Happy 150th, Canada! You don’t look a day over 4 billion.
To celebrate the sesquicentennial, we stayed true to our book-reading, data-loving selves and pulled together a list of 150 Canadian-authored (English language) bestsellers from the last 10 years.*
Which Canadian-authored books sold the most in Canada?
Take a look at our pretty poster. Or, if you’d like a copy for your own use, you can download the poster, print it out, and display it proudly. (If you do end up displaying it, please take a picture and send it to us!)
We assume that every author has a Google alert set up for their name, but just in case we’re wrong: if you see your favourite authors on the list, send them a tweet or Facebook message to let them know!
And, if you want to figure out just how many of these 150 books you’ve read, you can take the quiz right here!
Interesting facts about this list
Robert Munsch appears on this list the most times of any author. He’s written 35 of the titles on the list! That means 23% of the top Canadian books are Munsch titles. He’s one prolific and beloved author.
Margaret Atwood is second-most frequent author. She has four titles that made the list: The Year of the Flood, The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, and her Massey lecture, Payback.
Kelley Armstrong, Joseph Boyden, Chris Hadfield, Lawrence Hill, Alice Munro, and Miriam Toews all have three titles each.
The subject breakdown is a pretty even split, all things considered, with 54 Fiction titles, 49 Non-Fiction titles, and 49 Juvenile titles (of those, 47 are Fiction and two are Non-Fiction). Biography & Autobiography is the largest category of Non-Fiction titles, followed closely by Cooking.
How did we get these titles?
The bestselling books in this list were determined by calculating the total units sold in Canada over the last 10 years according to BNC SalesData, the national sales tracking service for the English-language print trade market.
The list of all the bestsellers by Canadian authors
And, if you would prefer a list to an infographic, here it is. All 150 titles from the poster above in alphabetical order by author:
- S. E. C. R. E. T. by L. Marie Adeline
- Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
- The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
- Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
- The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- Payback by Margaret Atwood
- The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
- A Porcupine in a Pine Tree written by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Werner Zimmermann
- ABC of Canada written by Kim Bellefontaine, illustrated by Per-Henrik Gürth
- Canada 123 written by Kim Bellefontaine, illustrated by Per-Henrik Gürth
- The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
- Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
- Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
- The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
- The Hockey Sweater written by Roch Carrier, illustrated by Sheldon Cohen
- The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
- Don Cherry’s Hockey Stories and Stuff by Don Cherry
- The Juicing Bible by Pat Crocker
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
- Persuasion by Arlene Dickinson
- Room by Emma Donoghue
- Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
- The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
- 419 by Will Ferguson
- Playing with Fire by Theo Fleury
- The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
- Something from Nothing written and illustrated by Phoebe Gilman
- The Golden Sun by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
- Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
- Quinoa 365 by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming
- 99 by Wayne Gretzky
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
- The Darkest Dark written by Chris Hadfield, illustrated by Eric Fan and Terry Fan
- You Are Here by Chris Hadfield
- A Great Game by Stephen J. Harper
- The Silent Wife by A. S. A. Harrison
- Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
- The Flood Of 2013 by Calgary Herald
- Driven by Robert Herjavec
- Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill
- The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
- The Illegal by Lawrence Hill
- A Soldier First by Rick Hillier
- Make It Right by Mike Holmes
- Mr. Hockey by Gordie Howe
- Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
- The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
- The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
- One False Note by Gordon Korman
- Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
- The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
- The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon
- Oh She Glows Every Day by Angela Liddon
- A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett
- The Bishop’s Man by Linden MacIntyre
- Cornered by Ron MacLean
- Hockey Towns by Ron MacLean
- The War That Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
- The Birth House by Ami McKay
- The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
- Extreme Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean
- The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks by Stuart McLean
- A Nation Worth Ranting About by Rick Mercer
- Rick Mercer Report by Rick Mercer
- Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
- Dear Life by Alice Munro
- My Best Stories by Alice Munro
- Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
- 50 Below Zero written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Alligator Baby written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Andrew’s Loose Tooth written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Boo! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Class Clown written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- David’s Father written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- The Fire Station written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Give Me Back My Dad! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- I Have to Go! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Just One Goal! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Look at Me! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Love You Forever written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw
- Mad About Munsch! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Makeup Mess written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Mmm, Cookies! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Moose! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Mortimer written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Much More Munsch! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes, Michael Martchenko, Alan Daniel, and Lea Daniel
- Mud Puddle written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sami Suomalainen
- Munsch More! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes, Michael Martchenko, Alan Daniel, and Lea Daniel
- The Munschworks Grand Treasury written by Robert Munsch and Michael Kusugak, illustrated by Michael Martchenko, Hélène Desputeaux, and Vladyana Krykora
- Murmel, Murmel, Murmel written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- No Clean Clothes written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- The Paper Bag Princess written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Pigs written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Purple, Green and Yellow written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Hélène Desputeaux
- Pyjama Day! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- The Sandcastle Contest written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Smelly Socks written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Something Good written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Stephanie’s Ponytail written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Swamp Water written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Thomas’ Snowsuit written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- Too Much Stuff! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- We Share Everything! written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko
- All of Me by Anne Murray
- Z is for Zamboni written by Matt Napier, illustrated by Melanie Rose
- Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat
- Cold Hard Truth by Kevin O’Leary
- Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill
- The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje
- Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
- The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha
- The Book of (Even More) Awesome by Neil Pasricha
- Tough Guy by Bob Probert
- Sing a Song of Mother Goose written and illustrated by Barbara Reid
- The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich
- The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler
- Pewter Angels, 1956-1957 by Henry K. Ripplinger
- Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller by Jeff Rubin
- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
- The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud
- The Best of Chef at Home by Michael Smith
- Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen by Michael Smith
- Red is Best written by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Robin Baird Lewis
- Survive! by Les Stroud
- Grumpy Bird written and illustrated by Jeremy Tankard
- An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
- Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
- Ru by Kim Thuy
- A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
- All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
- The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
- Common Ground by Justin Trudeau
- Changing My Mind by Margaret Trudeau
- The Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner
- The Tiger by John Vaillant
- Best of Bridge Slow Cooker Cookbook by Sally Vaughan-Johnston
- Bravo! by Sally Vaughan-Johnston
- Debt-Free Forever by Gail Vaz-Oxlade
- Money Rules by Gail Vaz-Oxlade
- The Rule of Three by Eric Walters
- Scaredy Squirrel written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt
- Knights of the Black and White by Jack Whyte
- Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young
* We rely on publisher-supplied metadata feeds to identify Canadian titles in our lists, by use of the Canadian contributor marker.
