Harry Potter Novels by JK Rowling on Multiple Best of Decade Lists

As we near the end of 2009, many publications and websites are releasing their “best of the decade” lists, many which include the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling.

First Bookseller points out that our favorite author is the biggest selling author of the decade, saying “J K Rowling unsurprisingly holds the top spot with sales worth a
spellbinding £215.9 million, according to Nielsen BookScan. The
Bloomsbury author’s sales were greater than the TCM revenue of all but
nine publishers including Faber, Scholastic and Egmont. Rowling’s
Potter series also occupies seven of the top 10 books of the noughties.”

Next the Toronto Sun declares the Harry Potter books the story of the decade, noting “J.K. Rowling has been, hands down, the publishing phenomenon of the
decade. She went from being an unemployed single mom to a billionaire
in less than 10 years … by writing books. That in itself is
astounding. The Harry Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies. With
only one person in 10 classified as a reader that’s an astonishing
number. Although only the last four books in the seven-book series were
published in the past decade, each broke records as the fastest selling
book in history. The Harry Potter books make up the bestselling series in history,
outpacing classic series such as Hardy Boys or Lord of the Rings.”

The Guardian reflects on the best book of each year and in 2007 it was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: “Why are these books such a worldwide phenomenon? Yes, they are very
good, but many equally good books have appeared without causing
near-riots on publication day. The best explanation I can come up with
is that, like the popular dramas of Shakespeare’s time, they excel in
many genres simultaneously. As Polonius puts it when recommending the
company of travelling actors that visits Elsinore, they are outstanding
“either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, [or]
tragical-comical-historical-pastoral”. Something for everyone, all of
it first-rate.”

Canada.com has the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as one of the top Pop-culture moments of the decade: “But it wasn’t until the summer of 2000 that the term
“Potter-mania” became an obnoxious, catch-all phrase in North America.
The release of the fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire, marked the first time one of J.K. Rowling’s tomes would
be released simultaneously in the U.K. and North America, and young and
old appetites for adventures in witchcraft and wizardry were piqued.”

Finally, Entertainment Weekly also highlights Goblet of Fire as one of their best books of the decade (number 8) stating “the fourth Potter novel was the darkest yet, forcing poor Harry
to contend with Death Eaters run amok and the loss of a major
character. That it also encompasses some of the series’ most purely fun
moments of escapism is proof of Rowling’s versatile gifts.”

Phew!