Led By Donkeys is the best-selling title of the year by unit volume
Non-fiction books dominate, with no commercial fiction authors in the top five
Bookshop.org customers opt for quality fiction, indie presses, female writers, and conscious living
London, Wednesday 11 December 2024. Bookshop.org is today unveiling its ten best-selling books for 2024, namely the ten books that have performed best on the website by unit volume over the past year.
The top 10 best-selling titles on Bookshop.org in 2024 by unit volume are:
- Led By Donkeys: Adventures in Art, Activism and Accountability
- Orbital by Samantha Harvey
- Cold War Steve Annual 2025
- The Book of Wild Flowers: Reflections on Favourite Plants by Angie Lewin and Christopher Stocks
- The Food for Life Cookbook by Tim Spector
- Butter by Asako Yuzuki
- Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
- Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
- The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
While authors such as Coleen Hoover, Richard Osman, and Sarah J Maas have been dominating traditional best-seller lists in 2024, Bookshop.org’s best-sellers show a different side to UK book-buyers, reflecting their strong interest in politics and nature, their appreciation for quality fiction by female writers, and a penchant for independent publishers.
In the top 5, non-fiction books dominate, and in particular titles with a political slant or pointing towards natural and conscious living (Led By Donkeys, Cold War Steve, The Book of Wild Flowers, The Food for Life Cookbook).
The wider list features a mix of fiction and non-fiction in equal measure, with nearly half of the overall titles published by indie presses (notably Thames & Hudson and Faber).
The fiction best-sellers comprise almost exclusively high-quality, award-winning novels and a majority of female writers (Samantha Harvey, Asako Yuzuki, Sally Rooney, Barbara Kingsolver).
Jasper Sutcliffe, Head of Business Development at Bookshop.org UK, said: “For the first time in the Bookshop.org history, we are unveiling the list of our best-selling titles over the past year. We firmly believe that independent bookshops play an essential role in the publishing ecosystem, not least as they bring to the fore titles that would traditionally sit outside commercial best-selling lists.
They are instrumental in encouraging a sense of discovery in readers, and we are proud that our top books of the year reflect this rich variety – from political annuals to healthy cook books, translated fiction to titles deepening our appreciation for nature. To ensure that book-buyers’ reading habits remain richly diverse, our mission is to support independent booksellers, including their hand-picked lists on our website, which foster the joy of discovering new titles for readers to fall in love with.”
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For queries, please contact Anna Zanetti or Emily Laidlaw at Midas:
anna.zanetti@midaspr.co.uk / emily.laidlaw@midaspr.co.uk
