Featured Top Ten Best-Selling Bible Translations Compared to Ten Years Ago (2021 Update)

Interesting, thanks!

It is not clear to me where these are the bestsellers (U.S., North America, Internationally?). I went to the ECPA site and what I found there did not clarify it either.

However, when you click on "these reporting retailers," it appears these are primarily (if not altogether) U. S. sales.

While there, I found they had posted the numbers for July 2021. You might be interested in the slight variation from June 2021 to July 2021.

June 2021

1. New International Version (NIV) (1)
2. King James Version (KJV) (2)
3. New Living Translation (NLT) (4)
4. English Standard Version (ESV) (5)
5. New King James Version (NKJV) (3)
6. Christian Standard Bible (CSB) (6)
7. Reina Valera (RV) (not ranked)
8. New International Reader’s Version (NIrV) (9)
9. The Message (Message) (8)
10. Nueva Version International (NVI)(not ranked)

July 2021

1. New International Version
2. King James Version
3. New Living Translation
4. English Standard Version
5. Christian Standard Bible
6. New King James Version
7. Reina Valera
8. New International Reader's Version
9. New American Standard Bible
10. The Message

 

I do not think the KJV has been the best seller in terms of total sales in quite some time. This archive capture from the CBA in 2012 shows the NIV as the bestseller (“in the United States through June 2, 2012”). An interesting aside from that is a 2014 study by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University which found that though the NIV is most purchased, the KJV is still most read.

 

I suspect there might be a good bit of variation in the 8-10 slots from month to month. Notice in July, The Message has dropped to 10, the Nueva Version International has dropped out of the top 10, and the NASB is in the number 9 slot.

 

Will be interesting to see if the Lsb cracks top 10 when released full bible!

 

It's interesting that three of the top ten are all NIV related.

 

LSB will probably be a niche translation (like the EHV) but I reckon its fans will take a bite out of total NASB sales.

The NASB update has been on the radar for a while, so I'm sure it has depressed NASB sales. Which I would imagine will be picking up.

 

More interesting that the KJV is still #2, and two of the top 10 are TR related.

 

Pew bible sales, and bibles for people to give away.

I wonder what the positions would be if limited to personal use sales.

 

Not sure I agree with that. This is from 2019, but relevant.

The #1 Read Bible vs The Bestselling Bible

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but your link appears to support my point.

 

Bulk sales ARE excluded in NDB Bookscan reports.

 

I thought we were using ECPA tallies, are NDB Bookscan reports used in the monthly ECPA lists?

 

According to this page, they are:

 

Wall Street Journal

"Nielsen BookScan...creates best-seller lists that are syndicated widely....'bulk sales are always flagged and pulled from BookScan's best-seller chart-making process', said Jonathan Stolper, general manager of Nielsen BookScan"

 

I think study Bibles have a lot to do with this. Some people want the newest study Bible notes and publishers are increasingly publishing their study Bibles with their inhouse translation instead of the NASB and the NKJV.

I expect the NKJV to continue to dive down the rankings with the CSB grabbing the readers that didn't embrace the ESV.

I expect people to switch to the inhouse translation published by the largest publishing house that caters to their denomination.

 

Really curious as to how the Lsb full bible does, as think many holding out for this, who did not like the 2020 revision!

 

What should be the ranking in order of accuracy. Just my opinion.

1. King James Version.
2. New King James Version.
3. New American Standard Version.
4. English Standard Version.
5. Christian Standard Bible.
6. New International Version.

I would think if the New American Standard Bible would have switched to The Greek Byzantine/Majority Text it would become the most accurate.