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

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.
His books include the New York Times bestseller Why Nations Fail, The Narrow Corridor, and Power and Progress. Big Think, 3 Sep. 2026 Since its release, the book has found an audience beyond restaurants, selling over a million copies and appearing on the New York Times bestsellers list for 27 weeks. Adam Reiner, Bon Appetit Magazine, 3 Sep. 2026 The first edition of the book was self-published and then was picked up by the multilevel marketing company, Amway, helping propel it to The New York Times bestseller list. Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 2 Sep. 2026 But in the case of Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal and his current New York Times bestseller, Welcome to Your Life, the senior vice president of Dey Street Books (an imprint of HarperCollins) needed their partnership to be written in the stars. Lori Majewski, Rolling Stone, 1 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bestseller

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 6 Sep. 2026.

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
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