30 Bestselling Nonfiction Books

Period: Full Year - 2022

AALBC Bestseller Seal

Celebrating books written by or about Black people, the African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998 (Learn More ▶). In 2026, we began publishing our list quarterly, focusing our efforts on America’s top-selling titles: The BLK Bestsellers.

2
Cover for Finding Me: A Memoir

Finding Me

by Viola Davis
Add to Cart
4
Cover for The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors

The ISIS Papers

by Frances Cress Welsing
Add to Cart
5
Cover for Know Thyself

Know Thyself

by Na’im Akbar
Add to Cart
7
Cover for The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones
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8
Cover for Diamond Doris

Diamond Doris

by Doris Payne
Add to Cart
9
Cover for How We Can Win: Race, History and Changing the Money Game That’s Rigged

How We Can Win

by Kimberly Jones
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10
Cover for White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds

White Fear

by Roland S. Martin
Add to Cart
13
Cover for Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison

Miss Chloe

by A.J. Verdelle
Add to Cart
18
Cover for Power 101: The Harvard Report, Soul Music, and The American Dream

Power 101

by Logan H. Westbrooks and Schuyler C. Traughber
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19
Cover for Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America

Racism Without Racists

by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
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21
Cover for Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

Not a Nation of Immigrants

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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24
Cover for The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The New Jim Crow

by Michelle Alexander
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26
Cover for Seven Sisters And A Brother (paperback): Friendship, Resistance, and Untold Truths Behind Black Student Activism in the 1960s

Seven Sisters And A Brother (paperback)

by Marilyn Allman Maye, et al.
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27
Cover for Black History: An Inclusive Account of American History

Black History

by Walter Milton, et al.
Add to Cart
29
Cover for A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America

A Country of Strangers

by David K. Shipler
Add to Cart
30
Cover for Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

Medical Apartheid

by Harriet A. Washington
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.

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