bestseller

noun

best·​sell·​er ˈbes(t)-ˈse-lər How to pronounce bestseller (audio)
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 noun
best-selling adjective

Examples of bestseller in a Sentence

She has written several best sellers.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The book spent 14 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 1 million copies to date. Joe Otterson, Variety, 24 Sep. 2025 Fourth Wing has spent 88 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, 18 of them at #1. Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2025 Team your favorite white skirt with a burgundy leather jacket—Nour Hammour’s Drey is a bestseller for the brand—and slim-fit turtleneck top for a wear-anywhere that bridges the best of both late summer and early fall/winter fashion. Christina Holevas, Vogue, 23 Sep. 2025 Marisa Silver is the author of the novels At Last; The Mysteries; Little Nothing; Mary Coin, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Southern California Independent Bookseller’s Award; The God of War, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction; and No Direction Home. Marisa Silver september 23, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2025 The Breeze comforter—Buffy’s bestseller—comes highly recommended by two of our editors. Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 20 Sep. 2025 Yankee Bookshop is stacked with shelves full of bestsellers, local authors, and guides. Megan Margulies, Travel + Leisure, 20 Sep. 2025 An international bestseller later turned into a film by Mira Nair, the book owed its success, in part, to its blunt articulation of the fear and loathing provoked by the American Empire even among many of its eager janissaries. Pankaj Mishra, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025 Now, months ahead of a new compilation of the group’s work being released, a new take on a Beatles classic quickly becomes a bestseller in America. Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bestseller was in 1864

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Cite this Entry

“Bestseller.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bestseller. Accessed 26 Sep. 2025.

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

More from Merriam-Webster on bestseller

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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