Popularity
The Christian Booksellers Association list the most popular versions of the Bible sold by their members (in the US). In 2007 the New International Version was the most popular, followed by the New King James Version and the King James Version More current data can be found in the External links section, which typically reflects the above rankings.
Amazon lists the top ten in current sales in the USA (as of 8/17/2009) to be the NAB, NRSV, NIV, KJV, The Message, NASB, NLT, RSV, The Amplified Bible, and the Orthodox Study Bible.
Sales are affected by denomination and religious affiliation (e.g. the most popular Jewish version would not compete with rankings of a larger audience). Sales data can be affected by the method of marketing. Some translations are directly marketed to denominations or local churches, and many 'Christian Booksellers' only offer Protestant Bibles, so Catholic and Orthodox Bibles may not appear as high on the Christian Bookseller's Association rank.
Read more about this topic: English Translations Of The Bible
Famous quotes containing the word popularity:
“A more problematic example is the parallel between the increasingly abstract and insubstantial picture of the physical universe which modern physics has given us and the popularity of abstract and non-representational forms of art and poetry. In each case the representation of reality is increasingly removed from the picture which is immediately presented to us by our senses.”
—Harvey Brooks (b. 1915)
“Here also was made the novelty ‘Chestnut Bell’ which enjoyed unusual popularity during the gay nineties when every dandy jauntily wore one of the tiny bells on the lapel of his coat, and rang it whenever a story-teller offered a ‘chestnut.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)