To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s renowned coming-of-age story about racism and injustice in the American south, was voted the US’s best-loved novel by millions of readers as part of a national poll.

The Pulitzer prize-winning book, first published in 1960, topped the US public service broadcaster PBS’s Great American Read survey, the results of which were announced on Tuesday. More than 4 million votes were cast in the six-month long poll.

The 100-book shortlist voted on by readers was based on an initial PBS/YouGov survey of about 7,200 Americans who were invited to nominate their favourite novel. An advisory panel of experts from the literary industry culled the list to 100 books. Authors were limited to one title or series. Provided the novel was written in English, authors could be from anywhere in the world.

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Seven out of the top 10 novels were written by women, with Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series coming in second, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter taking third place, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice coming in fourth. JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings rounded out the top five, and was the top ranking novel by a male writer.

To Kill A Mockingbird has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide since its release and remains a fixture on school reading lists. Set in the 1930s US south, it centres on lawyer Atticus Finch and his young children, daughter Scout and son Jem. When Finch defends an African-American man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman, the trial and its repercussions open Scout’s eyes to the world around her.

The publication of a companion novel, Go Set A Watchman, in 2015, was the cause of much controversy.

The Great American Read initiative included a TV series, a 50,000-member online book club, and a widespread social media campaign.

The top 20 books were as follows:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Outlander (series) by Diana Gabaldon
3. Harry Potter (series) by JK Rowling
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. The Lord of the Rings (series) by JRR Tolkein
6. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
7. Charlotte’s Web by EB White
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
9. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
11. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
12. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
13. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
14. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
15. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
16. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
17. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
18. 1984 by George Orwell
19. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
20. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The full ranked list can be found on the Great American Read website.

• This article was amended on 24 October 2018. An earlier version erroneously referred to the posthumous publication of Go Set a Watchman. This had been corrected.