20 Bestselling Nonfiction Books for January/February - 2022

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

Fiction: The bestselling fiction book this period is a literary Magazine, the Killens Review of Arts & Letters (Fall / Winter 2021). Published by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Ever College and Edited by Clarence V. Reynolds, the Killens Review provides a wonderful collection of essays, poetry, and nonfiction.

Nonfiction: Nonfiction books were by far the bestselling genre this period. During Black History Month we often see a surge in nonfiction book sales. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones is the bestselling book, of all, this period.

Children’s Books: Children’s Books sales were led by Born on the Water written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith. This book is also part of the 1619 Project and was the #1 bestselling book for all of 2021.

Poetry: Poetry sales were led by the 4-time AALBC Bestseller, Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman. We are especially happy to see Cosmic Deputy: Poetry & Context by Kalamu ya Salaam make our list. Kalamu was the coeditor, with Kwame Alexander, of our first bestselling book of poetry, 360° A Revolution of Black Poets, which made the list in 1998.

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 The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones

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#3

Book cover of How We Can Win: Race, History and Changing the Money Game That’s Rigged by Kimberly Jones

How We Can Win

by Kimberly Jones

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#11

Book cover of Keep On Moving: My Journey in the Fourth Quarter by Ronald Ancrum

Keep On Moving

by Ronald Ancrum

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#16

Book cover of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs

The Three Mothers

by Anna Malaika Tubbs

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#18

Book cover of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo

White Fragility

by Robin DiAngelo

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#19

Book cover of Black Africa: The Economic And Cultural Basis For A Federated State by Cheikh Anta Diop

Black Africa

by Cheikh Anta Diop

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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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