Mrs Obama was the only newcomer to the rankings and earned a cool $36million (£27.5million). She was some way behind second placed James Patterson who raked in $70million (£53.5million) and first place J.K. Rowling who secured $92million (£70.3million). Mrs Obama left fourth ranked Jeff Kinney in her wake as the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ author earned $20million (£15.3million).
The former first lady’s memoir ‘Becoming’ sold more than 10 million copies across the Forbes timeframe.
It was the best selling book of 2018 despite being released with less than two months of the year to go.
Mrs Obama’s pay-packet was bolstered by ticket sales from her ten city book tour.
The earnings estimates are from June 1 2018 until June 1 2019.
They have two daughters.
The eldest Malia is 21 years olds whilst youngest Sasha is 18.
The last Presidential autobiography to be released was ‘A Full Life: Reflections at 90’ by Jimmy Carter.
This was released in 2015.
Mr Obama has written two autobiographies but these were published before the beginning of his first term in 2009.
The first, ‘Dreams from My Father’ came out in 1995 and explore Mr Obama’s life up to his enrolment at Harvard Law School in 1988.
The second, ‘The Audacity of Hope’ was published in 2006 and gave his views on subjects that became part of his 2008 campaign.
Donald Trump has written three autobiographies.
‘The Art of the Deal’ came out in 1987, followed by ’Surviving at the Top’ in 1990 and ‘The Art of the Comeback’ in 1997.