
Books for readers who never got over After
With her husband having joined the army, the two moved to Fort Hood, Texas. Anna and Jordan divorced in 2022. The couple has one child, a son named Asher. Todd's son Asher has Tuberous Sclerosis.
Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once
Before the movies, there were the books — and they're just as intense, if not more. Anna Todd's original After series delves deeper into Tessa and Hardin's backstories, emotions, and inner turmoil. Whether you're re-reading or diving in for the first time, the books offer a raw and addictive experience that fans adore.
The "spiciest" book depends on your taste (dark romance, fantasy, contemporary), but popular choices for intense spice include Credence by Penelope Douglas, God of Malice by Rina Kent, For the Fans by Nyla K, Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube, and From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout, with many users citing these for explicit scenes, dark themes, or high-stakes tension.
Which are the 10 most read books in the world?
Books have 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page as a printer's key, or number line, to indicate the specific printing run; the lowest number present (e.g., a "1" for the first print, "2" for the second) shows the printing, making it easy to identify first editions and track subsequent printings without re-typesetting the entire page by simply removing numbers as books are reprinted.
The Amazon #1 Best Seller badge symbol indicates that a product has the most sales in that category. The A9 algorithm, developed by Amazon, determines how goods are ranked in search results. The top-selling status on Amazon is updated hourly by Amazon's algorithm.
There's no single "one book," but classics frequently recommended for adults include Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird for empathy and justice, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for social satire and romance, George Orwell's 1984 for political awareness, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning for purpose, and Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude for epic storytelling, with choices depending on whether you seek moral lessons, social commentary, or deep reflection.
Jodi Picoult's best books, according to readers, often include My Sister's Keeper, The Storyteller, Small Great Things, Nineteen Minutes, and The Pact, known for tackling complex ethical issues like medical consent, racism, bullying, and historical trauma, with My Sister's Keeper being a fan favorite and The Storyteller praised for its deep dive into the Holocaust, though some prefer her earlier works like Plain Truth or recent hits like Mad Honey.
The "hottest" romance book changes fast, but currently trending titles include steamy hockey romances like Heated Rivalry and The Long Game, Powerless for a spicy romantasy, popular rom-coms by Emily Henry (Great Big Beautiful Life) and Abby Jimenez (Yours Truly), and dark romance sensations like Chaotic and the Fae & Alchemy series (Quicksilver).
NA allows for a more mature or complex approach to the same issues tackled by YA because the protagonists are older, but also because the primary audience is older. NA readers are looking for deeper treatments of the same issues and content they find in YA.
Anna Todd grew up in Ohio and started writing the first book in the After series in 2013 when she was just 24 years old and living near Fort Hood, Texas, as an army wife. She wrote the story on her iPhone and posted it to Wattpad, chapter by chapter, and by 2014, the story had been read 1 billion times!
Over A 1000 Pages
Right now, top authors often cited for popularity and sales include perennial favorites like Stephen King, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling (despite controversy), and Nora Roberts, alongside contemporary powerhouses such as Colleen Hoover (though lists vary) and critically acclaimed figures like Margaret Atwood, but rankings shift, with recent polls highlighting King, Rowling, and Patterson as most popular in the U.S., while others like Neil Gaiman, John Grisham, and Danielle Steel remain consistently high.
The author famously rejected 23 times was Frank Herbert for his iconic science fiction novel, Dune, which was finally published by a small company known for automotive manuals after numerous rejections from other houses.
All Time 5 Stars