Fantasy is one of the numerous subgenres that fall under the overarching category of fiction, and while there are countless popular representations of fantasy content seen today, both in books and film (ex. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc.), readers everywhere are curious how fantasy books compare to the fifty or so other genres in terms of popularity.
Fantasy is one of the most successful and popular subgenres of fiction. Compared to all genres in existence, it’s consistently ranked within the top ten, if not the top five, for categories such as profitability, Amazon sales, audiobook sales, books listed as “top best-sellers,” and more.
In this article, we’ll provide statistical evidence of fantasy books’ immense popularity and how the fantasy genre compares to others. As you keep reading, you’ll learn what genres it consistently outranks, where other genres might excel, and what the most popular fantasy books currently in existence are.
How Popular are Fantasy Books?
All it takes is one step inside a library or bookstore to get a general sense of how competitive the literary world is and its variety. Not only are there several predominant book genres, but within each is a multitude of subgenres, amounting to over 100 in all. So how does the renowned fiction subgenre of fantasy compare to the almost hundreds of other literary genres?
Statistically, fantasy books strongly rival other highly popular genres, such as romance/erotica, religion/ inspirational/self-help, crime/mystery, and horror.
Fantasy’s popularity is most apparent through its genre ranking:
- Fourth highest earnings, alongside sci-fi, with an estimated total profit of $590.2 million
- #8 most popular Kindle Store category
- #5 best-selling audiobook genre
In addition to these rankings, general adult-targeted fiction books were the most successful in terms of sales in the first half of 2018, with over 20.4 million units sold. Considering fantasy is one of the most popular fiction subgenre, it’s safe to assume a significant percentage of those units can be attributed to fantasy books.
This is even more likely when you consider the fact that over half of the top 20 best-selling books of all time and over a third of the top 30 of the same lists are fantasy books (granted, the Harry Potter series alone accounts for the majority of them, but there are also fantasy books that out profit some of the boy wizard’s individual book sales on these lists.)
The term “fantasy book” has also reached an all-time high on Google Trends in the latter half of 2020 compared to the past five years.
Best-Selling Books of All Time from the Fantasy Genre
We mentioned previously that a significant reason the fantasy genre has increased in popularity is due to the uncommon success of key fantasy books, most of which have been published within the past century.
Among the 30 best-selling books of all time (excluding religious texts), you’ll find renowned fantasy books, such as:
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, ranked 3rd overall with 150 million copies sold
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, ranked 5th overall with 120 million copies sold
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, ranked 8th overall with over 100 million copies sold
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, ranked 10th with over 100 million copies sold
- She, a History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard, ranked 11th overall with 83-100 million copies sold
- Harry Potter books 2 through 7 by J.K. Rowling rank 14th-19th respectively, with overall sales ranging from 77 million (book 2) to 65 million (book 7).
- Watership Down by Richard Adams, ranked 30 overall with 50 million copies sold
Many of these books are part of the most successful book series of all time, namely:
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy
- The Chronicles of Narnia series
- The Harry Potter series
Other fantasy book series that have been fortunate enough to enter this list of best-selling series include The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and the horror/fantasy series Goosebumps by R.L. Stine.
Film and Television’s Effect on Fantasy Books’ Popularity
While the fantasy genre has existed as we know it since the 18th century, the genre is going through a sort of revival in recent years.
The question is, why? And we don’t mean, “why are fantasy books popular,” in general, but why are they more popular now than they were centuries ago? One major reason is the portrayal of fantasy content, particularly popular fantasy books, in film and television.
Fantasy books have recently increased in popularity thanks to their more accurate film and television adaptations. This is largely due to modern technology’s ability to capture the magical and supernatural elements of fantasy content and create some of the most realistic visuals ever seen.
One of the benefits of reading books is that, as long as the author portrays their vision accurately, the possibilities of what they can create and what their reader can picture are endless. But sometimes, just picturing something in your mind isn’t enough, and up until perhaps two decades ago, technology wasn’t advanced enough to match the imagination.
However, that gap is increasingly becoming smaller and smaller as technology has finally innovated enough to bring fantastical worlds that will enchant people all over the world, to the screen. Nowadays, some of the most successful and profitable television shows and films are part of the fantasy genre and are often inspired by fantasy books.
These include:
- Game of Thrones television series (revenue of $3.1 billion)
- Frozen II (2019) (revenue of $1.45 billion)
- Harry Potter and the Death Hallows: Part II (2011) (revenue of $1.34 billion)
- Frozen (2013) (revenue of $1.27 billion)
- Beauty and the Beast (2017) (profited $1.27 billion)
If you consider stories that are a blend of fantasy and science fiction, then this list gets significantly longer as you add fan favorites such as:
- The Avatar film (2009)
- The Stranger Things television series
- Star Wars series
The scope of fantasy books’ influence can even be seen in the highest-grossing and popular video games to date, such as:
Finally, being able to see these worlds brought to life has led many fans back to their source material or inspired them to read the books and see what the film, games, and shows got right, what they got wrong, and what is missing altogether.
Final Thoughts
Although some book genres, like romance, might still reign supreme as the pinnacle of book genre popularity, fantasy is very quickly giving it a run for its money.
There is clear evidence that fantasy books are selling more copies now than ever and becoming one of the most popular genres there are. This is helped by its increasingly realistic adaptations in films, television series, and even video games that allow fans to get a taste of what the books hold, but leave them wanting enough to get their fill from the books themselves.
