Elonka wrote:
] Note: I've been curious as to what other books beat DVC's
] sales records.

Nothing definitive on that point, but I did find a few data points:

* What to Expect When You're Expecting: 12.7 million in the USA; published in 30 languages worldwide.

* Robert Ludlum: 25 novels and more than 210 million copies worldwide.

* Da Vinci Code: 29 million in print worldwide.

In 1997, 2.1 billion books were sold in the US, including 758 million hardcover units.

According to Google Answers

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=14

most works of fiction can't compete with the likes of the Bible and Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. This page claims that "The Valley of the Dolls" is the bestselling fiction of all time. (This is affirmed by other sources, as well.) The count is not provided, but it is said that #2 is Gone With The Wind, with 28 million copies sold. This page also provides a list of books exceeding 10 million copies sold; one of them, The Godfather, has sold 20 million copies, according to a University of Virginia study.

noteworthy wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] Note: I've been curious as to what other books beat DVC's
] ] sales records.
]
] Nothing definitive on that point, but I did find a few data
] points:
] This page claims that "The Valley of the Dolls" is the
] bestselling fiction of all time. (This is affirmed by other
] sources, as well.)

I went poking around some other places, too.

According to guinnessworldrecords.com:

Best-selling non-fiction book is the Bible, with an estimated 2.5 billion copies sold since 1815. It has been translated into 2,233 languages and dialects.

Mao's "Little Red Book" was sold or given away to around 900 million people.

The "Guinness World Records" book itself claims the title of biggest selling *copyrighted* book as of 2003: 100 million copies, in 37 languages

Best-selling diary: Anne Frank's, with 25 million copies

Best-selling author of fortune-telling books: Ms. Kazuko Hosoki of Japan, with 34 million copies sold of her series of 81 books on fortune telling (Ms. Hosoki is also one of the judges on the show "Iron Chef").

Best-selling fiction writer: Agatha Christie. Approximately 2 billion copies of her 78 crime novels have been sold, in 44 languages. Royalty earnings are about $3.7 million/year.

Highest one-year sales for a book series: 23 million books in one year, for the Harry Potter series. The fourth book sold 5.1 million copies in two days.

And some other interesting factoids:

Biggest-selling album: Michael Jackson's "Thriller", with 52 million copies.

Best-selling solo country album: Shania Twain's "Come On Over" - 18 million copies

Best-selling classical album: Jose Carreras' "In Concert", with 10.5 worldwide copies

Best-selling latin singers:
 male: Julio Iglesias, 200 million albums
 female: Gloria Estefan, 35 million albums

Best-selling car: 24.9 million Toyota Corollas, as of 2000.

Best-selling video game: "Super Mario Brothers", 40+ million copies. The entire series has sold 152 million copies.

Note: For those who are curious how that last one stacks up to "Grand Theft Auto", according to CNN, as of October 2004:
 - GTA 3: 5.4 million copies in the U.S., 11 million worldwide
 - GTA Vice City: 6.1 million copies in the U.S., 13 million worldwide
 - GTA San Andreas: 5.1 million in the U.S. (as of 1/2005)