Australian, UK and US bestselling books 2014



The 2014 top-ten bestseller lists for books in Australia, the UK and the US point to a book buying world dominated by movies, games and children/teenagers.

Top-ten bestsellers in Australia. 


1. The 52-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (232,900) 
2. The Long Haul (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book Nine) by Jeff Kinney (221,800)
3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (193,700)
4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (156,900)
5. Minecraft: The Official Construction Handbook (135,600)
6. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (127,300)
7. Minecraft: The Official Redstone Handbook (127,300)
8. Minecraft: The Official Combat Handbook (124,100)
9. Minecraft: the Official Beginner’s Handbook (123,400)
10. Gone Girl (movie tie-in) by Gillian Flynn (119,800).

Four of the books were manuals for the game Minecraft. Two versions of Gone Girl made the list. The top two are children’s books. Only two of the top-ten had Australian authors. Three of the books had movie versions out in 2014. 

Top-ten bestsellers in the UK.


1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (854,262)
2. Minecraft: The Official Construction Handbook (520,363)
3. Awful Auntie by David Walliams (481,662)
4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (467,485)
5. Minecraft: The Official Combat Handbook (442,511)
6. Minecraft: The Official Redstone Handbook (388,906)
7. Minecraft: the Official Beginner’s Handbook (368,935)
8. Inferno (Robert Langdon Book Four) by Dan Brown (338,719)
9. Guinness World Records 2015 (310,642)
10. The Long Haul (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book Nine) by Jeff Kinney (309,255).

Like in Australia, there are four Minecraft titles in the top-ten. Two had movie versions out in 2014. Two are children’s books. 

Top ten bestsellers in the US.


1. The Fault in Our Stars (trade paperback) by John Green (1,813,574)
2. The Long Haul (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book Nine) by Jeff Kinney (1,560,410) 
3. Divergent by Veronica Roth (1,424,292)
4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth (1,310,210)
5. Killing Patton by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard (1,190,152)
6. Allegiant by Veronica Roth (1,146,369)
7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (962,797)
8. The Fault in Our Stars (movie tie-in) by John Green (923,182)
9. The Fault in Our Stars (hardcover) by John Green (769,065)
10. Frozen by Victoria Saxon (784,691).

The US list was dominated by novels that had film versions out in 2014. The Fault in Our Stars had three different versions in the top-ten. Veronica Roth had three Divergent books in the top-ten. So six of the novels were aimed at teenagers.

Three books made all three lists, The Fault in Our Stars, The Long Haul and Gone Girl.

So the top-tens of the three countries show that if you want to sell a heap of books have a movie made out of your novel or create a game and write a heap of manuals to get more money out of the suckers. Most importantly, don’t write any genuine literature because only one such book, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, made any of the lists (I got two copies of it for Christmas). The best thing about the lists is they show children and teenagers are reading. 

All lists were obtained from online articles quoting Bookscan figures.  

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