Harry Potter Novels Make USA Today List of Top Books of the 2000s
Books
Posted by: Edward
December 23, 2009, 11:39 PM
Novels from the Harry Potter series by author J. K. Rowling have been included in six of the ten spots on USA Today's list of the Top Ten Books of the 2000s. Miss Rowling's novels placed along side the popular Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and the Dan Brown novel The Da Vinci Code on this list. The paper notes:
Human readers made it a big decade for novels about wizards, vampires and a Harvard symbologist. Two series for kids with "crossover" appeal to grown-ups —J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight— swept nine of the top 10 spots on USA TODAY's best-selling books of the decade. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is No. 2.
Rowling was a best seller before 2000, when third book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [sic] sold a record 3 million copies its first weekend.
By 2007's release of the finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, speculation about Harry's death (unfounded) rose to levels not seen since Charles Dickens' 19th-century serials. A record 8.3 million copies sold in a day.
The article goes on to make mention of the linked successes of the film adaptations of these novels, and quotes Publishers Lunch founder Michael Cader as saying, "They opened as big or bigger than the most anticipated movies, with pre-orders and opening-night parties, which spilled over to other books."
The full top ten list by USA Today is as follows:
1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
2. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
4. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
6. Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
8. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
9. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
74 Comments
51 Points
AAAAAAAAH WHY DID TWILIGHT WIN!!!!!!!!HARRY POTTER IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!!!!!
185 Points
Wow. ALL the HP books deserve to be on that list. I CAN NOT BELIEVE the #1 spot went to T*light. What was this list based on? It couldn’t be sales, because HP would have killed T*light. Or popularity, because HP would also kill. And how could PoA not make it? That was better than OOTP (in my opinion). And, the DaVinci Code?!? Really, that doesn’t even compare in popularity to ANY HP book.
185 Points
Wow. ALL the HP books deserve to be on that list. I CAN NOT BELIEVE the #1 spot went to T*light. What was this list based on? It couldn’t be sales, because HP would have killed T*light. Or popularity, because HP would also kill. And how could PoA not make it? That was better than OOTP (in my opinion). And, the DaVinci Code?!? Really, that doesn’t even compare in popularity to ANY HP book.
78 Points
WTF!!!
GoF is the third book in the Harry Potter series ??
HP and the Deathly ‘Hollows’ ??
Twilight at n°1 ????
Please!!! Somebody kill me!!! This world is twisted!!!
791 Points
There’s no way that list is correct. I’m trying to contact the author of that article for clarifications as I’m typing.
791 Points
And why you didn’t provide us with the link to the actual article?
310 Points
It’s nice that JKR practically pwns that list, but… Twilight? #1? That’s messed up. How is that possible? Is this based on popularity or what??
507 Points
yea twilight deffinatly should NOT be #1
131 Points
I’m glad that Harry Potter made the list! But seriously, what kind of list is that? Two series and a novel?
4852 Points
Wait a sec…. Twilight #1? Did someone make a type-o? This is crazy!!!!!!!!! Well, I agree with mai{beatnik owl} Harry Potter makes #1 on my list!
298 Points
First off, I loved all three franchises (Rowling at the top).. But yeah, Jo should have been at the #1 spot!!
40 Points
ok, but really? this list is ridiculous, I tend to get really annoyed with the twilight/hp war because i really think the two aren’t comparable except in the fact that they are both popular series out around the same time, but…really USA today?
I’m pretty sure Harry Potter tops Twilight as a book of the decade, the article even says that DH was the fastest selling of all times, and it really was HP that started the whole ‘midnight book release parties’ and really revolutionized the love of reading, twilight only got any of this because it came after potter.
ugh, so dumb.
152 Points
Twilight is first, because it’s such a big deal. Harry Potter was the same way. Give it a year, and Harry Potter will be beating them again.
And the fact of the matter is….we have more books, and we have more spots than them. This list of Twlight books shows nothing more than a teenage boom who are desperate for cheesy love.
No worries.
us Harry Potter fans gotta stick together <3
1722 Points
Twilight needs to be way below Harry Potter!!!
3703 Points
Did they just say that the third book was GoF? Or am I reading that wrong? The third book is PoA. Anyway, I could care less if Twilight is first. We all know that Harry Potter is better! :)
AAAAAAAAH WHY DID TWILIGHT WIN!!!!!!!!HARRY POTTER IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!!!!!