Ever since Amazon’s rise as the dominant book retailer, many of us have loudly regretted that the company doesn’t make public the data on its sales of digital products. While that hasn’t changed, two weeks ago, Amazon did start producing an intriguing look at what its data can do. With Amazon Charts—updated each Wednesday—Amazon shows which titles have been Most Read and Most Sold in the past week in fiction and nonfiction categories.
It’s important to note how these lists are put together: Amazon’s explanatory copy on Most Sold clarifies that the books are ranked “according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered through Amazon.com, Audible.com, Amazon Books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs.” Most Sold therefore includes print, ebook, and digital audio sales, but also digital products “borrowed” through Kindle Unlimited, Prime Reading, and Audible.
The Most Read charts are created from the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners each week. Like the Most Sold category, Most Read includes the reading and listening that’s happening through subscription programs.
So what’s the practical difference between the two lists? Most Sold includes print sales and pre-orders through Amazon and its physical retail outlets; Most Read reflects digital consumption that’s actively happening. Something could be Most Sold, for example, but if it’s not being read or listened to, it might not appear on Most Read.
Margaret Atwood fans will be chuffed that The Handmaid’s Tale has been on both the Most Read and Most Sold lists in fiction. In nonfiction, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry was Most Sold in the week of May 21, while Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was the Most Read nonfiction.
The appearance of these new bestseller lists set off a bit of insider criticism, with
Michael Cader at Publishers Lunch taking on Publishers Weekly to clarify that weekly bestseller lists aren’t a new feature at Amazon, even if they were a bit hard to find prior to the rollout of Amazon Charts.
Bottom line: The Amazon Most Read lists are doing something the rest of the industry can’t do: revealing the top 20 titles the Kindle/Audible-universe people are actually consuming. Notice that genres and categories such as children’s and adult fiction are combined, which makes for some amusing juxtapositions. We agree with Cader and other industry insiders that “borrowed” copies from Prime and Kindle Unlimited aren’t the fairest content to include in Most Sold, but the inclusion of borrowed books authentically reflects Amazon’s strong interest in its subscription services and offers a worthwhile comparison to the established bestseller lists (as does Most Read).
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
