Professor Stephen Hawking wrote a best-selling book (PA) Stephen Hawking’s science book A Brief History Of Time: From The Big Bang To Black Holes spent the most number of weeks on the bestsellers list, according to analysis from the last five decades. The Sunday Times said Hawking, who died aged 76 in 2018, spent 264 weeks on the bestsellers chart. Scottish author JK Rowling had one book in the top 100 weekly entries list, her first Harry Potter book, while cookery writer Delia Smith made a significant mark with three top 20 entries.
Delia Smith (Chris Jackson/PA) Rowling’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone brought the wizarding world that she created to prominence, and it has regularly been cited as one of the biggest books of all time. However, her work did not feature in the top 20 of the analysis, which ranked titles by the number of weeks spent on the bestsellers list between 1974 and 2024. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone placed at number 23.
“Some best-seller lists, for example non-fiction manuals and children’s (books), were not published weekly,” the Sunday Times said. John Gray’s relationship book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus and Smith’s Complete Cookery Course came in at number two and three respectively. Gray spent 236 weeks on the bestsellers list from 1996, and Smith was on the index for 225 weeks from 1982.
The 83-year-old TV presenter reached number seven with Delia Smith’s Summer Collection, and 15 with Delia Smit.