20 Bestselling Poetry Books for Full Year - 2021

AALBC’s Bestselling Book SealOur bestsellers list has been published continuously since 1998. Learn More ▶

Fiction: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Originally Published as The New Negro an Interpretation edited by Alain Locke and featuring a new introduction by AALBC’s Troy Johnson was the #1 fiction book for 2021. Voices, which was originally published almost 100 years ago, benefited from strong sales because it is an excellent treatment of The New Negro an Interpretation and we have focused on providing sales and distribution through independent channels.

Nonfiction: Sales of So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo surged immediately after the cruel murder of George Floyd. Readers, of all backgrounds, were anxious to understand the nature of racism how they could do something about it. More importantly, readers wanted to buy So You Want to Talk About Race, and similar title’s, from independent Black-owned booksellers. Sales have remained strong for these books more than a year later.

Children’s Books: Children’s books has been the top-selling category of books the past two years, which is really remarkable given the strength of nonfiction book sales (a close second). Born on the Water: The 1619 Project written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, and wonderfully illustrated by Nikkolas Smith, enjoyed a tremendous amount of support from virtually the entire bookselling community.

Poetry: Vice: New and Selected Poems by Ai Ogawa won a National Book Award in 1999, the year it was first published. Given the strength of the sales of Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry, the 22-year-old Vice topping all other poetry book sales is impressive.

View a printer-friendly version and a collage of the book covers. Also, check out links to more great books. Enjoy

#1

Book cover of Vice: New and Selected Poems by Ai Ogawa

Vice

by Ai Ogawa

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#6

Book cover of They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems by Quraysh Ali Lansana

They Shall Run

by Quraysh Ali Lansana

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#7

Book cover of Karma’s Footsteps by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

Karma’s Footsteps

by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

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#9

Book cover of Cosmic Deputy: Poetry & Context by Kalamu ya Salaam

Cosmic Deputy

by Kalamu ya Salaam

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#10

Book cover of I Am New Orleans: 36 Poets Revisit Marcus Christian’s Definitive Poem by Kalamu ya Salaam

I Am New Orleans

by Kalamu ya Salaam

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#11

Book cover of Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems by Mona Lisa Saloy

Second Line Home

by Mona Lisa Saloy

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#13

Book cover of The Tradition by Jericho Brown

The Tradition

by Jericho Brown

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#14

Book cover of Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Citizen

by Claudia Rankine

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#15

Book cover of The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

The Age of Phillis

by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

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#17

Book cover of Taught by Women: Poems as Resistance Language: New and Selected by Haki Madhubuti

Taught by Women

by Haki Madhubuti

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#18

Book cover of In Shadowed Bliss by Alexander Andrews

In Shadowed Bliss

by Alexander Andrews

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#19

Book cover of Long Rain by Lenard D. Moore

Long Rain

by Lenard D. Moore

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More About our Bestsellers List


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), Black History 365 Education, and Amazon.com*.

We aggregate all formats of a book sold (print, ebook, and audio) into one format, usually the most popular print format

*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice, as many of our authors have made their books exclusively available from Amazon. While we discourage giving Amazon the exclusive right to sell a book, we do not want this to be a reason to exclude an author from our site. Amazon also has an effective monopoly on eBooks and out-of-print books, which we highlight on this site.


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Bestselling Books By Year May be Found Here

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