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These were the books that repeatedly sold out on Amazon this year (and most have been written by female authors!) - but how many have you read?

Your 2021 reading list is looking mega.
By Sophie Cockett
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We've all been desperate for a bit of escapism this year, and alongside The Crown and the odd jigsaw puzzle, getting our heads stuck in one of the best new books has been the easiest way to drift off to a world where Coronavirus doesn't exist.

I can confidently declare that I've read more books in 2020 than I have in every other year of my life combined - but I still don't feel as clued up as some of my other friends when it comes to knowing what's hot and what's not in the literary world. As a bit of an amateur book worm, knowing which books veteran literary sleuths are tucking into - and genuinely loving - is invaluable info. Which books are selling out the fastest? Which novels should I add to my wish list? Any non-fiction releases worth making a beeline for?

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Luckily, Amazon has exclusively revealed a list of the books which repeatedly sold out on Amazon throughout 2020 to help us all level up our 2021 reading lists ahead of time. Sure, there are a few titles in the mix you've likely already read - but plenty you won't have, too. So get adding them to your virtual carts pronto, before they sell out again.

Wonderfully, female authors dominated the bestseller lists this year, with seven out of the ten most sold books being written by females. Delia Owens leads the way with her coming-of-age story, Where the Crawdads Sing, closely followed by Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, turned into a BBC adaptation that gripped the nation during lockdown. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce, The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary, 2019 Booker Prize Winner, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge and Pinch of Nom Every Day Light by chef duo, Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson, all made the top ten most sold books in 2020.

The only men to make the top ten were Charlie Macksey with his inspirational book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Alex Michaelides with The Silent Patient and Richard Osman with his bestselling debut, The Thursday Murder Club.

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In the year of Covid-19, self-help books featured prominently throughout the top 100 most sold books of the year, with celebrity self-help books and celebrity fiction unusually proving more popular than celebrity autobiographies. Untamed by Glennan Doyle and Atomic Habits by James Clear reigned supreme.

Elsewhere, The Harry Potter phenomenon continues unabated with J.K. Rowling’s series taking the top seven spots of the most read list, partly due to the huge popularity of their audiobooks, voiced by the likes of Stephen Fry. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix are the most popular titles in the series. Other big releases of recent years still feature highly with Michelle Obama’s autobiography, Becoming and This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor both making the top 25 most read books, two and three years after they were first published respectively.

Amazon Charts showcases the top 20 most sold and most read books of every week. Amazon’s Most Sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered, while Amazon’s Most Read charts rank titles by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners each week. To find out more about This Year in Books visit www.amazon.co.uk/booksof2020. Selected titles will appear on a digital billboard in London’s Leicester Square as part of a campaign to inspire reading this Christmas.

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This Year in Books by Amazon Charts: Top Ten Most Sold (Fiction)

This Year in Books by Amazon Charts: Top Ten Most Sold (Non-Fiction)

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This Year in Books by Amazon Charts: Top Ten Most Read

This Year in Books by Amazon Charts: Top Ten Highly Quotable*

*These are calculated based on how frequently customers highlighted passages in these books.

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Based in London and specialising in fashion and beauty, Sophie is Glamour's Senior European Commerce Editor. Sophie joined the Glamour UK team as Commerce Writer in January 2020, before being promoted to Senior European Commerce Editor in March 2023. It is Sophie's role to oversee the shopping content strategy for ... Read More
Senior Commerce Editor, Europe
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