The short answer
- Most widely searched: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is in the top ten of 21 of the 25 languages, ahead of Wuthering Heights and The Odyssey (15 each).
- Biggest list: English, with 304K searches a month for Wuthering Heights.
- What people look for differs: the biggest kind of search is a summary in Polish, Japanese, German, French and Italian; a pdf or epub in Spanish and Portuguese; analysis in English.
- Free to use: the lists are CC BY 4.0; credit the Library of Alexandria Press (the name and a plain-text address are enough).
Download
The top 100 classics in 25 languages (CSV)Rank, title, local title, author, searches a month, main search, top country and a note, per language.CSV · 368 KB · 2,400 rows
The top 100 classics in 41 markets (CSV)The same for each country: market, country, language, rank, title, local title, searches a month, main search and a note.CSV · 652 KB · 3,997 rows
The most-searched classic in each language
Searches a month for a title together with a word such as summary, characters or quotes, added up over the markets of the language. Each row gives the language, its most-searched classic (with the title in the language's own words in brackets) and the searches a month. Titles with a note in the file (devotional use, or a name that is also a common word, a brand or another work) are left out of the headlines on this page and kept in the files.
| Language | Most searched classic (in local words) | Searches a month |
|---|---|---|
| English | Wuthering Heights | 304K |
| Arabic | Crime and Punishment (الجريمة والعقاب) | 1.1K |
| German | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice im Wunderland) | 6.7K |
| Spanish | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alicia en el país de las maravillas) | 31.4K |
| French | Manon Lescaut | 11.7K |
| Hindi | The Great Gatsby | 310 |
| Indonesian | Wuthering Heights | 1.4K |
| Italian | Wuthering Heights (Cime tempestose) | 30.8K |
| Japanese | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (オズの魔法使い) | 25.7K |
| Korean | The Sorrows of Young Werther (젊은 베르테르의 슬픔) | 5.7K |
| Dutch | The Odyssey (Odyssee) | 590 |
| Polish | Crime and Punishment (Zbrodnia i kara) | 40K |
| Portuguese | Paradise Lost (Paraíso Perdido) | 12.9K |
| Russian | War and Peace (Война и мир) | 6.6K |
| Chinese | The Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅) | 2.9K |
| Danish | The Odyssey (Odysseen) | 450 |
| Swedish | Frankenstein | 2.4K |
| Norwegian | A Doll's House: A Play (Et dukkehjem) | 600 |
| Finnish | Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland — Complete (Kalevala) | 2.7K |
| Czech | Romeo and Juliet (Romeo a Julie) | 7.5K |
| Turkish | Crime and Punishment (Suç ve Ceza) | 11.8K |
| Romanian | Romeo and Juliet (Romeo și Julieta) | 1.4K |
| Hungarian | The Odyssey (Odüsszeia) | 4K |
| Croatian | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 2.4K |
| Catalan | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 1K |
The ten most-searched in every language
Open a language to see its ten classics, each with the searches a month and the kind of search that brings most of them.
