Doodleberry reference page
Adult Coloring Book Statistics
A handy collection of dated sales, publishing, buyer, and coloring-supply figures from named industry sources. For writers, curious colorers, and anyone who enjoys a well-labeled number.
Last updated: October 21, 2026
Adult coloring has been around far longer than its mid-2010s surge, but the boom left behind a useful set of industry figures. The statistics below show how quickly coloring books, supplies, and interest grew during that period. They are collected here in one easy-to-cite place, with the original reporting linked beside every claim.
The numbers
Eight facts worth keeping handy
12 million
coloring books sold in the U.S. in 2015
Nielsen BookScan estimated 12 million coloring books sold in 2015, compared with 1 million in 2014. That is a snapshot of a remarkable moment for the category, not a current annual sales estimate.
Source: Nielsen, 20162,000+
coloring books published in 2015
Nielsen reported more than 2,000 coloring books published in 2015, up from 300 the previous year.
Source: Nielsen, 20163 million+
units sold in one holiday-season month
More than 3 million coloring-book units sold between mid-November and mid-December 2015, showing just how strongly the category landed as a giftable creative activity.
Source: Nielsen, 201671%
of adult coloring-book buyers were women
Nielsen's December 2015 Books & Consumers survey found that 71% of adult coloring-book buyers were women.
Source: Nielsen, 201629%
more likely to buy among Millennials
Nielsen found that Millennials were 29% more likely to buy an adult coloring book than all book buyers, with the largest buyer age group falling between 18 and 29.
Source: Nielsen, 2016$128.2 million
spent on colored pencils in one year
For the year ending April 30, 2016, Americans spent $128.2 million on colored pencils, a 47% increase from the prior year. The figure reflects the wider coloring-supply moment, rather than adult coloring books alone.
Source: Nielsen, 2016765,000
copies sold by Secret Garden in 2015
Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden reached 765,000 copies sold and appeared on Nielsen’s 2015 Top 20 cross-genre bestseller list, a vivid example of how far adult coloring reached in its breakout year.
Source: Nielsen, 2016675,000
copies sold by Enchanted Forest in 2015
Johanna Basford’s Enchanted Forest sold 675,000 copies in 2015 and also made Nielsen’s Top 20 cross-genre bestseller list, reinforcing the scale of reader interest in detailed adult-coloring titles.
Source: Nielsen, 2016A little context
What these figures do, and do not, tell us
These numbers describe a specific U.S. sales and publishing spike, with most measures drawn from Nielsen BookScan and Nielsen's buyer survey work. They are useful for understanding the category's modern history, its audience, and the scale of its breakout year.
They are not a substitute for a current total-market estimate. Public industry reporting does not offer a single, like-for-like annual count for every adult coloring format, retailer, and independent publisher. That is why this page labels the year and scope for every figure instead of stretching an old number into a new claim.
Sources and notes
Where the figures come from
Figures are transcribed from the named source pages linked below. Sales data from BookScan reflects the reporting scope described by Nielsen and should be read as such.
Cite this page
Sharing a number? Keep the date with it.
Suggested citation: Doodleberry Coloring Co., “Adult Coloring Book Statistics,” updated October 21, 2026, https://doodleberrycoloringco.com/adult-coloring-book-statistics.
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