Christian Retailing

‘Five Love Languages’ top-selling Christian book Print Email
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Thursday, 27 January 2011 02:44 PM America/New_York
Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing/Moody Publishers) surpassed The Love Dare by Alex and Stephen Kendrick (B&H Books/B&H Publishing Group) as the best-selling Christian book of 2010, according to the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

The Love Dare—No. 1 in ECPA's 2009 list—was second in 2010, ahead of William P. Young's The Shack (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group). The association's top 50 Christian multi-channel best-sellers list also included: 4. Francis Chan's Crazy Love (David C. Cook); 5. Sarah Young's Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson); 6. Joyce Meyer's Battlefield for the Mind (FaithWords); 7. Beverly Lewis' The Telling (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 8. Max Lucado's Fearless (Thomas Nelson); 9. Francis Chan's Forgotten God (David C. Cook); and Beth Moore's So Long, Insecurity (Tyndale House Publishers).

The publishers' group also released a top 50 title listing for 2010, exclusively using sales from Christian retailers. In the second list, Jesus Calling and Crazy Love took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively—suggesting that the titles were more popular among the "active Christian" population, which makes up the majority of the Christian retail consumer base.

Michael Covington, ECPA's information and education director, said: "Christian book buyers are not all the same. While Christian content enjoys very broad distribution today, it's obvious that certain titles sell better through channels that are shopped more heavily by the core Christian book consumer."

A million-selling devotional, Jesus Calling headed the list of Thomas Nelson's 100 Best-selling Christian Books of 2010—followed by The Shack and Crazy Love, announced earlier this month. Based on a proprietary database drawn from "various point-of-sale systems from multiple sales channels," the standings reflected unit sales for the 12 months ending Dec. 31.

Click here to see the ECPA's top 50 Christian multi-channel best-sellers list in full and here for its Christian retailers' top 50 title list.