Will The Sales Of Books In The UK And The US Decline In The First Half Of 2025, But These Books Are Selling Like Hotcakes?

In the first half of 2025, book sales in the UK and the US experienced a single digit decline, but the overall revenue decline narrowed due to the increase in book prices. The popularity of coloring books and audiobooks in the US market, as well as love fantasy novels in the UK market, has not decreased with the support of new products. Classic old books and new works in psychology and biography have also been released, supporting only a slight decline in the non fiction sector.
the United States
Coloring books and digital audiobooks have become market highlights
According to Circana BookScan statistics, the weak market for adult non fiction books, coupled with a slowdown in sales growth of adult fiction books, has led to a 1.2% year-on-year decline in paper book sales in the first half of 2025 in the United States. The total sales of six book categories decreased from 348 million copies in the same period last year to 344 million copies.
Top 10 best-selling books in the United States for the first half of 2025

Adult fiction books have been the most eye-catching field in the market for many years, with stable sales from January to March this year, mainly driven by Rebecca Yarros' heavyweight new book "Onyx Storm". The deluxe version sold over 1.6 million copies, and the standard version sold nearly 350000 copies. The sales of adult fiction books only increased by 1.0% in the first half of the year.
In the first half of the year, "Agate Storm" ranked first on the bestseller list, with total sales of the luxury and standard editions expected to exceed 2 million copies. But the total sales of love fantasy novels are difficult to reach the same level as the same period last year. There were many best-selling books in this field last year, such as Sarah J. Sarah J. Maas' "Thorns and Roses" and other works have sold over 3 million copies, while Rebecca Yarros' "Iron Flame" and "Fourth Wing" have sold a total of over 1.1 million copies.

From left to right: 'Not Being Controlled by Others: A Tool to Change a Lifetime', 'Harvesting Sunrise', and 'Agate Storm'
The total sales of adult non fiction books in the first half of the year decreased by 3.1% year-on-year, with Mel Robbins' "The Let Them Theory" being the top selling book, selling over 1.7 million copies in the first half of the year. Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs are the categories with the largest decline in this field, with a decrease of 10.7%. The sales of general non fiction books decreased by 9.9% year-on-year. The sales of religious books have increased, with the growth rate rising from 12% in the same period last year to 16%.
The sales of young adult fiction books increased by 0.1% year-on-year in the first half of the year. Although Suzanne Collins' prequel to the "Hunger Games" series, "Sunrise on the Reaping," sold nearly 1.7 million copies, other subcategories in the field have all declined, with general novels experiencing the largest decline.
The sales of young adult non fiction books increased by 2.9% year-on-year. It is worth noting that the top 4 books in this category are all adult coloring books, with a total sales volume of 200000 copies.
The sales of children's fiction books decreased by 0.8% year-on-year. Dav Pilkey's new installment in the Dog Man series, "Big Jim Begins," topped the charts with over 500000 copies sold. Two old books made it to the top three of the list, namely Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" and Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," with sales of 436000 and 250000 copies, respectively.
The sales of children's non fiction books increased by 0.2% year-on-year. Among them, the stable growth of games/crafts/hobbies and history/sports/people and attractions offset the impact of the decline in biography/autobiography, with a decrease of up to 30% in the latter.

According to the American Publishers Association, from January to May, the total revenue of American publishers decreased by 1.8% year-on-year to 5.2 billion US dollars. The total revenue of popular books decreased by 2.8% year-on-year to 3.6 billion US dollars, among which adult fiction revenue decreased by 4.9% year-on-year and adult non fiction revenue decreased by 2.7% year-on-year. The revenue of children's and youth books decreased by 0.4% year-on-year. The revenue of hardcover books increased by 1.1% year-on-year to $1.3 billion, while the revenue of paperback books decreased by 8.3% year-on-year to $1.3 billion, the revenue of paperback books decreased by 21.1% year-on-year to $38.1 million, and the revenue of special edition books decreased by 3.6% year-on-year to $72.8 million. E-book revenue increased by 2.9% year-on-year to $441 million, digital audiobook revenue increased by 3.1% year-on-year to $412 million, and physical audiobook revenue decreased by 42.6% year-on-year to $1.9 million.
Looking at other sectors, the revenue of religious books decreased by 0.2% year-on-year to $349 million. Among them, revenue from hardcover books decreased by 0.4% year-on-year to $212 million, while revenue from paperback books decreased by 4.8% year-on-year to $63 million. E-book revenue decreased by 8.2% year-on-year to $20.8 million. In the higher education sector, courseware revenue increased by 6.5% year-on-year to 938 million US dollars. In the professional sector, book revenue decreased by 6.0% year-on-year to $175 million.
the United Kingdom
Fictional books are booming, while non fiction books have slightly decreased
Nielsen IQ BookScan's sales statistics for the mass print book market (TCM) in the UK from January 1 to July 29, 2025 (the first 29 weeks) show a year-on-year decrease of 2.3% in sales to 93.1 million copies and a year-on-year decrease of 0.3% in sales revenue to 859 million pounds. The average selling price of books increased by 2% year-on-year to £ 9.23, which partially compensated for the revenue loss caused by the decline in sales.
In the first 29 weeks of 2025, sales of fictional books continued to be booming, with revenue increasing by 6% year-on-year to 280 million pounds. For the first 23 weeks ending June 14th, revenue from non fiction books decreased by 2.8% year-on-year to £ 244 million, while sales decreased by 4.8% year-on-year.

