variants or best seller
plural bestsellers or best sellers
: a popular product and especially a book whose sales are among the highest of its class
[Isabel] Allende's new book is spun from the stuff of epic romances: eternal love, lost innocence, distant locales, revolution. In short, all the elements of a sure bestseller.—Julie K. L. Dam
The Harvard Book Store Café … is not only the obvious choice for the latest best seller but the intelligent break for a shopper's graze.—Alice Rubenstein Gochman
Two million copies have been sold, and it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for four years.—Judith Daniels
… the two Fisher-Price bestsellers are the company's Fun with Food [toy] series and the Fisher-Price Fun with Food Kitchen.—The New Yorker
She knows what the mass market wants—Vanderbilt and Chaps [fragrances] are best sellers—and she has a flair for what appeals to a more specialized market …—Amy Singer

Examples of bestseller in a Sentence

She has written several best sellers.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Nevertheless, Michelle Remembers became a bestseller as well as a resource for law enforcement and mental health practitioners, who took the stories to heart and expected to find similar crimes in their communities. — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 2026 Available in multiple inseam lengths and washes, the Cinch is a contemporary take on the brand’s bestsellers. — Kristina Rutkowski, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2026 The author has sold 3M copies worldwide, spent 128 weeks on the NYT bestseller list, has 250M views on TikTok, and is a Goodreads Choice Awards winner. — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 27 Oct. 2026 Past literary guests of note include Rudyard Kipling, Bram Stoker, Agatha Christie, and Stephen King; King even outlined his bestseller Misery during one of his stays. — Erika Owen, Architectural Digest, 27 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bestseller

Word History

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bestseller was in 1864

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Cite this Entry

“Bestseller.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bestseller. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Kids Definition

best-seller

noun
best-sell·​er
ˈbes(t)-ˈsel-ər
: an article (as a book) whose sales are among the highest of its kind
best-selling
-ˈsel-iŋ
adjective
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