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Library/Book/Rich Dad Poor Dad
Grade B16 sourcesHIS-01299

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Book · 1997 · Niche

20Editable slideCertificate

A self-published personal-finance book reached a reported 20 million worldwide sales.

Original cover of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Wikipedia (non-free, fair use)
25th-anniversary edition cover with Kiyosaki's photo
Plata Publishing / Penguin Random House India
Robert Kiyosaki with his CASHFLOW board game
The Rich Dad Company
Robert Kiyosaki beside the anniversary edition
Publishers Weekly

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How it works
ReachNo data yetContagionNo data yetBreadth20VelocityNo data yetLongevityNo data yet20

Numbers

Milestone date
Week of Sep 27, 2004
Apr 8 ’97 to Week of Sep 27, 2004
Platforms
4
Started on Retail
Origin
Seeded
Media & publishing

Mechanics

  • Underdog
  • Maker origin
  • Platform jumpPrimary
  • Controversy
  • Transgression

How it spread

Trace the origin

Kiyosaki and Lechter self-published the book. Warner distributed it before an Oprah appearance, and later editions sustained sales. PW reported more than 44 million lifetime copies in 2025.

Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.

Google searchesMar ’96Mar ’98Oct ’00Sep ’02Dec ’04Jun ’07Feb ’11Mar ’16Dec ’20Sep ’22Apr ’24Jun ’26MilestoneRetailTVPressAudio
RetailTVPressAudio

9 more events on this chart

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Timeline (12)

  1. April 1997

    Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter seed · Apr 8 ’97

    Kiyosaki and Lechter self-published Rich Dad Poor Dad, initially printing 1,000 copies.[1][2][3]

    Robert Kiyosaki with his CASHFLOW board game
    Open the first post ↗

  2. April 2000

    The Oprah Winfrey Show platform jump · Apr 28 ’00

    Kiyosaki appeared on Oprah after Warner rushed copies of the book to stores.[4][5][2]

  3. June 2002

    Readers on PW’s trade paperback chart commercial · Jun 3 ’02

    The book reached its 100th week on PW’s trade paperback list, with two million copies in print.[6]

  1. backlash · Jun 20 ’02

  2. milestone · Week of Sep 27, 2004

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Why it worked

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Origin
Seeded
Sector
Media & publishing
Region
US
Reported figure
—
Evidence
Grade B

Spread the same way

Book · Retail · 200260

Eragon

Christopher Paolini; Paolini International (self-publisher); Knopf (publisher)

Eragon reached 864,253 reported hardback sales in Knopf’s first publication year.

6M sold

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