Are top book sells a reflection of our culture and what is going on in the world?
Publisher’s weekly sent out the bestselling print books of 2020. The report indicates that print books still outsell ebooks, but ebooks have definitely gained popularity in 2020. Interestingly, Amazon (the largest seller of ebooks) does not report its ebook sales to any major industry sources. The top 25 include:
1. Barack Obama, A Promised Land (2,574,531 copies sold) - Memoir / Political
2. Stephenie Meyer, Midnight Sun (1,311,147 copies sold) - Fiction YA Series
3. Dav Pilkey, Dog Man (1,240,277 copies sold) - Children’s book; 2019 top selling series
4. Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough (1,235,924 copies sold) - Biographical / Political
5. Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (1,235,099 copies sold) - Fiction YA series
7. Glennon Doyle, Untamed (1,018,536 copies sold) - Memoir/Personal Development
8. Jeff Kinney, The Deep End (920,709 copies sold) - children’s book; 2019 top selling Diary of the Whimpy Kid series
9. Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility (866,709 copies sold) - Social Movements
11. Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Table, Vol. 2 (808,542 copies sold) - cookbook
12. Big Preschool Workbook (789,891 copies sold) Children’s books
13. Crystal Radke, My First Learn to Write Workbook (703,176 copies sold) - Children’s book
14. Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an Antiracist (697,249 copies sold) - Social Movements
15. John Bolton, The Room Where it Happened (675,140 copies sold) - Political
16. Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (610,032 copies sold) - Children’s book
17. Dav Pilkey, Dog Man (601,337 copies sold) [This is on the original list twice, though it’s unclear if it refers to different versions or volumes.] Children’s book; 2019 top selling series
18. Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere (596,937 copies sold) - Fiction published 2017
19. Michelle Obama, Becoming (595,814 copies sold) - memoir; #2 in 2019.
21. Sean Hannity, Live Free or Die (563,698 copies sold) - Political
22. Isabel Wilkerson, Caste (542,579 copies sold) - Social Movements
23. Bob Woodward, Rage (539,111 copies sold) - Political
24. Ann Whitford Paul, If Animals Kissed Good Night (532,454 copies sold) - Children’s book
25. Erik Larson, The Splendid and the Vile (525,501 copies sold) - History
Nonfiction books are most popular with four of the thirteen on the topic of President Trump. Seven of the top 25 are children’s books, with Dog Man appearing twice. Dog Man and The Deep End (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) are graphic novels. Only two of the four fiction books were published in 2020 and they were part of a young adult series. Where the Crawdads Sing was top on last years book sales. The remaining, my favorite on the list, is an inspirational picture book and is considered both an adult and children's picture book.
Is this reflective of 2020? Although there were no nonfiction books on the list about the cov-id pandemic, President Trump and social justice issues were often in the top in our news cycles.
The fascination with “Where the Crawdad’s Sing” by Delia Owen is still interesting. This coming-of-age mystery about a girl, who is left in a harsh situation of raising herself in rural North Carolina, has a great sense of place and characters in the extremes of roughness and compassion. Looking for a read-a-like? Try Shiner by Amy Jo Burns, published this year, or The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah published in 2018. Educated, a popular memoir from 2019, might also interest you.
Did you purchase a print book in 2020 or were most of your book purchases digital? Were your choices based on personal recommendations or trade lists, such as, the New York Time's bestsellers or media covered book groups, such as, Reese Witherspoons's book club? How many are now sitting as part of your "to be read" stack?
Regardless of whether you are purchasing your books or getting them through us we hope you are finding informative, entertaining, and great escapes in the variety you select. Happy reading in 2021!
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