Harry Potter

#24.52 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking

Books 7 books Status Complete 1997–2007 Reading commitment High J.K. Rowling Last reviewed 2026-08-05

Overview

Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's seven-novel series (Bloomsbury UK, 1997–2007) following a young wizard's education at Hogwarts and his conflict with Lord Voldemort. It is the best-selling book series in history: more than 600 million copies in 80+ languages. The novel series is complete; later additions (a stage-play script, published screenplays, charity companions, digital writings) are supplementary, not novels.

Portal fantasy · For Middle grade

Core Canon: Reading Order (7 works) counts toward ranking

Harry Potter J.K. Rowling

	Work	Year	Canon	Rating
	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; US title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic, 1998).	1997	core	4.47 (11,740,816 ratings)
	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	1998	core	4.43 (4,584,376 ratings)
	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	1999	core	4.57 (4,515,259 ratings)
	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	2000	core	4.56 (3,511,881 ratings)
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	2003	core	4.50 (3,866,724 ratings)
	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	2005	core	4.58 (3,754,442 ratings)
	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows	2007	core	4.61 (3,575,621 ratings)

Seven novels, 1997-2007 (Bloomsbury UK).

Library: companions & non-canon (7 works) context only

• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Special Rehearsal Edition script) (2016) non-canon; Stage-play script by Jack Thorne from a story by Thorne, Rowling and Tiffany, not a Rowling-authored prose novel. Rowling has called the play canon; fandom divided.
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001) companion; In-universe Hogwarts textbook (as 'Newt Scamander'); Comic Relief charity publication.
• Quidditch Through the Ages (2001) companion; In-universe book (as 'Kennilworthy Whisp'); Comic Relief charity publication.
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008) companion; In-universe storybook from Deathly Hallows, published for the Children's High Level Group/Lumos (4 Dec 2008).
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (2016) non-canon; Published film screenplay.
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Original Screenplay (2018) non-canon
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Complete Screenplay (2022) non-canon; Screenplay co-written with Steve Kloves.

Pottermore / Wizarding World digital writings: noted, not registered.

Quick answers

• How many books are in Harry Potter? Harry Potter's Core Canon is 7 books, plus 7 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
• What is the reading order for Harry Potter? Publication order, starting with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
• Is Harry Potter finished? Complete (1997–2007).
• How much reading does Harry Potter take? High reading commitment (estimated from 7 Core Canon books · ~3,843 pages).
• How is Harry Potter ranked? #2 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 35,549,119 reader ratings across 7 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Why is it ranked #2?

Ranked #2 of 664 ranked universes.

• Average reader rating of 4.52 across 7 core books.
• Backed by 35.5M reader ratings.
• 0.02 behind #1, The Kingkiller Chronicle.
• Above the top-10 average of 4.45.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Top-tier rated · 7 books · Complete · 35.5M ratings · Ranks #2 overall

Good choice if you want a long-running portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.

Reading order

Publication order (7 Core Canon books)

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

Awards (verified)

• Hugo Best Novel: won 2001 (Goblet of Fire, the only HP Hugo); nominated 2000 (Prisoner of Azkaban)
• Whitbread Children's Book of the Year 1999 + Locus Fantasy 2000: won, Prisoner of Azkaban
• British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year: won 1998, 1999 · Nestlé Smarties Gold 1997

• Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2001: won: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; The only Harry Potter novel to win the Hugo.
• Whitbread Book of the Year (Children's Book), 1999: won: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2000: won: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2000: nominated: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Lost to A Deepness in the Sky.
• British Book Awards (Children's Book of the Year), 1998: won: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• British Book Awards (Children's Book of the Year), 1999: won: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Medal, 9-11 years), 1997: won: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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Suggestions computed from what Harry Potter and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.

• The Chronicles of Narnia Portal fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.14
• Chrestomanci Portal fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.03
• Young Wizards Portal fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.01
• Oz Portal fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.96

Official resources

• HarryPotter.com: official franchise site
• jkrowling.com: official author site

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.52 across 35,549,119 ratings on 7 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Harry Potter Core Canon accepted 2026-08-05

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

• J.K. Rowling, official website Tier 1
• HarryPotter.com (Wizarding World) Tier 1
• Wikipedia (English) Tier 2

Last reviewed: 2026-08-06

Rule: Book 1 is 'Sorcerer's Stone' in the US (Scholastic, 1998).

Key figures & places Knowledge-graph pilot

The 8th bounded, sourced pilot of this project's knowledge-graph layer, and the first against a hidden-world contemporary setting on the real-world calendar -- 32 characters, 10 places and 8 organizations registered for Harry Potter, with 106 cross-linking relationship edges (not rendered here), every dated fact checked against the encyclopedia and official sources listed above. Coverage follows a fixed selection rule since 2026-09-04 (viewpoint characters across two or more core books, each series' protagonists and antagonists, and recurring named roles), so it scales with the size of the universe.

• Harry Potter
• Hermione Granger
• Ron Weasley
• Albus Dumbledore
• Severus Snape
• Lord Voldemort

• Hogwarts Castle
• Diagon Alley
• Godric's Hollow
• The Burrow
• Azkaban

• Order of the Phoenix
• Death Eaters
• Dumbledore's Army

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