20 Bestselling Fiction Books for January/February - 2021

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

Fiction: Limitation of Life by d. E. Rogers the top-selling fiction book does not come out until Mar 23, but sold well due to a $5-off campaign for preorders.

Nonfiction: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo and Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson were, by far, the bestselling books across all genres this period.

Children’s Books: The inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, Amanda Gorman, has three bestselling books that have not been published yet! She is the only author to accomplish this feat.

Poetry: African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song Edited by Kevin Young topped our poetry list followed by (Amanda Gorman’s new collection, Call Us What We Carry. Interest in Gorman’s work surged in reaction to the poem she read during the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

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

#5

Book cover of Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Originally Published as The New Negro an Interpretation by Alain Locke and Introduction by Troy Johnson

Voices of the Harlem Renaissance

by Alain Locke and Introduction by Troy Johnson

Add to Cart

#6

Book cover of Blood Grove by Walter Mosley

Blood Grove

by Walter Mosley

Add to Cart

#7

Book cover of His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

His Only Wife

by Peace Adzo Medie

Add to Cart

#9

Book cover of Awaken by Timothy George

Awaken

by Timothy George

Add to Cart

#10

Book cover of Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston and M. Genevieve West (editor)

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

by Zora Neale Hurston and M. Genevieve West (editor)

Add to Cart

#11

Book cover of The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.

The Prophets

by Robert Jones, et al.

Add to Cart

#12

Book cover of A Glimmer of Death by Valerie Wilson Wesley

A Glimmer of Death

by Valerie Wilson Wesley

Add to Cart

#13

Book cover of Life After Death by Sister Souljah

Life After Death

by Sister Souljah

Add to Cart

#16

Book cover of The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard

The Rib King

by Ladee Hubbard

Add to Cart

#17

Book cover of Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale by Tim Fielder

Infinitum

by Tim Fielder

Add to Cart

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.


The Most Critically Acclaimed Books

Bestselling Books By Year May be Found Here

Our All-Time Bestselling Books May be Found Here