It’s the first Monday of May, which means it’s time to look at the books everyone has been buying lately! This is a simple question with a strangely complicated answer, because every bestseller list uses its own cryptic system of data points and criteria. That’s where we come in: we’ve looked at the four biggest bestseller lists and noted the overlap to get an overview of the biggest books of the moment.
This week offers more of the same, if you’ve been following regularly. Krstin Hannah’s latest historical fiction remains popular, and Sarah J. Maas’ reign just won’t let up.
To get these numbers, we look at the New York Times, both Combined Print & E-Book Fiction and Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction lists; Amazon Charts, both Fiction and Nonfiction; Publishers Weekly; and Indie Bestsellers, Fiction and Nonfiction, both Paperback and Hardcover. New additions to the list this week are bolded.
This list, like every one that has come before it, is severely lacking in diversity. A big part of book sales have to do with publicity and marketing, and books by BIPOC and queer authors don’t always get fair shakes in this regard. To compensate a bit, before we get to the top 10 bestselling books, we’d like to shoutout books like Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 22 by Gege Akutami for the manga lovers, World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, James by Percival Everett, and Age of Revolutions by Fareed Zakaria — all bestsellers that didn’t quite make it to top 10 status.
Books On All Five Bestseller Lists:
The Women by Kristin Hannah (Amazon #2, Indie Bestsellers #3, NYT #2, Publishers Weekly #3, USA Today #2)
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (Amazon #1, Indie Bestsellers #4, NYT #2, Publishers Weekly #8, USA Today #6)
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Amazon #4, Indie Bestsellers #1, NYT #4, Publishers Weekly #4)
Books On Four Bestseller Lists:
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (Amazon #6, Indie Bestsellers #2, NYT #6, Publishers Weekly #9)
Books On Three Bestseller Lists:
Funny Story by Emily Henry (Amazon #1, Indie Bestsellers #1, NYT #2, Publishers Weekly #1)
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Amazon #7, Indie Bestsellers #10, NYT #7)
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (Indie Bestsellers #4, NYT #3, USA Today #7)
Go beyond the bestseller lists with made-for-you book recommendations from TBR, our book recommendation service!
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
