Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid best-selling book of the year on Amazon UK

Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid was the best-selling book of the year on Amazon’s UK platform, while Rory Stewart’s memoir Politics On The Edge topped the biography category.

Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us, which was released as a film adaptation this year, was the second-biggest seller as social media increasingly drove sales, the retailer said.

The Amazon Books Most Sold list ranks books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered in both print and ebook.

Amazon said “romantasy” dominated the fiction category, with Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing and Iron Flame and multiple entries from Sarah J Maas’ Court Of Thorns And Roses series making the top 20.

Cookbooks, and particularly those dedicated to cooking with air fryers, dominated the non-fiction category.

Pinch of Nom Air Fryer by Kay Allinson and Nathan Anthony’s Bored Of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book both capitalised on the appliance’s popularity – while So Good by British nutritionist Emily English was the second bestselling cookbook.

Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People and Tim Spector’s The Food For Life also made the top sellers list, reflecting concerns about both the cost-of-living crisis and growing awareness of diet’s role in wellbeing, Amazon said.

Stewart’s memoir was the bestselling biography, at number 42 on the overall bestseller list.

Boris Johnson’s Unleashed missed out on this year’s bestsellers list, having only been released in October.

Amazon’s Most Read list, ranked by the average number of daily Kindle Readers and Audible listeners each week, saw JK Rowling dominating the list, with all seven Harry Potter books captivating readers years after their release.

Zak Watts, UK books country manager at Amazon.co.uk, said: “This year’s bestseller list tells a fascinating story about British readers in 2024.

“From the surge of popularity for romantasy, to our continued love affair with cosy crime, we’re seeing how our nation’s reading habits are a means of escapism and perhaps a much-needed departure from day-to-day reality.

“The remarkable success of authors like Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J Maas and Emily English shows how social channels like TikTok and Instagram shape the publishing landscape, while news of TV adaptations are helping to drive further success for the likes of Richard Osman, who has five books in the top 50 bestselling books this year.

“That interplay between social media and mainstream entertainment has also helped new audiences discover David Nicholls, the winner of our ‘Best Book of the Year’ for You Are Here, following the successful TV adaptation and resulting social media buzz for One Day earlier this year.”

This Year in Books by Amazon: Top Twenty Amazon Books Most Sold (print and ebook)

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas
It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Verity by Colleen Hoover
A Court Of Mist And Fury by Sarah J Maas
None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman
The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden
Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
A Court Of Wings And Ruin by Sarah J Maas
The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang
Weyward by Emilia Hart
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

This Year in Books by Amazon: Top Twenty Amazon Most Read

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix by JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
The Fellowship Of The Ring by JRR Tolkien
The Running Grave: Cormoran Strike Book 7 by Robert Galbraith
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas
His And Hers by Alice Feeney
A Court Of Mist And Fury by Sarah J Maas
The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Dune by Frank Herbert
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray