Amazon today reveals the bestselling and most read books of the year. Prince Harry’s autobiography, Spare, released to the world in January, has taken the top spot in Amazon’s ‘Most Sold’ list. Harry’s autobiography isn’t the only big name making the best-sellers list this year, with The Woman in Me by Britney Spears making the top ten, and Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry sitting just outside the top twenty.

Conscious Eating: air fryers and slow cookers for the win

Book cover for Bored of Lunch

The nation’s obsession with cooking and food trends continues apace with Nathan Anthony boasting two books in the top five with Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book and Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book. The kitchen gadget of choice in 2023 has clearly influenced cook books this year, with a further four air fryer related titles amongst this year's best-selling. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken, The Glucose Goddess Method by Jessie Inchauspé and the latest books in the Pinch of Nom series by Kate Allinson make the top twenty best-selling books of the year.

Sue Perkins and Floella Benjamin presented the 2023 Kindle Storyteller Award - a £20,000 literary prize celebrating exceptional writing from independent authors who publish in any genre.

Lessons in Chemistry pips Cosy Crime

Lessons in Chemistry book cover

Bonnie Garmus’s much-loved debut Lessons in Chemistry has taken the top spot for best-selling fiction just beating perennial best-sellers from Richard Osman and Colleen Hoover, who have two books apiece in the top twenty, with Osman’s The Last Devil To Die and The Bullet That Missed and Hoover’s It Ends With Us and Verity. Amazon’s Best Book of the Year, Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang also makes the top 50 best-sellers of 2023.

The Harrys have it

Spare by Prince Harry book cover

The two most famous Harrys in the world dominate Amazon’s Most Read list, with Prince Harry’s Spare and the Harry Potter series claiming the top ten spots. J.K. Rowling also features with two novels from her Cormoran Strike crime fiction series making the top twenty, under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith.

For authors around the world, sharing their story with readers is a lifelong dream. Amazon launched Kindle Direct Publishing to empower authors to fulfil that dream.

Lessons in Chemistry follows the perennially popular Harry Potter series, appearing at number nine on the Most Read list. With four books in our top twenty, Richard Osman also dominates the list, with the first book in his cosy crime series The Thursday Murder Club in tenth spot. Barbara Kingsolver’s modern reimagining of Dickens’ David Copperfield, Demon Copperhead, makes the top twenty for the second year in a row, along with a return from J R R Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.

“The bestselling books are always an interesting reflection of the year, and 2023 has given us an extremely eclectic mix. Whether people are looking for escapism through cosy crime, or rejoicing in how a remarkable woman takes on the world of science, or continuing to engage in conscious eating trends, our bestseller charts this year have it all,” commented Lisa de Meyer, UK Books Country Manager at Amazon.co.uk. “And that range was also reflected in our ‘Best Books of the Year’ list where, for the first time, we chose an overall winner in the shape of the sublimely talented Rebecca F. Kuang for Yellowface.”

Exploring issues of diversity and cultural appropriation, all wrapped up in a thriller that delves into the heights of the publishing industry, "Yellowface" by Rebecca F. Kuang has been awarded Best Book of the Year the Amazon Books Editorial team.

Amazon has also revealed its own ‘Best Books of the Year’ shortlist curated by its editorial team, headed by Rebecca F. Kuang’s Yellowface and also featuring The List by Yomi Adegoke, Weyward by Emilia Hart and The Fraud by Zadie Smith.

To find out more visit www.amazon.co.uk/booksof2023.

The Amazon Books ‘Most Sold’ list ranks books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered (in print and ebook), while Amazon’s ‘Most Read’ list ranks titles by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners.

This Year in Books by Amazon: Top Twenty Amazon Books Most Sold (print and ebook)

1.      Spare by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex

2.      Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book by Nathan Anthony

3.      Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book by Nathan Anthony

4.      Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

5.      The Last Devil To Die: The Thursday Murder Club 4 by Richard Osman

6.      Pinch of Nom Enjoy by Kate Allinson

7.      Guinness World Records 2024 by Guinness World Records

8.      It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

9.      The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

10.   Atomic Habits by James Clear

11.   Verity by Colleen Hoover

12.   Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

13.   The Bullet That Missed: The Thursday Murder Club 3 by Richard Osman

14.   The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesey

15.   Where's Spidey?; Marvel Entertainment International Ltd

16.   Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken

17.   Pinch of Nom Budget by Kate Allinson

18.   The Glucose Goddess Method by Jessie Inchauspé

19.   Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith

20.   Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

This Year in Books by Amazon: Top Twenty Amazon Most Read

1.      Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

2.      Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

3.      Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

4.      Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

5.      Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

6.      Spare by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex

7.      Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

8.      Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

9.      Lessons in Chemistry: The multi-million-copy bestseller by Bonnie Garmus

10.   The Thursday Murder Club: The Thursday Murder Club 1 by Richard Osman

11.   The Bullet That Missed: The Thursday Murder Club 3 by Richard Osman

12.   The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

13.   The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

14.   The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

15.   The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

16.   Atomic Habits by James Clear

17.   The Last Devil To Die: The Thursday Murder Club 4 by Richard Osman

18.   Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

19.   The Man Who Died Twice: The Thursday Murder Club 2 by Richard Osman

20.    Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley