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Every week, I put together a list of the most read books on Goodreads this week, but now that we’re at the end of the year, I can finally set that time span to “the last 12 months” and find out what the most read books on Goodreads were in 2024. What’s interested is that Goodreads already put out a list called The 144 Most Read Books of the 2024 Reading Challenge, and there are some notable differences between the two.
The Most Read Books page is only 50 books long, so of course not all 144 titles are on that list. But more strange is that not all 50 books are on that longer list. For example, there are five Sarah J. Maas books on the 144 book list, but 16(!) on the Most Read Books page.
It’s not surprising to me that Goodreads used some editorial discretion putting together their list, because the story looking at the raw data is a lot more boring. 24 of the 50 books listed are by Sarah J. Maas or Freida McFadden—just shy of 50% of the titles are shared between only two authors.
The most read books on Goodreads this year aren’t diverse by any sense of the word. Roughly 95% are by white authors. About 85% of the books included are either romance, fantasy, or thrillers. Only one is nonfiction: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, in the 50th spot.
Before you keep scrolling, take a guess what you think the top five most read books on Goodreads were this year. If you’ve been paying attention to the bestseller lists or these weekly roundups, I think you could get 100%!
#5:
The Women by Kristin Hannah
This historical fiction title was pushed out of the top five in recent weeks by seasonal romances, but its popularity earlier in the year cemented it in the yearly top five. It’s the newest from the author of The Nightingale and is set in 1965, during the Vietnam War. It was marked as read by more than 836,000 users in 2024 and has a 4.6 average.
#4:
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
Another familiar author on this list is Freida McFadden. Her thrillers took over the bestseller lists in 2024—especially the Housemaid series. This is the first book in the series, followed by The Housemaid’s Secret and The Housemaid Is Watching. It left the top five in recent weeks in favor of her newest thriller, The Boyfriend, but The Housemaid was read by almost 863,000 Goodreads users in 2024, with an average of 4.3.
#3:
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
All of the top three most read books on Goodreads hit year are from romantasy series. Sarah J. Maas may “only” be in third spot on this list, but as mentioned, she has 16 titles in the top 50. If we combined all those together, Maas would definitely be the most read author of 2024. A Court of Thorns and Roses was read by almost 936,000 users this year and currently has 3.3 million ratings on Goodreads, with a 4.2 average rating.
#2:
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Rebecca Yarros has snagged two of the top five spots of 2024 with her Empyrean series. Book three, Onyx Storm, comes out in January, so I expect we’ll continue to see these two on the weekly most read lists for many months to come. Iron Flame, book two of the series, was read by over 989,000 users this year and has a 4.4 average rating.
#1:
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
That means, of course, that the #1 most read book on Goodreads in 2024 was Fourth Wing, the first book in the Empyrean series. This romantasy series about a dragon-riding academy is one of the most popular in the genre. Fourth Wing was read by over a million users in 2024 and it has a 4.6 average rating.
Two More of the Most Read Books on Goodreads in 2024, Recommended by Book Rioters
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (#26 of the Most Read Books on Goodreads in 2024)
June Hayward dreams of being a literary star, but she worries no one cares about reading stories about white girls. So when her friend Athena Liu unexpectedly dies, June does the only thing she can think to do: she steals Athena’s manuscript, an experimental novel about Chinese laborers in World War I, and submits it as her own work. With this new book, June rebrands herself as Juniper Song and uses an ethnically ambiguous picture as her author photo. The book becomes a New York Times bestseller, but June can’t escape her guilt, or the fear that her secret will come out. —Emily Martin
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (#38 of the Most Read Books on Goodreads in 2024)
Two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, rekindle their friendship in a chance meeting in a Boston subway and eventually decide to make a computer game. Thus begins their immense partnership to make genre-defying games alongside Sam’s roommate, Max. It follows 30 years of the trio’s partnership to change the world of gaming as they know it. I’m not a big gaming person, but I was drawn to Sam, Sadie, and Max as they worked to find themselves and each other. While it is a love letter to what computer games can do, it’s also a story about love. But as the official blurb best says, “Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.” —Elisa Shoenberger
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
