25 Bestselling Fiction Books

Period: Full Year - 2023

AALBC Bestseller Seal

The African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998. It celebrates the bestselling titles from our curated selection of books written by or about Black people. Learn More below.

★ New: The BLK Bestsellers: America’s Bestselling Books

These books are the bestsellers of all our bestselling books for entire year! The newest book considered was Only for the Brave at Heart: Essays Rethinking Race, Crime, and Justice by Leon E. Pettiway (Dec 14, 2023). The oldest was No Place to be Somebody: A Black-black Comedy (1969) by Charles Gordone.

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

Voices of the Harlem Renaissance

by Alain Locke and Introduction by Troy Johnson
Add to Cart
4
Cover for Intermission

Intermission

by Phyllis R. Dixon
Add to Cart
8
Cover for Jackal

Jackal

by Erin E. Adams
Add to Cart
9
Cover for Alice in Dreamland

Alice in Dreamland

by Roland S. Jefferson
Add to Cart
12
Cover for Homegoing: A Novel

Homegoing

by Yaa Gyasi
Add to Cart
15
Cover for Take My Hand

Take My Hand

by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Add to Cart
17
Cover for Black Candle Women

Black Candle Women

by Diane Marie Brown
Add to Cart
19
Cover for Dr. No

Dr. No

by Percival Everett
Add to Cart
20
Cover for Lone Women

Lone Women

by Victor Lavalle
Add to Cart
21
Cover for Swimming in Cotton

Swimming in Cotton

by Lawrence Deron Thomas
23
Cover for The Talk

The Talk

by Darrin Bell
Add to Cart
25
Cover for Black Girl Lost

Black Girl Lost

by Donald Goines
Add to Cart

More About our Bestsellers List

View a printer-friendly version or a collage of the book covers.

You will learn about books selling well in the Black community that may never show up on lists published by corporate entities. Spread the word about our list; don’t let one or two lists, which we don’t control, determine which books are important.

We collect our bestselling titles from all our sales channels. The majority of our sales come from this website and our in-person events. We also include sales generated through our affiliate relationships, including Bookshop.org, Libro.fm (audiobooks), and Amazon.com*.

*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice to ensure we do not exclude authors who are exclusive to that platform. We still discourage exclusivity but support all Black authors.