English: Wuthering Heights
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wuthering Heights | 304K | analysis |
| 2. The Odyssey (Odyssey) | 188K | analysis |
| 3. Macbeth | 139K | characters |
| 4. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 135K | characters |
| 5. Romeo and Juliet | 115K | characters |
| 6. Frankenstein | 99K | analysis |
| 7. The Great Gatsby | 77.2K | pdf or epub |
| 8. Pride and Prejudice | 64.5K | characters |
| 9. Persuasion | 44.8K | analysis |
| 10. Peter Pan | 42.3K | characters |
Arabic: Crime and Punishment
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Crime and Punishment (الجريمة والعقاب) | 1.1K | pdf or epub |
| 2. The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales (ألف ليلة وليلة) | 730 | pdf or epub |
| 3. Les Misérables (البؤساء) | 560 | pdf or epub |
| 4. The Brothers Karamazov (الإخوة كارامازوف) | 440 | pdf or epub |
| 5. Daddy-Long-Legs (صاحب الظل الطويل) | 390 | pdf or epub |
| 6. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (سيكولوجية الجماهير) | 340 | pdf or epub |
| 7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (أليس في بلاد العجائب) | 300 | characters |
| 8. The Count of Monte Cristo (كونت مونت كريستو) | 280 | pdf or epub |
| 9. Treasure Island (جزيرة الكنز) | 280 | characters |
| 10. The Critique of Pure Reason (نقد العقل المحض) | 240 | pdf or epub |
German: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice im Wunderland) | 6.7K | characters |
| 2. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 5K | summary |
| 3. Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) | 3.3K | summary |
| 4. Macbeth | 3.1K | summary |
| 5. Romeo and Juliet (Romeo und Julia) | 2.9K | summary |
| 6. The Trial (Der Prozess) | 2.7K | summary |
| 7. The Odyssey (Odyssee) | 2.4K | summary |
| 8. The Rider on the White Horse (Der Schimmelreiter) | 2.2K | summary |
| 9. Wuthering Heights (Sturmhöhe) | 2.1K | summary |
| 10. Peter Pan | 1.9K | characters |
Spanish: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alicia en el país de las maravillas) | 31.4K | characters |
| 2. Don Quixote (Don Quijote de la Mancha) | 17.9K | summary |
| 3. Wuthering Heights (Cumbres Borrascosas) | 17.1K | summary |
| 4. Frankenstein | 12K | pdf or epub |
| 5. Pride and Prejudice (Orgullo y prejuicio) | 8.3K | pdf or epub |
| 6. Romeo and Juliet (Romeo y Julieta) | 7.9K | summary |
| 7. The Odyssey (Odisea) | 7.7K | characters |
| 8. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 7.3K | pdf or epub |
| 9. Crime and Punishment (Crimen y castigo) | 7.1K | pdf or epub |
| 10. 1 Enoch (Libro de Enoc) | 6.8K | pdf or epub |
French: Manon Lescaut
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Manon Lescaut | 11.7K | summary |
| 2. Cyrano de Bergerac | 5.3K | summary |
| 3. Les Misérables | 3.8K | summary |
| 4. The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of 1830 (Le Rouge et le Noir) | 3.5K | summary |
| 5. Wuthering Heights (Les Hauts de Hurlevent) | 3.4K | summary |
| 6. The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) | 3.2K | summary |
| 7. Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette) | 2.8K | summary |
| 8. Madame Bovary | 2.7K | summary |
| 9. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 2.7K | summary |
| 10. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) | 2.6K | characters |
Hindi: The Great Gatsby
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Great Gatsby | 310 | quotes |
| 2. What Is Art? (कला क्या है?) | 260 | pdf or epub |
| 3. Silas Marner | 30 | read online |
| 4. The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (The Will to Believe) | 20 | summary |
| 5. Romeo and Juliet (रोमियो और जूलियट) | 10 | pdf or epub |
| 6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (हैमलेट) | 10 | pdf or epub |
| 7. The Art of War (युद्ध की कला) | 10 | pdf or epub |
Indonesian: Wuthering Heights
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wuthering Heights | 1.4K | summary |
| 2. Pride and Prejudice | 830 | pdf or epub |
| 3. Frankenstein | 770 | summary |
| 4. 1 Enoch (Kitab Henokh) | 640 | pdf or epub |
| 5. Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (Little Women) | 520 | summary |
| 6. Othello, the Moor of Venice (Othello) | 490 | read online |
| 7. Don Quixote | 410 | pdf or epub |
| 8. The Great Gatsby | 350 | pdf or epub |
| 9. Peter Pan | 340 | pdf or epub |
| 10. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 300 | pdf or epub |
Italian: Wuthering Heights
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wuthering Heights (Cime tempestose) | 30.8K | summary |
| 2. The Odyssey (Odissea) | 19.4K | summary |
| 3. The Iliad (Iliade) | 8.4K | summary |
| 4. Macbeth | 5K | summary |
| 5. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Amleto) | 4.8K | summary |
| 6. Pride and Prejudice (Orgoglio e pregiudizio) | 4.7K | summary |
| 7. The Aeneid (Eneide) | 4.7K | summary |
| 8. Beauty and the Beast (La Bella e la Bestia) | 4.2K | characters |
| 9. The Betrothed (I promessi sposi) | 4.2K | summary |
| 10. Peter Pan | 4.2K | characters |
Japanese: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (オズの魔法使い) | 25.7K | summary |
| 2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (不思議の国のアリス) | 18.2K | characters |
| 3. The Odyssey (オデュッセイア) | 18K | analysis |
| 4. Don Quixote (ドン・キホーテ) | 15.6K | read online |
| 5. The Phantom of the Opera (オペラ座の怪人) | 12K | summary |
| 6. Beauty and the Beast (美女と野獣) | 11.8K | characters |
| 7. Peter Pan (ピーター・パン) | 11.6K | characters |
| 8. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (ハムレット) | 10.4K | summary |
| 9. Les Misérables (レ・ミゼラブル) | 8.4K | summary |
| 10. Wuthering Heights (嵐が丘) | 6.2K | summary |
Korean: The Sorrows of Young Werther
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Sorrows of Young Werther (젊은 베르테르의 슬픔) | 5.7K | quotes |
| 2. Don Quixote (돈키호테) | 1.8K | quotes |
| 3. Wuthering Heights (폭풍의 언덕) | 1.8K | summary |
| 4. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (삼국지) | 1.7K | quotes |
| 5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (이상한 나라의 앨리스) | 1.6K | characters |
| 6. Pride and Prejudice (오만과 편견) | 1.6K | summary |
| 7. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (햄릿) | 1.6K | summary |
| 8. Crime and Punishment (죄와 벌) | 1.5K | summary |
| 9. The Great Gatsby (위대한 개츠비) | 1.5K | summary |
| 10. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (오즈의 마법사) | 1.4K | summary |
Dutch: The Odyssey
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Odyssey (Odyssee) | 590 | analysis |
| 2. Frankenstein | 500 | pdf or epub |
| 3. Macbeth | 460 | summary |
| 4. Persuasion | 450 | analysis |
| 5. Pride and Prejudice | 430 | pdf or epub |
| 6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 420 | summary |
| 7. Bel Ami; Or, The History of a Scoundrel (Bel Ami) | 320 | read online |
| 8. Beauty and the Beast (Belle en het Beest) | 230 | characters |
| 9. Othello, the Moor of Venice (Othello) | 210 | read online |
| 10. Peter Pan | 190 | characters |
Polish: Crime and Punishment
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Crime and Punishment (Zbrodnia i kara) | 40K | summary |
| 2. Macbeth (Makbet) | 33K | summary |
| 3. The Miser (Skąpiec) | 19.7K | summary |
| 4. A Christmas Carol (Opowieść wigilijna) | 15K | summary |
| 5. Wuthering Heights (Wichrowe Wzgórza) | 10.3K | summary |
| 6. The Secret Garden (Tajemniczy ogród) | 9.2K | summary |
| 7. The Odyssey (Odyseja) | 8.9K | analysis |
| 8. Anne of Green Gables (Ania z Zielonego Wzgórza) | 8.6K | summary |
| 9. The Iliad (Iliada) | 7.9K | summary |
| 10. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 7.8K | summary |
Portuguese: Paradise Lost
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Paradise Lost (Paraíso Perdido) | 12.9K | summary |
| 2. Dom Casmurro | 11.6K | pdf or epub |
| 3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice no País das Maravilhas) | 10.2K | characters |
| 4. Crime and Punishment (Crime e Castigo) | 9.4K | pdf or epub |
| 5. Wuthering Heights (O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes) | 8.8K | summary |
| 6. Frankenstein | 8.5K | read online |
| 7. Metamorphosis (A Metamorfose) | 6K | pdf or epub |
| 8. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 5.9K | pdf or epub |
| 9. The Odyssey (Odisseia) | 5.7K | pdf or epub |
| 10. Don Quixote (Dom Quixote) | 5.4K | summary |
Russian: War and Peace
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. War and Peace (Война и мир) | 6.6K | read online |
| 2. Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание) | 4.9K | summary |
| 3. Eugene Onegin (Евгений Онегин) | 4.5K | read online |
| 4. Dead Souls (Мёртвые души) | 4.2K | read online |
| 5. A Hero of Our Time (Герой нашего времени) | 3.3K | summary |
| 6. Romeo and Juliet (Ромео и Джульетта) | 3.1K | read online |
| 7. The Odyssey (Одиссея) | 2.8K | read online |
| 8. Wuthering Heights (Грозовой перевал) | 2.5K | read online |
| 9. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Алиса в Стране чудес) | 2.4K | read online |
| 10. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Гамлет) | 2.3K | read online |
Chinese: The Plum in the Golden Vase
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅) | 2.9K | read online |
| 2. The Art of War (孫子兵法) | 2.4K | read online |
| 3. The New Life (La Vita Nuova) (《新生》) | 2.1K | summary |
| 4. Wuthering Heights (咆哮山莊) | 1.8K | summary |
| 5. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义) | 1.5K | characters |
| 6. Pride and Prejudice (傲慢與偏見) | 980 | read online |
| 7. Water Margin (水浒传) | 860 | characters |
| 8. Les Misérables (悲慘世界) | 750 | summary |
| 9. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (哈姆雷特) | 690 | quotes |
| 10. Paradise Lost (失樂園) | 580 | read online |
Danish: The Odyssey
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Odyssey (Odysseen) | 450 | summary |
| 2. A Doll's House: A Play (Et dukkehjem) | 390 | read online |
| 3. Uncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts (Onkel Vanja) | 280 | summary |
| 4. Othello, the Moor of Venice (Othello) | 220 | read online |
| 5. Wuthering Heights (Stormfulde Højder) | 210 | summary |
| 6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 200 | summary |
| 7. Macbeth | 200 | summary |
| 8. Don Quixote (Don Quijote) | 180 | summary |
| 9. Frankenstein | 170 | analysis |
| 10. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice i Eventyrland) | 170 | characters |
Swedish: Frankenstein
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Frankenstein | 2.4K | analysis |
| 2. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 650 | summary |
| 3. Othello, the Moor of Venice (Othello) | 560 | read online |
| 4. Pride and Prejudice (Stolthet och fördom) | 400 | analysis |
| 5. The Iliad (Iliaden) | 400 | summary |
| 6. The Sorrows of Young Werther (Den unge Werthers lidanden) | 390 | quotes |
| 7. Macbeth | 350 | summary |
| 8. Madame Bovary | 320 | analysis |
| 9. Oliver Twist | 320 | analysis |
| 10. The Taming of the Shrew (Så tuktas en argbigga) | 310 | analysis |
Norwegian: A Doll's House: A Play
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. A Doll's House: A Play (Et dukkehjem) | 600 | analysis |
| 2. Frankenstein | 330 | analysis |
| 3. Hedda Gabler | 320 | summary |
| 4. The Jungle Book (Jungelboken) | 250 | characters |
| 5. The Odyssey (Odysseen) | 250 | analysis |
| 6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 230 | summary |
| 7. An Enemy of the People (En Folkefiende) | 230 | summary |
| 8. Macbeth | 190 | analysis |
| 9. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Robin Hood) | 140 | analysis |
| 10. Peter Pan | 120 | characters |
Finnish: Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland — Complete
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland — Complete (Kalevala) | 2.7K | characters |
| 2. Wuthering Heights (Humiseva harju) | 1.6K | summary |
| 3. Beauty and the Beast (Kaunotar ja hirviö) | 280 | characters |
| 4. Peter Pan | 230 | characters |
| 5. Pride and Prejudice (Ylpeys ja ennakkoluulo) | 210 | summary |
| 6. Romeo and Juliet (Romeo ja Julia) | 160 | summary |
| 7. Anna Karenina | 160 | summary |
| 8. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 140 | summary |
| 9. Frankenstein | 110 | analysis |
| 10. The Count of Monte Cristo (Monte-Criston kreivi) | 110 | summary |
Czech: Romeo and Juliet
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Romeo and Juliet (Romeo a Julie) | 7.5K | summary |
| 2. The Miser (Lakomec) | 6.5K | summary |
| 3. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (R.U.R) | 4.5K | summary |
