8 Bestselling Fiction Books

Period: July/August - 2021

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

Sales for this period also include sales from AAALBC’s Black Wall Street Book Store, a pop-up bookstore which began operating on Black Wall Street, in Tulsa OK, in August of 2021.

Fiction: Sales this period were dominated by writers with decades of experience, including contemporary authors Jewel Parker Rhodes and Terry McMillan and venerable writers, no longer with us, like John Oliver Killens and Donald Goines.

Nonfiction: There was a excellent mix of classic titles from Black writers and important new books from non-Black writers like Richard Rothstein whose research on how governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide adversely impacting Black Americans.

Children’s Books: Children’s books were strongly influenced by our Black Wall Street Bookstore’s sales which focused on Oklahoma related stories including the top three selling books, Unspeakable, Opal’s Greenwood Oasis, and Papa’s Free Day Party

Poetry: The impressive anthology of Black poetry, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, which includes poetry from the colonial period to the present, make our list for the second time this year.

1
Cover for Evil Never Sleeps: Tales of Light and Darkness

Evil Never Sleeps

by Robert Fleming
Add to Cart
2
Cover for The Minister Primarily

The Minister Primarily

by John Oliver Killens
Add to Cart
3
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 Magic City: A Novel

Magic City

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Add to Cart
6
Cover for Dopefiend

Dopefiend

by Donald Goines
Add to Cart
7
Cover for Ramadan Ramsey

Ramadan Ramsey

by Louis Edwards
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.