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
79373 Points
HP should have been first!
502 Points
The fact that Twilight was first makes me cry a little inside.
I haven’t been able to voice the SCREAMS I want to release as of yet on account of I’m sitting next to one of the biggest Twilight fangirls I’ve ever met (my cousin…I still deny that I’m related), and I can’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s come in first.
shakes head in the proof of failure for society
502 Points
The fact that Twilight was first makes me cry a little inside.
I haven’t been able to voice the SCREAMS I want to release as of yet on account of I’m sitting next to one of the biggest Twilight fangirls I’ve ever met (my cousin…I still deny that I’m related), and I can’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s come in first.
shakes head in the proof of failure for society
10839 Points
you all have to keep in mind that this list is only for the 2000’s
harry potter books came out before… right now everyone is into those stupid twilight books… so just cause they are in number 1 on this 1 list is like whatever because jk rowling owns that list with most of it being harry potter! :D so congrats jk rowling! your awesome!!! :D
1070 Points
WHAT THE (insert swear here) IS (insert swear here) WRONG WITH THESE (insert swear here) PEOPLE?!!?!?!?! TWI #1?!?!?!?!?!? HELLO? TWI OK BUT NOT EVEN IN THE SAME SENTANCE! HP 4EVA EVA AND 4 ALL AGES (with the slight exception of molly in dh 7 ron & twins all or) AND ALL GENDERS, TO LOVED UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD AND U WANT TO PUT TWI IN FRONT?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!? WHAT THE (insert swear here) IS (insert swear here) WRONG WITH (insert swear here) U?!?!?!!?!?!?
grrrrrrrr….
9414 Points
Although I’m not happy about Twilight getting the #1 spot, I’m really pro
9414 Points
I wonder how they figured out the ranks. Obviously the #1 on this list is questionable.
1574 Points
I agree with what has been said many times before – Jo should be on top of that list. While I enjoyed reading Twilight I have to say that Stephanie Meyer is not even close to Jo’s league, let alone playing in it.
33 Points
How did twilight and new moon even get on this list?And wheres POA?Are they insane,really?Twilight is NO match to Harry Potter!! I mean half of these so called “loyal Twilight fans” didn’t even know what twilight was until the movie came out!!! I have been a harry potter fan FOREVER and JKR and Harry should be at the top!
33 Points
Congrats as well to JK Rowling for having 6 out of 10 on the list!!
XP twilight only had 2 nah nah XP
87 Points
We are like right on that border line with Stephanie Mayer, wowee
It’s a Harry Potter world though! _
156 Points
I’m sorry if they based the top spot on who had the most sales then Harry Potter should definitely be number one. JKR is the world’s first Billionaire author. She gets a cut of everything that has to do with Potter. HARRY POTTER SHOULD OF BEEN FIRST.
246 Points
Why is twilight #1 and why isn’t the Prisoner of Azkaban on the list?
10471 Points
Um, excuse me, there’s a mistake. Stephanie Meyer was meant to be at the bottom, with J.K.Rowling at the top. =] To be truthful, the Twilight saga is more for teenagers, since it’s a romance, and it just can’t compare to the world of Harry Potter. No, not being biased. Harry Potter, when you enter it, it makes you want to be in it, never leave it, and the Twilight saga just makes you want to scream, “I GET IT, YOU LOVE EACH OTHER.”
And I would like to mention how sad I was to not receive my letter from Hogwarts when I turned eleven!
HP should have been first!