Australian, UK, US, fiction bestsellers 2014.



A request on my blog’s Facebook page asked if I could follow up my last post with lists of just the bestselling fiction books of 2014. As I write adult and young adult fiction I decided to include both in the following lists. Note: I could only find the top nine bestsellers in Australia. 

Australia


1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (193,700)
2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (156,900)
3. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (127,300)
4. Gone Girl (movie tie-in) Gillian Flynn (119,800)
5. The Fault in Our Stars (movie tie-in) by John Green (113,100)
6. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Riley (106,100)
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (101,000)
8. Looking for Alaska by John Green (98,500)
9. Personal by Lee Child (95,500).

Six are adult novels. Four are different versions of the same two books. Three have Australian authors. Five had film versions out last year. Only one would be considered to have literary merit (The Narrow Road to the Deep North). Only one author is female. 

UK 


1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (854,262) 
2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (467,485)
3. Inferno (Robert Langdon Book Four) by Dan Brown (338,719)
4. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (289,966)
5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (239,932)
6. Divergent (Divergent Book Three) by Veronica Roth (233,958)
7. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding (231,008)
8. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (225,825)
9. The Rosie Project (Don Tillman Book One) by Graeme Simsion (222,050)
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (213,439). 

Seven of the books are adult fiction. Three had film versions out last year. Three could be considered to be “literary” books. Two Aussies made the UK top ten (at nine and ten). Half of the authors are female. 

US 


1. The Fault in Our Stars (trade paperback) by John Green (1,813,574)
2. Divergent by Veronica Roth (1,424,292)
3. Insurgent by Veronica Roth (1,310,210) 
4. Allegiant by Veronica Roth (1,146,369)
5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (962,797)
6. The Fault in Our Stars (movie tie-in) by John Green (923,182)
7. The Fault in Our Stars (hardcover) by John Green (769,065) 
8. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (747,935)
9. Looking for Alaska by John Green (738,518) 
10. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (696,021).

All but one is a young adult novel. John Green has four books on the list with three different version of the same book. Veronica Roth has three novels on the list. Seven of the novels had film versions out last year. No books of “literary” merit appear in the list. Half of the novels are written by males.

Overall 


Two books, Gone Girl and The Fault in Our Stars appear in all three lists. The Book Thief appears in both the Australian and UK lists, and Divergent appears in both the UK and US lists. The Australian and UK lists are more adult than the US. Genre fiction made into a recent movie was a great way to get onto the bestseller list. 

All figures are from websites quoting Bookscan data.

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