AALBC’s Top 100 Bestsellers: 2019 – 2026

This list ranks the top 100 books purchased directly from AALBC.com between September 16, 1998, and June 7, 2026. These rankings were shaped by two major factors: (1) the extraordinary surge in sales during mid-2020, when readers sought out anti-racist books and intentionally supported Black-owned bookstores in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder; and (2) the books we have published ourselves or helped bring to market over the years.

For a more comprehensive look at bestselling books by Black writers across the United States, check out the BLK Bestsellers List.

#1
Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Originally Published as The New Negro an Interpretation

Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Originally Published as The New Negro an Interpretation

by Alain Locke and Introduction by Troy Johnson
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#2
A Committee of One: How Faith + Action = A Purposefull Life

A Committee of One: How Faith + Action = A Purposefull Life

by Opal Lee
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#3
How to Be an Antiracist

How to Be an Antiracist

by Ibram X. Kendi
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#4
So You Want to Talk About Race

So You Want to Talk About Race

by Ijeoma Oluo
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#5
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism

by Robin DiAngelo
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#6
Whose Knees Are These?

Whose Knees Are These?

by Jabari Asim
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#7
A Golden Legacy: Faith, Family, and a Life of Purpose—A Memoir

A Golden Legacy: Faith, Family, and a Life of Purpose—A Memoir

by Samuel P. Golden with Angie Ransome-Jones
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#8
Reparations on Fire: How and Why it’s Spreading Across America

Reparations on Fire: How and Why it’s Spreading Across America

by Nkechi Taifa
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#9
Sulwe

Sulwe

by Lupita Nyong’o
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#10
I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can’t

I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can’t

by Leo and Diane Dillon
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#11
Jelani’s Key

Jelani’s Key

by D. Amari Jackson
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#12
The Fire Next Time

The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin
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#13
The Undefeated

The Undefeated

by Kwame Alexander
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#14
When We Free The World

When We Free The World

by Kevin Powell
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#15
A Black Woman Did That

A Black Woman Did That

by Malaika Adero
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#16
Karma’s Footsteps

Karma’s Footsteps

by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
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#17
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

by Margot Lee Shetterly
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#18
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander
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#19
Between The World And Me

Between The World And Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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#20
Layla’s Happiness

Layla’s Happiness

by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
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#21
Baby Says

Baby Says

by John Steptoe
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#22
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

by Isabel Wilkerson
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#23
I Am Loved

I Am Loved

by Nikki Giovanni
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#24
Running to Fall: A Novel

Running to Fall: A Novel

by Kalisha Buckhanon
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#25
Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South

Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South

by Winfred Rembert with Erin I. Kelly
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#26
Finding Me: A Memoir

Finding Me: A Memoir

by Viola Davis
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#27
His Truth Is Marching on: John Lewis and the Power of Hope

His Truth Is Marching on: John Lewis and the Power of Hope

by Jon Meacham
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#28
Born on the Water: The 1619 Project

Born on the Water: The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson
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#29
So You Want to Talk About Race (Hardcover)

So You Want to Talk About Race (Hardcover)

by Ijeoma Oluo
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#30
The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power

The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power

by Robin L. Smith and Courtney B. Vance
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#31
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

by Isabel Wilkerson
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#32
New Kid

New Kid

by Jerry Craft
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#33
Sailing Commitment Around the World with Captain Bill Pinkney

Sailing Commitment Around the World with Captain Bill Pinkney

by Bill Pinkney
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#34
Black, White, Just Right!

Black, White, Just Right!

by Marguerite W. Davol
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#35
Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization

Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization

by Anthony Browder
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#36
A Golden Legacy (paperback): Faith, Family, and a Life of Purpose—A Memoir

A Golden Legacy (paperback): Faith, Family, and a Life of Purpose—A Memoir

by Samuel P. Golden with Angie Ransome-Jones
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#37
Just As I Am

Just As I Am

by Cicely Tyson
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#38
Black Power, Black Lawyer (paperback): My Audacious Quest for Justice

Black Power, Black Lawyer (paperback): My Audacious Quest for Justice

by Nkechi Taifa
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#39
Bunheads

Bunheads

by Misty Copeland
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#40
The Awkward Black Man

The Awkward Black Man

by Walter Mosley
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#41
Coleman Hill (hardcover): A Biomythography

Coleman Hill (hardcover): A Biomythography

by Kim Coleman Foote
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#42
I Am Every Good Thing

I Am Every Good Thing

by Derrick Barnes
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#43
PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America

PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America

by Claud Anderson
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#44
The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors

The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors

by Frances Cress Welsing
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#45
Chocolate Me!

