Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate which means the admin (Anubhav Kumar) of this website may get a small commission when a site visitor makes a purchase through one of these affiliate links. Prices and availability of affiliate products subject to change
So here is the complete list of the best selling science fiction books of all time you must read once in a lifetime.
I am sure, you will fall in love with these books if you love reading genius stuff on science and technology.
Some of the books on the list have won several awards for great storytelling and plotting.
Top 8 best selling science fiction books of all time:
1. Ender’s Game
Are you a military science fiction book lover who wants to see the military and their weapons in action? If that’s so, here is one of the best sci-fi novels authored by the genius American writer Orson Scott Card.
The book is about the war between aliens or formics (called buggers in the series) and humans over the invasion of alien’s technology by humans.
The buggers have their base on asteroid Eros which humans won narrowly and occupied their advanced technology capable of manipulating gravity.
In the story, children including the character Ender Wiggin (protagonist) are trained for the military invasion of advanced technology.
During the training period, the genius skills of Ender Wiggin is revealed.
The book was first published in the year 1985 and later with a great plot, the series of this book was released under Ender’s Game series.
Orson Scott Card, the author of the book is a renowned American author and public speaker who wrote many books in different genres but known best for his work in sci-fi books like Ender’s Game and it’s series.
This book won many awards including Nebula and Hugo’s awards becoming one of the best selling science fiction books of all time.
Book specifications:
| Author | Orson Scott Card |
| First Published | 1985 |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Language | English |
| Amazon.com rating |
MUST READ: 7 best fiction books of all time: Bestselling list
2. The Dune Chronicles
This book is a 1965 science fiction novel by the great American writer Frank Herbert bagging several awards for his work in the sci-fi genre.
Another space science book on the list about a story of planet Arrakis and it’s people called Fremen.
The Dune Chronicles book is all about Paul Atreides, the fictional character in the story, becoming a mysterious man called Muad’Dib, and the planet Arrakis. This planet is known for the only source of melange, the spice.
The melange is an important material for navigating to space. A must-read book if you love reading sci-fi with a mix of human emotions.
The book has become the best selling science fiction book of all time in history selling over 20 million copies. In 2003, the book became the world’s best selling book winning a prestigious award like Nebula Award for Best Nove
Book specifications:
| Author | Frank Herbert |
| First Published | 1965 |
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Chilton Books |
| Language | English |
| Amazon.com rating | 4.7/5 |
3. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The best thing about the book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is that you will have a good time laughing while you read something amazing about aliens, science, and technology.
It is a comedy sci-fi series by Douglas Adams and later in the year 2005, a movie based on the story of the book was released under the same name.
The series is based on the adventure of Englishmen Arthur Dent making a way for an intergalactic bypass after the earth was completely destroyed by the aliens “Vogons“.
Excellent work has been done by the creator of the series answering the meaning of life and the universe with deep thoughts and full of emotions.
It was originally broadcasted on BBC Radio and later was composed for different formats for the stage show, series, novel, and even comic books.
The novel was released as “trilogy in five parts” (From the adaption of the first four radio series) and was first released in the year 1979.
The book was published in the year 1985 which contains the radio scripts from the original radio scripts from BBC
Name of the series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)
- Life, the Universe, and Everything (1982)
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984)
- Mostly Harmless (1992)
- And Another Thing (2009)
Book specifications:
| Author | Douglas Adams |
| First Published | 1979 (Novel) |
| Copies Sold | 250k in 3 months |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Genre | Sci-Fi, comedy |
| Publisher | Pan Books |
| Language | English |
| Amazon.com rating |
4. The Lord Of The Rings: The best selling science fiction book of all time
This is the best novel in history from science fiction and fantasy with over 150 million copies already sold. If you have not read yet, you must read it in the first place without fail.
The author of the novel, J. R. R. Tolkien, has done tremendous work to make the story interesting and engaging following from his previous 1937 fictional novel, The Hobbit.
The story begins with the narrative of The Hobbit in which the main antagonist, Dark Lord Sauron, who had a ring which he created from his early age as a plan to rule over middle-earth through Rings of power (magical rings).
The novel was started as a sequel of The Hobbit, seeing it’s popularirity the pulishers wanted him to work for another sequel. And this is how birth of the novel “The lord of the rings” happened.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a poet and English author who with his creative writing skills created the bestselling science fiction books of all time, the lord of the ring, and another great novel The Hobbit.
