We’ve seen the best of lists, including Amazon’s best of 2020 and The New York Times best of 2020. Those lists, determined by editors, don’t necessarily showcase what it is customers or readers were picking up this year — and while the Goodreads Choice Awards certainly give insight into what readers want to see the spotlight, again, it’s not quite the same as the raw data on how readers actually behaved.
Enter: the most popular and purchased books by Amazon customers.
Take a peek below at what Amazon customers were seeking out in 2020 cross a number of interesting categories.
The Most Purchased Books on Amazon in 2020
This data comes from compiling sales on Amazon, Audible, and Amazon Books and represents not just 2020 releases but backlist titles as well. It will come as no surprise that the titles on this list include political titles and anti-racism reads, as well as books that have been long-standing bestsellers.
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DiAngelo
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
- Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel by Celeste Ng
- American Dirt: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins
- The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John R. Bolton
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
The Most Read Books of 2020
Seven of the top ten most read books of 2020 were from a certain wizarding series, so those were removed from this data, compiled by looking at Kindle and Audible data. It’s especially interesting how many of these are not 2020 releases (and likewise, Michelle Obama’s memoir makes this list but Barack’s does not!).
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
- The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
- The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
- If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen
- Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
- When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal
The Top Anti-Racism Books in 2020
Though none of these titles made the “most read” list, these were the most purchased anti-racism books in 2020. It’s unsurprising to see the anti-racism book by a white woman top the list.
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DiAngelo
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
What Amazon Customers Listened To
Here’s an awesome statistic: almost 65% of the top audiobooks category — which means readers listened to the audiobook more than they read the Kindle edition — were fantasy books. Omitting that one series again, here are the top audiobooks purchased and listened to this year. You will no doubt notice how white and male it is.
- Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, Book 3) by Brandon Sanderson
- The Stand by Stephen King
- The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) by Brandon Sanderson
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R. R Martin
- The Chronicles of Narnia Complete 7-Book Collection by C.S. Lewis
The Most Sold Celebrity/Public Figure Memoirs of 2020
Last, but not least, take a look at the books and stories written by well-known celebrities or public figures that Amazon customers were purchasing. Again: notice which ones aligned with this year’s most-read list.
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John R. Bolton
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
- Disloyal: A Memoir by Michael Cohen
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- Open Book by Jessica Simpson
A mix of frontlist reads and backlist reads across all of these categories showcase that not all readers are only reading the latest and greatest.
Source : Here Are The Most Popular and Purchased Books by Amazon Customers in 2020
