What’s the most popular book of 2023? A million-dollar question – and championship title for authors and publishers each year. You could also say it’s an imaginative riddle for curious readers and book lovers as well.
But with millions of books in circulation, how can anyone check? You might take a sneak peek at sales, relish the reviews, or see what the experts say. And those are all reliable ways to take a good guess. But imagine if it only paints half the picture.
These days, readers don’t just buy their treasured tomes. They discuss plot lines, look up release dates, and connect with authors. This can all happen before you even decide to buy the book. So sales can’t be the be all and end all.
With that in mind, is there a broader way to check the most popular books of the year?
I’d be tempted to say yes. And one possible way could be ‘search data’ from places like Google.
The Method
Google is a massive search engine used by billions of users worldwide. Whether you need to find your nearest bookshop, or keep up with the newest novels, Google can point you in the right direction.
So how can we use their search engine for insights on the most popular books of 2023?
The first job is to cross-reference lots of sources. You can do this seeking out lists of most popular books from 2023 and comparing them for similarities. The hope is that we’ll spot a pattern of the same books. Stories that show up the most will form the top three most popular books from all those sources.
From there, we’ll look at the search data of those three popular books. That is where Google Trends comes in. The software should show us which story has been Googled the most. And in theory, the most searched book should be the most popular, shedding some light on a possible answer.
The Barriers
The biggest issue to get around is bias and human error. Google may be a massive search engine, but others are out there, like Bing. So the results could be limited.
Some of the sources on best books for 2023 might be subjective as well. This could mean our sample of books for Google Trends is biased and doesn’t reflect the success of the remaining books.
There’s no perfect way to get around this. But hopefully it’ll be enough of a guide and starting point.
Goodreads: Most Popular Books of 2023
With any list of popular books, you have to start somewhere. And as a widely known source for finding and reviewing books, Goodreads is as useful a place as any.
According to them, the most popular books of 2023 are Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and Happy Place by Emily Henry.
A direct comparison between them shows a clear winner. Fourth Wing.
But when you look at other articles on the best books for 2023, it’s clear the competition doesn’t stop here. These novels make very few appearances elsewhere. And other titles are more popular by comparison.
How did Goodreads Compare with Others?
Starting with Goodreads, I worked my way through the list, looking at novels like The Housemaid’s Secret and Yellow Face. If they showed up in other articles on best books for 2023, such as in Vogue and The Times, I made a note of them.
After a couple of tries, these were the first three books from Good Reads to show up:
Spare by Prince Harry
Spare is an autobiographical memoir that puts a magnifying glass on life as a member of the royal family. In the book, the author also talks about his upbringing, as well as his battles with the press.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Nepolitano
Set in the 1960s, the story follows a boy who earns a basketball scholarship, and escapes his family home. There, he comes face to face with Julia Padavano, who changes his life.
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
This story follows two women, Darley and Sasha, as they navigate new and dramatic changes in their lives through marriage and motherhood.
What’s The Most Popular Book of 2023?
Using Google Trends, I took all three of these stories and looked to see which was searched the most. Like last time, there was a clear winner.
‘Spare’ grabbed the headlines to start with. But the book was outpaced by its two rivals. Then with an endorsement from Oprah’s book club, ‘Hello Beautiful’ took the lead in a big way for the rest of the year. And showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
According to Google Trends, Hello Beautiful by Ann Nepolitano looks like the most popular book of 2023. While it was a late bloomer, it showed the highest average of searches on Google overall.
Have you read the book yourself? Feel free to comment below with your thoughts.
What About 2024?
In order to go further, someone (far smarter than me) would need to take a much closer look. They’d need to compare a larger selection of books and look at more articles on best books across more sources and publications.
Lastly, they’d benefit from also trying to include more search engines than Google as well.
But that could be an interesting experiment for 2024.
More Reading on Most Popular Books for 2023
If you enjoyed this unique take on the best books for 2023 and beyond, feel free to comment on your thoughts below.
You might appreciate some other articles on the best books of 2023 here:
BBC’s 12 Best Books of 2023 So Far
Twinkl Presents: 100 of The Best Books for Children
Discover more from Books of Brilliance
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