In October, Amazon Germany celebrates its 25th company anniversary. To mark the occasion, the shipping giant is revealing a list of the top sellers – including books – from a quarter of a century of online shopping. We present to you 25 publications that were ordered (and read) most frequently.
The year was 1998 when Amazon went live with its German website. At that time, the online shop already contained 900,000 titles – including a textbook about software that was ordered for the first time: “Mastering Simulink 2”. Today, the mail order giant’s virtual library consists of over million titles. Below we list alphabetically which publications have been purchased most frequently in the last 25 years.
25 of the most popular books on Amazon
1. BLACKOUT – Tomorrow it will be too late
In the exciting scientific thriller by Marc Elsberg, the power goes out across Europe. A very realistic scenario. Is this pure coincidence or is there a perfidious plan behind it? Find out for yourself.
2. The Café on the Edge of the World
After the always-energized John is confronted with the question of the meaning of life in a small café, time suddenly stands still and takes the advertising manager on a journey into his innermost being.
3. The child in you must find home
With the Spiegel bestseller, author Stefanie Stahl would like to help you make peace with your “inner child” – to show new approaches, resolve conflicts or make interpersonal relationships happier.
4. The NO horn
Marc-Uwe Kling’s book was only published in 2019, but made it onto the bestseller list within a short time. The sweet story revolves around a small, stubborn unicorn who always says no to everything and everyone.
5. The Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
A required reading in many schools: The gripping novel is all about Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man with a keen sense of smell – which leads him to create his own scent from women’s corpses.
6. The old lady’s visit
The premiere of this tragic comedy took place in January 1956 – and celebrated worldwide success. The story is about billionaire Claire Zachanassian, who makes an immoral offer to her home village.
7. The centenarian who climbed out the window and disappeared
When Allan Karlsson reached his 100th birthday, he disappeared without a trace. The whole of Sweden is in turmoil – and not for the first time. Jonas Jonasson explains how he was involved in the historical events of the 20th century.
8. The Reader
This fascinating story also made it onto the bestseller list. It’s about an underage boy who starts an affair with his much older neighbor – a former war criminal from World War II.
9. The physicists
Dürrenmatt also wrote the story about three physicists (Möbius, Beutler and Ernesti) who meet in a psychiatric clinic, only one of whom is a real scientist.
10. The therapy
Fitzek is a master of his craft. His success story began with this thriller: It’s about the missing daughter of a psychiatrist. And a girl who appears in a woman’s delusions.
11. The Wave
In this experiment, a teacher wants to prove that anyone can engage in fascist behavior – they just need to create the right conditions. But then the attempt gets out of control.
12. Darkroom
In this exciting Crime Detective Frank Wallert is faced with a puzzle. To investigate the background to a brutal double murder, he only has two pieces of evidence at his disposal: an empty CD case and a burning house.
13. A whole six months
15 million readers made this bestseller a success: After an accident, Will Traynor is paralyzed and is in danger of dissolving into self-pity. Until he meets the fun-loving Louisa Clark and everything suddenly changes.
14. Fifty Shades of Gray: Liberated Lust (Volume 3)
The third part of “Fifty Shades of Gray” was by far the most successful. The reason for this could be the brilliant finale between Christian Gray and Ana Steele, which is accompanied by resentment and intrigue. But also crackling passion.
15. Fifty Shades of Gray: Dangerous Love (Volume 2)
Christian’s preferences as well as his past lead Ana to separate from Christian. But it happens as it has to happen: both end up in the “playroom” again – and the affair takes its (not without danger) course.
16. Fifty Shades of Gray: Secret Desire (Volume 1)
After the first part came onto the market, the topic of bondage experienced a real hype. The reason for this was Christian Grey, an attractive entrepreneur who seduces the literature student Ana in every way possible.
17. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Volume 6)
Harry Potter is one of the absolute bestsellers. The most frequently purchased book was the sixth volume, in which Voldemort has returned and the young wizard has to prove himself – again – against the Dark Lord.
18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Volume 7)
In the final part of the Harry Potter saga there is a big showdown between Lord Voldemort and Harry. He is supported by his friends, who want to help him find and destroy the last Horcruxes.
19. Finish this book
This book does not contain any stories, it is intended to write history – according to all the rules of (creative) art. Just have fun on the pages and create your own work of art.
20. Oh dear, I’m growing!
This book tells about “the eight leaps” in your child’s mental development during the first 14 months and how you can deal with them. It is intended to help parents overcome the challenging time well.
21. Rico, Oskar and the Deep Shadows
This book about the adventures with Rico and Oskar was awarded the German Youth Literature Prize – a multi-award-winning children’s crime novel about friendship, being different and profound talent.
22. The Big Five for Life
The dissatisfied Joe meets the successful businessman Thomas, whose goal is to be fulfilled not only privately but also professionally. He tells him how this works best with his principles – the “Big Five for Life”.
23. Chick
Maik’s mother is in a rehab clinic while his father is on a business trip with his assistant. Just when he thinks he’ll spend the holidays alone at his parents’ pool, he meets the daring Tschick.
24. What I love about you
This book – which actually isn’t one – also made it onto the list of the most popular titles of all time. Rather, the reading should be used to fill it out. Deep, funny and emotional questions should help.
25. Weber’s Barbecue Bible
And this book doesn’t contain any exciting stories either, but rather culinary grill recipes for steaks, burgers and fish. The barbecue bible also provides helpful instructions and tips.
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Transparency note: blanvalet, Kailash and Goldmann belong to the Penguin Random House publishing group, which, like stern, is part of the Bertelsmann Group.