| 4. Metamorphosis (Proměna) | 4.5K | summary |
| 5. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 4K | summary |
| 6. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Obraz Doriana Graye) | 3.7K | summary |
| 7. The Great Gatsby (Velký Gatsby) | 3.4K | summary |
| 8. The Taming of the Shrew (Zkrocení zlé ženy) | 1.8K | summary |
| 9. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe) | 1.8K | summary |
| 10. Pride and Prejudice (Pýcha a předsudek) | 1.7K | summary |
Turkish: Crime and Punishment
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Crime and Punishment (Suç ve Ceza) | 11.8K | summary |
| 2. A Little Princess (Küçük Prenses) | 10.1K | quotes |
| 3. Martin Eden | 7.1K | summary |
| 4. Wuthering Heights (Uğultulu Tepeler) | 7K | summary |
| 5. Anna Karenina | 6.5K | summary |
| 6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 5.4K | summary |
| 7. Les Misérables (Sefiller) | 5.2K | summary |
| 8. White Fang (Beyaz Diş) | 4.3K | summary |
| 9. The Brothers Karamazov (Karamazov Kardeşler) | 4K | summary |
| 10. Notes from the Underground (Yeraltından Notlar) | 3.7K | summary |
Romanian: Romeo and Juliet
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Romeo and Juliet (Romeo și Julieta) | 1.4K | summary |
| 2. The Odyssey (Odiseea) | 1.2K | read online |
| 3. Nobody's Boy (Singur pe lume) | 1.1K | summary |
| 4. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe) | 930 | summary |
| 5. 1 Enoch (Cartea lui Enoh) | 870 | pdf or epub |
| 6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 800 | pdf or epub |
| 7. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Vrăjitorul din Oz) | 800 | summary |
| 8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete (Aventurile lui Tom Sawyer) | 720 | summary |
| 9. White Fang (Colț Alb) | 690 | summary |
| 10. A Christmas Carol (Poveste de Crăciun) | 680 | pdf or epub |
Hungarian: The Odyssey
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Odyssey (Odüsszeia) | 4K | characters |
| 2. Romeo and Juliet (Rómeó és Júlia) | 2.9K | analysis |
| 3. Wuthering Heights (Üvöltő szelek) | 2.3K | analysis |
| 4. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 1.4K | characters |
| 5. Crime and Punishment (Bűn és bűnhődés) | 950 | characters |
| 6. Eugene Onegin (Anyegin) | 880 | characters |
| 7. Father Goriot (Goriot apó) | 660 | analysis |
| 8. Candide | 620 | characters |
| 9. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe) | 590 | analysis |
| 10. The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of 1830 (Vörös és fekete) | 520 | summary |
Croatian: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 2.4K | pdf or epub |
| 2. Life Is a Dream (Život je san) | 2.4K | pdf or epub |
| 3. The Sorrows of Young Werther (Patnje mladog Werthera) | 2.1K | pdf or epub |
| 4. Crime and Punishment (Zločin i kazna) | 1.7K | summary |
| 5. Metamorphosis (Preobrazba) | 880 | pdf or epub |
| 6. Wuthering Heights (Orkanski visovi) | 610 | summary |
| 7. The Odyssey (Odiseja) | 530 | pdf or epub |
| 8. The Miser (Škrtac) | 510 | pdf or epub |
| 9. Father Goriot (Otac Goriot) | 490 | pdf or epub |
| 10. Don Quixote (Don Quijote) | 480 | pdf or epub |
Catalan: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
| Title (in local words) | Searches a month | Main search |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Hamlet) | 1K | summary |
| 2. The Communist Manifesto (Manifest Comunista) | 720 | pdf or epub |
| 3. Metamorphosis (La metamorfosi) | 440 | pdf or epub |
| 4. Oliver Twist | 360 | summary |
| 5. Macbeth | 310 | summary |
| 6. The Picture of Dorian Gray (El retrat de Dorian Gray) | 210 | pdf or epub |
| 7. Peter Pan | 180 | quotes |
| 8. The Kybalion (El Kybalion) | 180 | pdf or epub |
| 9. Mrs. Dalloway | 120 | pdf or epub |
| 10. Life Is a Dream (La vida es sueño) | 110 | quotes |
The most-searched classic in each country
Forty-one markets: for each, the country, its language, the classic with the most searches there and the searches a month. Russian is measured in Kazakhstan and Ukraine and Chinese also in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, because Google's keyword data has no Russia and little for mainland China.
| Country | Language | Most searched classic | Searches a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | English | Wuthering Heights | 184K |
| United Kingdom | English | Wuthering Heights | 62.2K |
| India | English | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | 21K |
| Canada | English | Wuthering Heights | 18.2K |
| Australia | English | Wuthering Heights | 25.2K |
| Mexico | Spanish | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 13.9K |
| Spain | Spanish | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 6.5K |
| Argentina | Spanish | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 4.8K |
| Colombia | Spanish | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 5K |
| United States | Spanish | Othello, the Moor of Venice | 4.1K |
| Brazil | Portuguese | Paradise Lost | 12.9K |
| France | French | Manon Lescaut | 11.6K |
| Canada | French | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | 430 |
| Egypt | Arabic | Crime and Punishment | 740 |
| Saudi Arabia | Arabic | The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales | 370 |
| Germany | German | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 5.2K |
| Austria | German | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 1.1K |
| Switzerland | German | Metamorphosis | 570 |
| China | Chinese | The Plum in the Golden Vase | 930 |
| Singapore | Chinese | The Plum in the Golden Vase | 370 |
| Malaysia | Chinese | Romance of the Three Kingdoms | 470 |
| Taiwan | Chinese | The New Life (La Vita Nuova) | 2K |
| India | Hindi | The Great Gatsby | 310 |
| Indonesia | Indonesian | Wuthering Heights | 1.4K |
| Italy | Italian | Wuthering Heights | 30.8K |
| Japan | Japanese | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 25.7K |
| South Korea | Korean | The Sorrows of Young Werther | 5.7K |
| Netherlands | Dutch | The Odyssey | 590 |
| Poland | Polish | Crime and Punishment | 40K |
| Kazakhstan | Russian | War and Peace | 4.9K |
| Ukraine | Russian | The Aeneid | 2K |
| Denmark | Danish | The Odyssey | 450 |
| Sweden | Swedish | Frankenstein | 2.4K |
| Norway | Norwegian | A Doll's House: A Play | 600 |
| Finland | Finnish | Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland — Complete | 2.7K |
| Czechia | Czech | Romeo and Juliet | 7.5K |
| Turkey | Turkish | Crime and Punishment | 11.8K |
| Romania | Romanian | Romeo and Juliet | 1.4K |
| Hungary | Hungarian | The Odyssey | 4K |
| Croatia | Croatian | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | 2.4K |
| Spain | Catalan | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | 1K |
Classics that travel
These classics appear in the most top-ten lists, counting the 25 languages.
| Classic | In the top ten of |
|---|---|
| Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | 21 of 25 languages |
| Wuthering Heights | 15 of 25 languages |
| The Odyssey | 15 of 25 languages |
| Romeo and Juliet | 10 of 25 languages |
| Frankenstein | 9 of 25 languages |
| Crime and Punishment | 9 of 25 languages |
| Pride and Prejudice | 9 of 25 languages |
| Macbeth | 9 of 25 languages |
How we measured
- The searches. Google Ads keyword volumes, the 12-month average to September 2026, measured on 24 October 2026 in 41 markets: for each title in its local name and in seven kinds of search (read, summary, audiobook, pdf or epub, characters, quotes, analysis; the bare title is not counted, because it is full of films, brands and first names).
- What is counted once. Phrasings Google treats as one keyword count once; the same text in two languages of one country counts once; a search with far more searches for a book's themes than for the book itself is capped. Titles are measured in their local names from open catalogue data and our own edition titles.
- Which titles. The titles of our editions that were measured in full or in a sample (about a third of them, chosen to hold nearly all of the demand), ranked by searches a month. Nothing here says how many people read the book.
- Where it is thin. Hindi searches are mostly typed in English letters and counted under English, so the Hindi list is short. Arabic and some other scripts return little data in Google's tool. Seasonality is not in the numbers.
- The file. One row per language or country and rank: titles, the local title, searches a month, the main kind of search, a note where one applies, and the edition address.
Questions
Which classic is searched for most in the world?
In English it is Wuthering Heights with 304K searches a month. Across languages the classic found in the most top-ten lists is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
Can I use these lists?
Yes, free of charge under CC BY 4.0, also in articles, lessons and apps. Credit the Library of Alexandria Press (the name and a plain-text address are enough).
Why does a country's list differ from its language's list?
A language list adds up all the markets that share the language. A country list shows that market alone: Spanish in Spain looks different from Spanish in Mexico.
Cite this
Library of Alexandria Press (2026). The classics each country searches for [Data set]. Version 2026-10-27. https://libraryofalexandria.com/pages/classics-each-country-searches-for. CC BY 4.0.
