The controversial books about a BDSM relationship dominated in the #MeToo era, while mostly female authors took the other spots in the top 10 best-selling books of the decade.
Author EL James has reason to celebrate. Though she already has multiple blockbuster films and best-selling books under her belt, she can now be crowned the best-selling author of the decade with her ‘Fifty Shades’ trilogy claiming the first, second and third spots on the list of best-selling books of the last 10 years.
The ‘Fifty Shades’ trilogy, which was released between 2011 and 2012, has sold 35 million copies, according to NPD Bookscan, which monitors sales in the publishing industry.
The books, as well as the movies released between 2015 and 2018, found surprising success in the #MeToo era, considering they follow a BDSM relationship and often dealt with questionable mental and physical abuse between the main characters.
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, the first in the series, sold an estimated 15.2 million physical and ebook copies, while the second and third books sold 10.4 and 9.3 million, respectively.
Another interesting aspect to the list of best-selling books of the decade is that it is dominated by women. While critics constantly complain about minority representation in film and television, as well as the massive number of male directors compared to the smaller number of female directors hired by Hollywood studios, publishing appears to be a creative field where women are thriving.
‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Help’ by Suzanne Collins and Kathryn Stockett took the fourth and fifth place spots on the list, with both selling roughly 8.7 million copies.
Thriller novels ‘The Girl on the Train’ and ‘Gone Girl’ by Paula Hawkins and Gillian Flynn took the sixth and seventh spots, selling 8.2 and 8.1 million copies, respectively.
The last three books to round out the top 10 were ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ by Stieg Larsson and ‘Divergent’ by Veronica Roth.
This means only two male authors made the top 10 list and both of their books contained female protagonists.
