How has it been a year already? And yet here we are. Now, the question that’s come back around for the season – what’s the most popular book of 2024? 

In 2023, the book with the highest search trend was ‘Hello Beautiful’ by Ann Nepolitano. Armed with Google Trends, it looked as though ‘Spare’ had the strongest start. But it didn’t have the same momentum as the other title in the long run.

And now with another year, it’s time to find out the most popular book of 2024 as well. Which title claims the crown this year? 

As before, sales will paint a pretty good picture. But I don’t believe they tell you everything. So my aim as before will be to compare search volume and trends on Google. 

But this time, I’m going to widen the net a little further.

Finding The Most Popular Book Of 2024 

Straight off the bat, I did what any researcher would do. I googled popular books of 2024, and was treated to a picturesque grid of 21 novels. 

But in order to narrow this list down, and scoop up any hidden gems that weren’t on Google’s radar, I followed these steps, roughly the same as last time:

• Checked out a range of sources: You guessed it. I combed through dozens of popular book lists of 2024, from sources like Goodreads, Amazon, Penguin, and Circana. I intentionally left our lists out to avoid any bias where possible.
• Pinpointing patterns: I made a note of the five most popular books of 2024 which kept cropping up.
• To Google Trends: From there, I let numbers do the talking. Which book had comparatively higher search rates than others.

From there, it’s safer to take a decent guess that the most searched book of the three has some claim to being the most popular book of 2024. 

This method uses the vast amount of data processed by Google to gauge the relative popularity of books. However, it’s important to remember that this approach relies on the assumption that Google search volume accurately reflects overall popularity.

Popular Books of 2024 | Disclaimer

It’s also worth adding that I’m not writing this to throw shade on any book in particular. All books covered are popular and widely enjoyed for one reason or another. 

This is less about which book to read, and more about the data around the most popular books year-on-year, which I find shamelessly interesting. 

If you’d like a recommendation, feel free to pick a title at random, or check out some recommendations at the bottom of this post. While this outcome is one way to make a choice, it’s not a guarantee that it’ll provide a book you’ll love.

Searching The Most Popular Book of 2024 | The Barriers

Is this strategy to find the most popular books of 2024 foolproof? Of course not. 

At best, it’s a creative thought experiment. So it’s worth taking these barriers into account if you’d like to try something similar: 

• Bias on Google: Google is one search engine of many. 
• Subjectivity of source material: What is ‘popular’? Your answer may differ to someone else. Google results can’t tell us what the best book is – just what other people think. And they’re pretty biased.
• Limited scope: A small sample of books doesn’t represent the literary world.
• Search volume vs. actual readership: Search volume doesn’t tell us everything. It’s just data on what people type into a search bar.
• Influence of external factors: Media attention, controversies, or marketing campaigns can affect what people search for, and when.

Comparing The Most Popular Book of 2024

With all that out the way, my first, most familiar step was to return to Goodreads, same as last year. Starting with them, the first 5 or so books were listed as the most popular according to the readers here: 

• Funny Story by Emily Henry 
• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3) by Abby Jimenez
• First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
• The Teacher by Freida McFadden

Here’s how they ranked when compared to each other in their search volume on Google Trends:

While they all follow a similar pattern, The Women by Kristin Hannah has the highest average of all the books. 

Now, as much as I like Goodreads, they’re just one source. So I expanded the search.

Same as last year, some books like Funny Story fell off the radar. Other books titles, however, rose to the surface. 

In fact, some of these other books were mentioned across a number of sources. I tallied the books to see which titles were repeated the most, and I’ve included these here:

• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
• The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
• A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas
• It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Trend’s Most Popular Book of 2024

Now for the moment of truth. What is the most popular book of 2024, according to Google Trends?

I fed the adjusted list of popular books for 2024 into Google Trends to see how they fared against each other. 

What did trends say?

‘It Ends With Us’ by Colleen Hoover looks to be the clear winner for most popular book of 2024, with a huge increase in search volume around the latter half of the year. 

Except when you have a closer look at the chart, the average is very close to A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas. 

It’s only for one specific time when Hoover’s book reached its peak, whereas A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas has a steadier rate of search happening throughout the year. This has meant that both have a similar average.

Sidenote: As A Court Of Thorns And Roses had been searched as a book series, I was curious to see how it would compare as a standalone book. 

Here, the difference is even clearer. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover wins across the board there as well.

What About The Rest?

While the rest of the books look less fortunate in their numbers as the most popular book of 2024, this is only in direct comparison with books like It Ends With Us and A Court of Thorns And Roses. 

Remove them and the results for the remaining books look drastically different:

Here ‘The Women’ is searched much more by comparison. It just goes to show how relative the popularity of books can be when compared to others. 

As for why some books could be the most popular book of 2024, or certainly the most searched, the reasons could be endless. Some books here form part of a series. From that, it’s likely that a new release will generate more buzz – readers may revisit older books, or look up plot lines to prepare for the next big read.

On top of that, as with the previous year, famous endorsements, media campaigns, adaptations, discussion threads or even the anticipation of a sequel can all work to push search volume up in Trends. ‘The Women’ came highly recommended on Goodreads. Such a large community of readers could also have an impact on popularity.

It Ends With This – Most Popular Book of 2024

Be that as it may, when all is said and done, it looks as though It Ends With Us managed to fly the flag as most popular book of 2024, according to Google’s search data.

Looking to be the next book in a series may have likely generated a lot of a buzz, so it’s no surprise that it rose in fandom the way it did, as well as hold a steady rate of search for the rest of the year. 

What About 2025?

Who knows what 2025 will hold for the publishing world? But as the series of musings continue to grow, I’ll be keen to keep expanding the search and see what trends can dig up.

What do you think? Have you read any of the books too? Do you agree with the most popular book for 2024 so far?

Feel free to comment below with your thoughts, ideas and even predictions.

More Reading on Most Popular Books of 2024

If you enjoyed this unique take on the best books for 2024 and beyond, feel free to comment on your thoughts below.

You might appreciate some other articles on the most popular books of 2024 and even the year before right here:

BBC’s 12 Best Books of 2024 So Far

Finding The Most Popular Books of 2023

People’s Best Books of 2024

Twinkl Presents: 100 of The Best Books for Children