The book was launched under different Genre, fantasy, adventure and sci-fi and was published by Allen & Unwin in United Kingdom.
Strongly recommende book to read for those who wants to read stories in fantasy, adventure with great mix of science fiction.
Book specifications:
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Published | 1954 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Copies Sold | 150 million |
| Genre | Fantasy, Sci-fi, adventure |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
| Language | English |
| Amazon.com rating |
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Another great sci-fi book by English writer Arthur C. Clarke written in the year 1968. The book was published after the release of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick.
The book covers several short stories including famous Stanley Kubrick (another sci-fi short story by the author). The stories are based on aliens using high-end technology and machines to explore space, following the title of the book.
Aliens technology were aimed to enhance the life of ape-men to make more intelligent and advance. Their older and traditional tools to hunt animals were replaced by the smarter one, thus making the lives of ape-men easy and advance.
The book was released under science fiction category and published by Hutchinson in the United Kingdom.
Book specifications:
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke |
| Published | 1968 |
| Copies Sold | Over 3 Million |
| Genre | Sci-fi |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
| Language | English |
| Amazon.com rating |
6. 1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four
If your reading inclination is towards politics, technology, and social science fiction, this book is a perfect fit for you. Here dystopian refers to a community considered to be bad and unpleasant.
The title of the book 1984 refers to the future time imagining the world falling under wars and under surveillance by the totalitarian government.
The civilization in the country of Oceania, damaged by war and conflicts between civilians and government
According to Time magazine, it is 100 best English novel (1923 to 2005).
George Orwell was an English author whose support for democratic socialism and opposition to totalitarianism could be seen in his book.
The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Secker & Warburg in the year 1949. In the same year, it was published in the United States by Harcourt, Brace, and Company.
Book specifications:
| Author | George Orwell |
| First Published | 1949 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Dystopian, social science fiction |
| Publisher | Secker & Warburg |
| Amazon.com rating |
7. The Foundation Trilogy
Here is one of the best science fiction book series by renowned American Author, Isaac Asimov which remained a trilogy for 30 years.
The center story of the book is constructing social theory using mathematics for predicting the future behavior of people of the Galactic Empire, by developing an advanced theory of psychohistory (a fictional science using history and mathematics to predict future).
The character Hari Seldon in the story is a mathematician who works and spends his time working in the area of psychohistory theory for future prediction of the behavior of people of an interstellar empire called the Galactic Empire.
The book was hugely accepted and appreciated worldwide making it a best selling science fiction books of all time. The book won many awards including the Hugo Award in the year 1966.
Book specifications:
| Author | Isaac Asimov |
| Published | 1944 – 1993 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Country | United States |
| Publisher | Astounding Magazine |
| Amazon.com rating |
8. The Time Machine
H. G. Wells is not just author of the book “The Time Machine” but coined the term word “Time Machine” itself, which is widely used term around globe.
Now you can imagine the popularity of his work in his book “The Time Machine” written as a frame narrative. The book has not just inspired but revolutionized the whole media industry
The main character of the story is a time traveler and an English scientist from the Victorian era. In the story, the time was narrated as the fourth-dimensional space, a place that can be traveled using the time machine.
The author does an impeccable narration and the whole idea of the time machine and travel was well narrated in the story making readers interest intact throughout.
The lead character in the story organizes a weekly dinner guest for time travel through his tabletop model that he claimed to be capable enough to travel through different times, fourth-dimension.
The story was adpated by many media productions, in movies, comic books and two TV version.
A strongly recommended science fiction book to all sci-fi story readers.
Book specifications:
| Author | H. G. Wells |
| Published | 1895 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Amazon.com rating |
Conclusion: Best selling science fiction books of all time
I tried my best to collect only the top bestselling books of all time on the list of eight. Please note that I do not mean to rank the book on the list but made the list in order to put the reviews about the books. Do not consider the list of the ranking for mentioned the books.
Still, many more popular sci-fi books are there that deserves a place in the book. My only motive is to handover you the first top 8 list of best sci-fi books. In the future article will add more amazing books on the list.
Let me know in the comment if you want me to add your favuorite book in the list.