Chocolate Me!

by Taye Diggs
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#46
Across That Bridge

Across That Bridge

by John Lewis
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#47
Boonoonoonous Hair

Boonoonoonous Hair

by Olive Senior
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#48
Sing to the Moon

Sing to the Moon

by Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl
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#49
Juneteenth for Mazie

Juneteenth for Mazie

by Floyd Cooper
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#50
The Mis-Education of the Negro

The Mis-Education of the Negro

by Carter G. Woodson
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#51
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

by Nikole Hannah-Jones
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#52
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

by Deesha Philyaw
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#53
When I Wrap My Hair

When I Wrap My Hair

by Shauntay Grant
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#54
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

by Layla Saad
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#55
Whose Toes are Those?

Whose Toes are Those?

by Jabari Asim
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#56
Antiracist Baby

Antiracist Baby

by Ibram X. Kendi
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#57
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou
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#58
Parable of the Sower

Parable of the Sower

by Octavia E. Butler
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#59
A is for Activist

A is for Activist

by Innosanto Nagara
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#60
Black States of America: Real Black Power

Black States of America: Real Black Power

by d. E. Rogers
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#61
Different and the Same

Different and the Same

by Adijah & Atiya Brabham
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#62
Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

by Joy-Ann Reid
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#63
The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett
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#64
All Because You Matter

All Because You Matter

by Tami Charles
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#65
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

by Michael Harriot
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#66
Limitation of Life

Limitation of Life

by d. E. Rogers
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#67
My Vanishing Country

My Vanishing Country

by Bakari Sellers
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#68
Please, Baby, Please

Please, Baby, Please

by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
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#69
Harlem Rhapsody

Harlem Rhapsody

by Victoria Christopher Murray
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#70
You Can Do It!

You Can Do It!

by Tony Dungy
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#71
A Black History Reader: 101 Questions You Never Thought to Ask

A Black History Reader: 101 Questions You Never Thought to Ask

by Claud Anderson
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#72
An American Story

An American Story

by Kwame Alexander
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#73
As Brave As You

As Brave As You

by Jason Reynolds
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#74
Black Mother Goose Book

Black Mother Goose Book

by Elizabeth Murphy Oliver
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#75
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

by Derrick Barnes
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#76
Mermaid Kenzie: Protector of the Deeps

Mermaid Kenzie: Protector of the Deeps

by Charlotte Watson Sherman
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#77
The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison
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#78
The Water Dancer

The Water Dancer

by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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#79
Thunder Rose

Thunder Rose

by Jerdine Nolen
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#80
White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds

White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds

by Roland S. Martin with Leah Lakins
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#81
Beloved

Beloved

by Toni Morrison
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#82
Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy

Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy

by Misty Copeland
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#83
Deacon King Kong

Deacon King Kong

by James McBride
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#84
Genesis Begins Again

Genesis Begins Again

by Alicia D. Williams
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#85
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

by Zora Neale Hurston and M. Genevieve West
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#86
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

by Mikki Kendall
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#87
Intermission

Intermission

by Phyllis R. Dixon
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#88
Red at the Bone

Red at the Bone

by Jacqueline Woodson
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#89
Sisters and Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams

Sisters and Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams

by Howard Bryant
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#90
Bedtime for Sweet Creatures

Bedtime for Sweet Creatures

by Nikki Grimes
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#91
Cool Cuts

Cool Cuts

by Mechal Renee Roe
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#92
Daddy Calls Me Man

Daddy Calls Me Man

by Angela Johnson
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#93
It’s Not All Downhill from Here

It’s Not All Downhill from Here

by Terry McMillan
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#94
Let the Children March

Let the Children March

by Monica Clark-Robinson
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#95
Max and the Tag-Along Moon

Max and the Tag-Along Moon

by Floyd Cooper
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#96
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

by Carole Boston Weatherford
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#97
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

by Ibram X. Kendi
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#98
The Crossover

The Crossover

by Kwame Alexander
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#99
The Day You Begin

The Day You Begin

by Jacqueline Woodson
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#100
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander
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