Since September, I’ve been putting together this combined list of all the bestselling books, according to all the big bestsellers lists: the New York Times, both Combined Print & E-Book Fiction and Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction lists; Amazon Charts, both Fiction and Nonfiction; USA Today; and Publishers Weekly. To be honest, there aren’t usually a lot of surprises. But this is the first week with some news: there’s no USA Today bestseller list this week.
USA Today laid off about 200 employees, including the editor who put together the USA Today bestseller list, and since then, their bestseller list has been “on hiatus.” They will be sharing an update some time in 2023. Many authors have expressed their concern about the disappearance of this list, because it’s considered to be more sales-based that other bestseller lists, and the long full list allows more chances for titles to be considered bestsellers.
So, for the time being, “all the lists” is going to be three lists: NYT, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly. New additions are bolded.
Three lists or four, this continues to be a very white bestseller list, with the exception of Michelle Obama’s new book. It’s a good reminder that publishing has a long way to go, especially when it comes to the kinds of books that get big marketing budgets. Hopefully BookTok will shine its light on some authors other than Colleen Hoover soon!
For some new releases that deserve a lot more attention, check out Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman and How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler.
Books On All Three Bestseller Lists:
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (NYT #1, Publishers Weekly #2, Amazon #1)
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (NYT #1, Publishers Weekly #5, Amazon #2)
It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover (NYT #2, Publishers Weekly #3, Amazon #1)
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (NYT #3, Publishers Weekly #6, Amazon #3)
The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham (NYT #5, Publishers Weekly #9, Amazon #5)
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.