Does opera (and, for that matter, musicals) belong in both the drama and music category—or just the music category? We included it in both, for this updated subset of the OCLC Top 1000 list.
Some of the works in this category were originally offered as plays, and later novelized. We tried to include such titles in both Drama and Fiction categories.
#1 |
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 39,521
Bibliographic records: 2,008
Rank on complete list: 9
|
#2 |
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 30,388
Bibliographic records: 1,562
Rank on complete list: 19
|
#3 |
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 28,646
Bibliographic records: 1,292
Rank on complete list: 22
|
#4 |
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 27,163
Bibliographic records: 1,112
Rank on complete list: 27
|
#5 |
Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Library holdings: 25,492
Bibliographic records: 1,855
Rank on complete list: 33
|
#6 |
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 24,990
Bibliographic records: 1,113
Rank on complete list: 35
|
#7 |
Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 24,033
Bibliographic records: 953
Rank on complete list: 36
|
#8 |
Othello
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 23,993
Bibliographic records: 988
Rank on complete list: 37
|
#9 |
Merchant of Venice
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 23,922
Bibliographic records: 1,256
Rank on complete list: 38
|
#10 |
Tempest
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 21,507
Bibliographic records: 868
Rank on complete list: 52
|
#11 |
Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 20,014
Bibliographic records: 804
Rank on complete list: 58
|
#12 |
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 19,745
Bibliographic records: 847
Rank on complete list: 61
|
#13 |
Carmen
Georges Bizet
Library holdings: 18,832
Bibliographic records: 1,243
Rank on complete list: 66
|
#14 |
Don Giovanni
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Library holdings: 16,819
Bibliographic records: 1,084
Rank on complete list: 81
|
#15 |
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 15,936
Bibliographic records: 504
Rank on complete list: 96
|
#16 |
La Bohème
Giacomo Puccini
Library holdings: 15,935
Bibliographic records: 843
Rank on complete list: 97
|
#17 |
Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 15,536
Bibliographic records: 522
Rank on complete list: 102
|
#18 |
Magic Flute
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Library holdings: 15,481
Bibliographic records: 940
Rank on complete list: 103
|
#19 |
Much Ado about Nothing
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 15,475
Bibliographic records: 583
Rank on complete list: 104
|
#20 |
Henry V
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 15,440
Bibliographic records: 539
Rank on complete list: 105
|
#21 |
Richard II
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 15,340
Bibliographic records: 575
Rank on complete list: 106
|
#22 |
Richard III
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 15,316
Bibliographic records: 658
Rank on complete list: 107
|
#23 |
Marriage of Figaro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Library holdings: 14,121
Bibliographic records: 915
Rank on complete list: 126
|
#24 |
Cyrano de Bergerac
Edmond Rostand
Library holdings: 13,864
Bibliographic records: 443
Rank on complete list: 135
|
#25 |
La Traviata
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 13,753
Bibliographic records: 980
Rank on complete list: 138
|
#26 |
Aida
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 13,687
Bibliographic records: 875
Rank on complete list: 140
|
#27 |
Winter's Tale
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 12,664
Bibliographic records: 466
Rank on complete list: 150
|
#28 |
Madame Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini
Library holdings: 12,652
Bibliographic records: 652
Rank on complete list: 151
|
#29 |
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie
Library holdings: 12,426
Bibliographic records: 314
Rank on complete list: 161
|
#30 |
Rigoletto
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 12,422
Bibliographic records: 788
Rank on complete list: 162
|
#31 |
Tosca
Giacomo Puccini
Library holdings: 12,402
Bibliographic records: 691
Rank on complete list: 164
|
#32 |
Measure for Measure
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 12,303
Bibliographic records: 356
Rank on complete list: 170
|
#33 |
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles
Library holdings: 11,620
