Bible Translations – Based on Dollar Sales

1. New International Version various publishers
2. New King James Version various publishers
3. King James Version various publishers
4. New Living Translation Tyndale
5. English Standard Version Crossway
6. Today’s New International Version Zondervan
7. New Revised Standard Version various publishers
8. New American Standard Bible update various publishers
9. The Message Eugene Peterson, NavPress
10. International Children’s Bible Thomas Nelson

Bible Translations – Based on Unit Sales

1. New International Version various publishers
2. New King James Version various publishers
3. King James Version various publishers
4. New Living Translation Tyndale
5. English Standard Version Crossway
6. New Revised Standard Version various publishers
7. Reina Valera 1960 (Spanish) various publishers
8. Holman Christian Standard Bible B&H Publishing Group
9. International Children’s Bible Thomas Nelson
10. The Message Eugene Peterson, NavPress

A few things are striking about these recent numbers. For one, there is a major change in the ESV – its no longer higher on the unit sales than it is on the dollar sales. This means that its not merely the cheep 50 cent New Tetaments that are pushing up its numbers – or at least that the ESV Study Bible is balancing that out.

Then there’s the TNIV – its ranked 6ths in dollar sales and doesn’t appear on unit sales. My guess is that this has to do with the recent release of the rather expensive TNIV reference Bible. Apparently people like it – and like it enough to put down the big bucks.

I’m also impressed with the NLT. Its got a solid fourth place lead, in the sense that 1-3 were the predictable three: NIV, NKJV, and KJV (the NKJV concerns me – are there really that many Textus Receptus people out there?).

Finally, there’s the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Its a good translation (with a couple idiosyncrasies), its interesting that its gone from the dollar sales list.

Here’s the list in PDF.

What do you think?