December 2007 Bible Sales Rankings by Translation

The Christian Booksellers Association has released December sales and units sold figures for Bibles by translation. December rankings reflect actual sales in CBA-member stores in the United States and Canada during the month of October.


Interesting jockeying going on this month. It's not surprising to see the NIV, KJV, and NKJV at the top three in sales on both charts (although deep down it still amazes me that the NKJV sells so well). The fact that the ESV ranks #4 on unit sales, but #7 on dollar sales continues to reinforce my hunch that a lot of the 50¢ New Testaments are being sold, probably based more on price than translation preference, although I'm positive both are significant factors for its continued acceptance. The HCSB which ranked #10 last month in both dollar and unit sales moved up both charts significantly. Perhaps this has to do with the release of the Apologetics Study Bible (Ken, where's my review?) which ranked #2 on study Bibles sold. The TNIV, the most recently released version on the list, didn't show up in either rankings last month, but lists as #9 on dollar sales and #10 on unit sales which is surely significant since half of the reporting CBA stores refuse to carry it (suggestion: the next time you're in the market for a TNIV BIble, special order it from one of the stores that won't carry it).