Bibliographic records: 526
Rank on complete list: 187
|
#34 |
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 11,570
Bibliographic records: 422
Rank on complete list: 188
|
#35 |
Comedy of Errors
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 11,165
Bibliographic records: 325
Rank on complete list: 199
|
#36 |
Barber of Seville
Gioacchino Rossini
Library holdings: 11,071
Bibliographic records: 779
Rank on complete list: 204
|
#37 |
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 10,917
Bibliographic records: 295
Rank on complete list: 208
|
#38 |
King John
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 10,765
Bibliographic records: 376
Rank on complete list: 213
|
#39 |
All's Well that Ends Well
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 10,667
Bibliographic records: 258
Rank on complete list: 216
|
#40 |
Merry Wives of Windsor
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 10,659
Bibliographic records: 489
Rank on complete list: 218
|
#41 |
Tristan and Isolde
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 10,574
Bibliographic records: 600
Rank on complete list: 221
|
#42 |
Henry IV Part 1
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 10,484
Bibliographic records: 312
Rank on complete list: 226
|
#43 |
Così Fan Tutte
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Library holdings: 10,109
Bibliographic records: 503
Rank on complete list: 252
|
#44 |
Troilus and Cressida
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 10,058
Bibliographic records: 230
Rank on complete list: 254
|
#45 |
Il Trovatore
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 10,016
Bibliographic records: 787
Rank on complete list: 255
|
#46 |
Lucia di Lammermoor
Gaetano Donizetti
Library holdings: 9,998
Bibliographic records: 653
Rank on complete list: 256
|
#47 |
Oresteia
Aeschylus
Library holdings: 9,927
Bibliographic records: 191
Rank on complete list: 258
|
#48 |
Titus Andronicus
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 9,830
Bibliographic records: 238
Rank on complete list: 264
|
#49 |
Otello
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 9,419
Bibliographic records: 485
Rank on complete list: 279
|
#50 |
Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller
Library holdings: 9,295
Bibliographic records: 145
Rank on complete list: 285
|
#51 |
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 9,150
Bibliographic records: 353
Rank on complete list: 296
|
#52 |
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 8,933
Bibliographic records: 338
Rank on complete list: 313
|
#53 |
Two Gentlemen of Verona
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 8,720
Bibliographic records: 239
Rank on complete list: 327
|
#54 |
Meistersingers of Nurenberg
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 8,706
Bibliographic records: 559
Rank on complete list: 329
|
#55 |
Cavalleria Rusticana
Pietro Mascagni
Library holdings: 8,613
Bibliographic records: 567
Rank on complete list: 340
|
#56 |
West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim
Library holdings: 8,534
Bibliographic records: 262
Rank on complete list: 343
|
#57 |
Porgy and Bess
George Gershwin, Du Bose Heyward, and Ira Gershwin
Library holdings: 8,519
Bibliographic records: 409
Rank on complete list: 348
|
#58 |
Antigone
Sophocles
Library holdings: 8,184
Bibliographic records: 499
Rank on complete list: 372
|
#59 |
Pericles
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 7,975
Bibliographic records: 229
Rank on complete list: 392
|
#60 |
Timon of Athens
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 7,938
Bibliographic records: 234
Rank on complete list: 396
|
#61 |
Faust
Charles Gounod
Library holdings: 7,917
Bibliographic records: 726
Rank on complete list: 400
|
#62 |
Hamlet [film version]
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 7,881
Bibliographic records: 138
Rank on complete list: 406
|
#63 |
Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry
Library holdings: 7,781
Bibliographic records: 65
Rank on complete list: 415
|
#64 |
My Fair Lady
Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner
Library holdings: 7,659
Bibliographic records: 276
Rank on complete list: 427
|
#65 |
Dido and Aeneas
Henry Purcell
Library holdings: 7,449
Bibliographic records: 261
Rank on complete list: 449
|
#66 |
Ring of the Niebelung
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 7,336
Bibliographic records: 395
Rank on complete list: 463
|
#67 |
Parsifal
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 7,158
Bibliographic records: 507
Rank on complete list: 493
|
