A reading recommended by Bill Gates is the best-selling book of the year

A brand new historical novel from veteran New York Times bestselling author and Forbes 50 Over 50 honoree Kristin Hannah has outsold by far any other book published in 2024, according to data provided to Forbes by Circana Bookscan, and is a standout on a list otherwise dominated by fantasy, thrillers, and romance.

The 10 best books of 2024 (fiction and non-fiction)

1. “The women” by Kristin Hannah (829,115 copies sold)
2. “House of Flame and Shadow” by Sarah J. Maas (536,346 copies sold)
3. “Funny story” by Emily Henry (300,289 copies sold)
4. “The teacher” by Freida McFadden (289,949 copies sold)
5. “Bride” by Ali Hazelwood (233,955 copies sold)
6. “Only for the summer” by Abby Jimenez (229,989 copies sold)
7. “The first lie wins” by Ashley Elston (208,730 copies sold)
8. “The fearful generation” by Jonathan Haidt (192,535)
9. “The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson (163,063 copies sold)
10. “You like it darker” by Stephen King (154,645 copies sold)

Big number

300 million. That’s how many printed books were sold in 2024 up to the week of June 1, according to Circana, 1.9 million fewer than in the same period last year. Of these, 1.6% can be attributed to a single author: Maas.

Surprising fact

Total print book sales are down nearly 2 million compared to the same period last year, according to Circana data. Fiction accounts for eight of this year’s top 10 new bestsellers and contributed to a 3.6% increase in adult fiction sales in the first quarter of 2024, Publishers Weekly reported, while nonfiction sales are down 5.8% compared to the same sales period last year. Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” and Erik Larson’s “The Demon of Unrest” were the only two nonfiction books to rank among the top new releases of 2024 so far.

Important background

“The Women” is not Hannah’s first bestseller. The 63-year-old wrote her first book in her 20s but published a string of bestsellers in her 50s and 60s, earning her a spot on Forbes 50 Over 50. Her 2008 work “Firefly Lane,” which was later adapted into a Netflix original series, spent more than 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and she’s had further success in recent decades with “The Nightingale” (2015), “The Great Alone” (2018) and “The Four Winds” (2021). “The Nightingale” was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and was named the Wall Street Journal’s best book of the year. Elle and Dakota Fanning will star in a film adaptation of the novel. According to Macmillan Publishers, Hannah has sold more than 25 million books in nearly 40 languages.

tangent

Three of the authors whose new releases are among the year’s bestsellers in 2024 are also listed as the 2024 best-selling BookTok authors, a group of authors who rose to fame on the video-sharing app. Sarah J. Maas, Emily Henry, and Freida McFadden are also among the year’s best-selling BookTok authors, with a total of 7.2 million books sold this year (of their new releases and those published before 2024).

This article first appeared on forbes.com.

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