While many things have remained uncertain this year, our continual search to find the next best novel hasn’t wavered. In fact, books became our way to find escape in the chaos—revelling in tales that made us feel like we were on faraway adventures (and have so far proved to be the best beachside companions).
If you’ve been devouring books as quickly as you do a new Netflix series when it drops (Queen’s Gambit, anyone?), you’ll be happy to know that Apple Books is here to inspire our next festive read, unveiling the biggest selling books and audiobooks of 2020.
The list is filled with gripping novels, both old and new, and even some Australian authors. Below, celebrate the start to 2021 with these captivating page-turners.
Top 10 Most Popular Fiction Books Of 2020
Unsurprisingly, Where The Crawdads Sing has come in at number one this year.
Written by Delia Owens, the novel is set in the mid-20th century South, following Kya, a young girl in North Carolina who is abandoned by her family and is forced to raise herself in the early ’50s. When her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya suddenly finds herself in the spotlight and is immediately accused of the murder.
As one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks, Owens’ enchanting novel is also getting its own movie adaptation. Along with co-producer Lauren Neustadter, Witherspoon is set to make a feature film from the celebrated novel, which has already cast Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones in its lead role.
The list also features three Australian novelists: Jane Harper, Dervla McTiernan and Trent Dalton.
- Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
- Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer
- Grown Ups, Marian Keyes
- The Guest List, Lucy Foley
- Normal People, Sally Rooney
- If I Never Met You, Mhairi McFarlane
- The Survivors, Jane Harper
- The Good Turn, Dervla McTiernan
- Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton
- American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins
Top 10 Most Popular Fiction Audiobooks Of 2020
When it came to audiobooks this year, while Trent Dalton’s best-selling novel Boy Swallows Universe came in at number one (which, it also topped in 2019), people found solace in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter classics, with four of the seven fantasy novels appearing in the top 10 list.
Dalton’s debut novel is based on his own childhood in blue-collar Brisbane, telling the story of Eli, a young boy with a “lost father, a mute brother, and mum in jail, a heroin dealer as a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter.” The coming-of-age novel is truly a must-read, exploring themes of love, brotherhood and unlikely friendships.
Also making the list were Owens’ Where The Crawdads Sing and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelo.
- Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton
- Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
- The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
- Mythos, Stephen Fry
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
- The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan
- The Enchanted Wood, The Faraway Tree Book 1 (Abridged), Enid Blyton
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
