A request on my blog’s Facebook page asked if I could follow up my last post with lists of 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, three of which are different versions 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 on all three lists. The Book Thief appears in 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.

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, and 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 with film versions out in 2014. Three different versions of The Fault in Our Stars were in the top ten, and 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.