#68 |
Sound of Music
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein
Library holdings: 7,083
Bibliographic records: 230
Rank on complete list: 505
|
#69 |
Lohengrin
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 7,051
Bibliographic records: 566
Rank on complete list: 514
|
#70 |
Salome
Richard Strauss
Library holdings: 7,038
Bibliographic records: 260
Rank on complete list: 516
|
#71 |
Waiting for Godot
Samuel Beckett
Library holdings: 7,023
Bibliographic records: 148
Rank on complete list: 521
|
#72 |
Twilight of the Gods
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 6,942
Bibliographic records: 421
Rank on complete list: 533
|
#73 |
Rheingold
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 6,930
Bibliographic records: 379
Rank on complete list: 536
|
#74 |
Valkyrie
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 6,894
Bibliographic records: 455
Rank on complete list: 544
|
#75 |
Macbeth [film version]
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 6,854
Bibliographic records: 163
Rank on complete list: 553
|
#76 |
Tannhäuser
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 6,827
Bibliographic records: 538
Rank on complete list: 561
|
#77 |
Falstaff
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 6,788
Bibliographic records: 305
Rank on complete list: 568
|
#78 |
Norma
Vincenzo Bellini
Library holdings: 6,584
Bibliographic records: 571
Rank on complete list: 604
|
#79 |
Turandot
Giacomo Puccini
Library holdings: 6,559
Bibliographic records: 311
Rank on complete list: 606
|
#80 |
Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams
Library holdings: 6,521
Bibliographic records: 105
Rank on complete list: 619
|
#81 |
Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde
Library holdings: 6,417
Bibliographic records: 240
Rank on complete list: 642
|
#82 |
Ballo in Maschera
Giuseppe Verdi
Library holdings: 6,405
Bibliographic records: 489
Rank on complete list: 645
|
#83 |
Flying Dutchman
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 6,338
Bibliographic records: 450
Rank on complete list: 657
|
#84 |
Fledermaus
Johann Strauss
Library holdings: 6,282
Bibliographic records: 399
Rank on complete list: 669
|
#85 |
Siegfried
Richard Wagner
Library holdings: 6,281
Bibliographic records: 362
Rank on complete list: 670
|
#86 |
Phaedra
Jean Racine
Library holdings: 6,265
Bibliographic records: 250
Rank on complete list: 677
|
#87 |
Pygmalion
George Bernard Shaw
Library holdings: 6,241
Bibliographic records: 192
Rank on complete list: 684
|
#88 |
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Gian Carlo Menotti
Library holdings: 6,220
Bibliographic records: 75
Rank on complete list: 688
|
#89 |
Orpheus and Euridice
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Library holdings: 6,192
Bibliographic records: 385
Rank on complete list: 696
|
#90 |
Life Is a Dream
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Library holdings: 6,185
Bibliographic records: 384
Rank on complete list: 698
|
#91 |
Doctor Faustus
Christopher Marlowe
Library holdings: 6,125
Bibliographic records: 211
Rank on complete list: 719
|
#92 |
Fiddler on the Roof
Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick
Library holdings: 6,094
Bibliographic records: 174
Rank on complete list: 731
|
#93 |
Medea
Euripides
Library holdings: 6,075
Bibliographic records: 365
Rank on complete list: 739
|
#94 |
Lysistrata
Aristophanes
Library holdings: 6,059
Bibliographic records: 185
Rank on complete list: 743
|
#95 |
Rosenkavalier
Richard Strauss
Library holdings: 5,967
Bibliographic records: 260
Rank on complete list: 763
|
#96 |
Bacchae
Euripides
Library holdings: 5,964
Bibliographic records: 221
Rank on complete list: 766
|
#97 |
King Lear [film version]
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 5,814
Bibliographic records: 109
Rank on complete list: 819
|
#98 |
Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams
Library holdings: 5,702
Bibliographic records: 88
Rank on complete list: 849
|
#99 |
William Tell
Friedrich Schiller
Library holdings: 5,692
Bibliographic records: 411
Rank on complete list: 850
|
#100 |
Midsummer Night's Dream [film version]
William Shakespeare
Library holdings: 5,572
Bibliographic records: 134
Rank on complete list: 889
|
#101 |
Crucible
Arthur Miller
Library holdings: 5,453
Bibliographic records: 51
Rank on complete list: 935
|
#102 |
Murder in the Cathedral
T. S. Eliot
Library holdings: 5,338
Bibliographic records: 89
Rank on complete list: 979
|
#103 |
Saint Joan
George Bernard Shaw
Library holdings: 5,313
Bibliographic records: 135
Rank on complete list: 992
|