From the perspective of fictional books, the best-selling books in the first 29 weeks include Susanna Collins' prequel to the "Hunger Games" series, "Harvesting Sunrise," and Rebecca Yaros' new book, "Agate Storm." The two works sold a total of 569400 hardcover copies, with one of their works selling over 200000 copies, accounting for 9% of the total sales of the TOP 50 books and earning £ 7.9 million, accounting for 17.7% of the total revenue of the TOP 50 books.

We Solve Murder Cases
In addition to Collins and Yaros' new works, another one that has sold over 200000 copies is Richard Osman's' We Solve Murders'. Osman's previous work, "The Last Devil to Die," was the only book to sell over 200000 copies last summer. The paperback version of 'We Solve a Murder Case' became the champion of this year's summer chart, but its sales decreased by 13.7% compared to 'The Last Dead Devil'.
Fictional paperback books have become the mainstay of the TOP50 list, with 33 books making it to the list, just like last year. Although the sales of Ottoman works have declined, the total sales of paperback books have increased by 2% year-on-year, mainly due to the inclusion of 7 works by Freida McFadden, compared to only 2 works in the same period last year.

Deep Burial

Comfortable Corner and Comfortable Baby
Since April, 17 new books have made it to the TOP50 list, including Osman's' We Solve Murders'. Including Lee and Andrew Child's "In Too Deep," which ranked 6th, and Coco Wyo's coloring book "Cozy Corner and Cozy Cuties," which ranked 12th and 13th respectively.
From the perspective of non fiction books, although the entire sector has declined, psychology and biography have performed well. James Clearer's' Mastering Habits', although still the best-selling psychology book in the UK for the first 25 weeks of this year, has shown a downward trend, with sales dropping 22.3% year-on-year to 84800 copies and revenue dropping 23.4% year-on-year to 920700 pounds (109200 copies sold in the same period last year, earning 1.2 million pounds). Clinical psychologist Julie Smith's new work "Open When..." has become a heavyweight new product in the field, selling 42200 copies since its publication in January this year. The book provides readers with coping strategies for facing challenges such as betrayal, loneliness, fear, despair, and trauma, helping them gracefully navigate through fragile moments and find and listen to positive voices within.

A book that you hope the person you love has read
Meanwhile, supported by other classic books, the total revenue of the psychology sector decreased slightly by 0.4% year-on-year to £ 9.4 million. There are 9 books with sales exceeding 10000, with a year-on-year increase of 9.9% in total sales and a year-on-year increase of 17.9% in total revenue to 3.2 million pounds. Five classic works also made it to the top of the list during the same period last year, including Philippa Perry's "The Book You Want Everyone You Love * to Read". The hardcover version earned 141200 pounds last year, and the paperback version released earlier this year earned 262000 pounds. The total revenue for the first 25 weeks of this year increased to 267100 pounds.
Another entry into the top of the list is Dale Carnegie's classic work "How to Win Friends and Influence People," which, although down two places, saw a 0.6% year-on-year increase in revenue. Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" revenue decreased by 32.4% year-on-year, while Thomas Erikson's "Surrounded by Idiots" revenue decreased by over 25% year-on-year to £ 134000. Neuroscientist T.J. Power made his debut on the list with "The DOSE Effect," selling 17700 copies and generating £ 225800 in revenue. The book discusses how to overcome common mental health challenges through chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins (DOSE). Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's book 'Make Change That Lasts' brought him £ 500000 in income. Chatterjee's classic work 'Happy Mind, Happy Life' earned £ 13600 in the first half of this year. Vex King's' Things No One Taught Us About Love 'sold 7321 copies, with revenue dropping 63.1% year-on-year to £ 69200, ranking 16th on the list.
In the first 23 weeks of 2025, the revenue of biographies and autobiographies (excluding sports biographies) increased by 1% year-on-year to 30.3 million pounds, and sales increased by 0.3% year-on-year. The average selling price of books increased by 0.09 pounds year-on-year to 11.98 pounds.
Trading Game: Confessions
The best-selling books in this category include Gary Stevenson's' The Trading Game ', which has sold 92800 copies and earned 744100 pounds since its paperback publication in January this year. The author of the book was once the most profitable trader at Citibank. In this memoir, he vividly tells the story of how he started from scratch and why he gave up everything. Another best-selling book is Raynor Winn's novel 'The Salt Path', which has been adapted into a movie and has driven a 116.8% year-on-year increase in revenue for this memoir to $712700. In addition, some classic old books are still popular, such as Jeremy Clarkson's "Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm," which increased revenue by 23.4% year-on-year to £ 182100, Bob Mortimer's autobiography "And Away," and Rory Stewart's "Finding Afghanistan: Between History and Reality," both of which are bestsellers on the market.