One of the things I often talk and write about is how "bestsellers" are a genre. Not everyone believes me but I have seen it happen year after year, viral sensation after viral sensation. People come in to the library, curious about a book they see everyone else reading or talking about. There questions are: What is it? Should I read it? Will I like it even if it is not what I normally read?...etc.
They usually think that they want to try it because if that many people like it, I might too. And this alone gives readers comfort. With time to only read a handful of books per year, the average adult wants an assurance that they are not wasting their time before trying a book.
The other night, I was out with someone, who upon learning what I do for a living said, "I tend to read (and enjoy) whatever is 'popular.'" He thought that was weird and I said, absolutely not! I tell people all the time that "bestsellers" is a genre and you are just proving my point.
I am on record saying that the USA Today's bestseller list is my favorite and go-to bestseller list because it is THE ONLY bestseller list that actually lists the books that are selling the most, in order, with no regard to paperback or hardcover, an e-book or print sale, the age audience the book is intended for, if it is fiction or nonfiction, and whether it is self or traditionally published.
So yeah, it is most accurate and compressive peak at what is selling the most in any given week.
While I love this list, it does have one very important shortcoming-- as of right now, the USA Today bestseller list does NOT include audiobook sales. In fact, none of the tradition bestseller lists do.
But there's the thing you need to know, the audiobook market is at $2 billion and 52% of adults have listened to an audiobook in the last year (Stats from the Audio Book Publishers Association's most recent annual report)
In the past, we could use the Audible list to get a sense of what audiobooks were most popular, but that list was NEVER accurate because Audible only content and "free" titles skewed the results.
There are the Libby lists to get a sense of the downloadable audio that is trending up at libraries. But again, that is for library users only and not as accurate.
Well thankfully, the popularity of downloadable audiobooks and the push by LibroFM to expand the promotion of their audiobook partnership with over 3,000 bookstores, we now have the most accurate audiobook bestseller list we have ever had access to before. And just in time to satisfy the millions of audiobook listeners who love reading in this format. (And by the way, audiobooks are reading. This FACT is non-negotiable. If you disagree you are wrong and you need to accept defeat and move on).
At the time of this post's release, the list is fascinating in that it is more backlist books than new titles and full of genre titles. I find for myself this is also true. I tend to do older titles I audio. While this is my observation on 3/14/25, you can use the list any time to identify trends in audiobook readership, just the same as you can use the USA Today's bestseller list. When we look at what books are selling the most at any given time AND over the span of a few weeks, months, or even for the entire year, we can see larger trends emerge.
It is important to include the voice of our audiobook listeners in our collection development and displays-- of both print and audio titles. Readers are readers are readers. Some cross over the format (like myself), others stick to one or the other. But all of them are readers. Their voices need to be reflected in our collections and our displays, lists, and other merchandising pursuits.
But also, back to the beginning, being a "bestseller" alone is an appeal factor we should be highlighting and promoting because it is one our readers use to find their next good read. Thankfully, we now have a reliable resource to help us consider the "bestseller" genre for our audio listeners as well.
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