Establishing a BookTok Canon
Which books work and how
Hi friends!
Welcome back to another week of Romancing the Phone. Sorry this one is late! I set myself too big of a task, and I still don’t think this one is comprehensive, BUT - Today, we’re diving deep into which genres and sub genres work for readers on BookTok, the ways they overlap, and which books have been solidified as “BookTok canon” as of September 2025. As always, feel free to contribute your own thoughts here! All of our algorithms are different.
What do I mean when I say BookTok canon? I’m talking about books that are established favorites on the platform, that are consistently mentioned by creators and are seen as exemplars of their particular genre. Books that are in the BookTok canon are stocked at Target, flagged on Amazon as BookTok favorites, and have considerable sales driven by their on-platform popularity.
You will note, of course, that the BookTok canon is strikingly white, which has impacted diversity gains in publishing since 2020. When looking at the BookTok Canon, my hope is to provide insight into which types of books readers are responding to, demonstrate that there is a broad readership on the platform beyond just romance and romantasy, and look to ways to increase the reach of writers and creators of color on the platform in order to broaden the distribution of their work.
What was my methodology here? It was relatively vibes based, driven by a knowledge of BookTok born from hours (and hours) spent on the platform and content by top creators. But for each book I’ve included in the canon, I’ve also included Goodreads ratings data (our finest metric) in order to help provide a sense of the scale of the popularity of both the sub genre it is included in and the book in the broader publishing landscape.
So let’s dive in!
Weird Girl Lit
Big Swiss: 133,748 ratings
I Who Have Never Known Men: 355,229 ratings
Bunny: 298,055 ratings
While I am using the broadly established term here, it does feel a bit reductive to me to lump books like I Who Have Never Known Men and Bunny together in the same category. The books that fall under this umbrella are more literary than commercial and center female protagonists. They do not need to be new releases: famously, I Who Have Never Known Men was first published in 1995, and I’ve even seen books like Wuthering Heights included on creator’s individual lists. I’d also lump Rachel Cusk into this category.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Because this category is more of a BooKTok-created genre, individual creator’s conceptions of what it encompasses vary wildly from person to person, as opposed to a genre like romance, where there is a (mostly) shared acknowledgement of which books might be included.
Crying Books
The Nightingale: 1,958,357 ratings
Blue Sisters: 254,329 ratings
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: 3,914,363 ratings
Otherwise known (to me) as commercial fiction with big emotions, BookTok readers love a book that makes them feel things. They want to be able to set up a camera while they read the last chapter of a book and record themselves sobbing. The queens of this genre are, of course, Kristin Hannah and Taylor Jenkins Reid. Interestingly, both write historical fiction, but a historical setting isn’t essential for books to fall under this umbrella. See: Elin Hilderbrand. I think some Colleen Hoover could also fall into this category.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
New Adult
Binding 13: 484,403 ratings
Save Me: 104,903 ratings
Magnolia Parks: 248,098 ratings
This genre is primarily driven by TV (Save Me is the English translation of the German book that inspired Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime), and the success of The Summer I Turned Pretty is only going to accelerate this one. Messy teen dramas that bridge the gap between high school and college are hugely popular on BookTok, and publishers are catching up by launching New Adult romance imprints. Note that BookTok creators do not use this terminology (and I’m not sure there’s really a shared name yet). Want more? Search for high school romance.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Thrillers
The Perfect Marriage: 1,073,548 ratings
The Housemaid: 2,692,192 ratings
Verity: 3,613,640 ratings
Love, Mom: 108,817 ratings
Judging by the ratings numbers alone, thrillers are on par with romantasy as BooKTok’s most popular genre. It helps that most of these releases are at least a few years old, with the exception of the recent Love, Mom. With the release of the movies for both Verity and The Housemaid, I image we’ll see these books reach an even wider audience (if that is possible). Across most BookTok genres, people LOVE a twist, so it makes sense that shocking thrillers are some of the platform’s bedrock.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
SciFi and Fantasy
Blood Over Bright Haven: 89,328 ratings
The Will of the Many: 148,088 ratings
The Way of Kings: 639,038 ratings
Red Rising: 689,860 ratings
I will cave here and say that my knowledge of this category on BookTok is entirely thanks to our favorite creator, Smitty. SFF is not the first genre you might think of on BookTok, but the community is growing. I might include books like Babel and Katabasis by R.F. Kuang in this category, but those could easily fall under weird girl lit. Similarly, the romantasy girlies LOVE Red Rising. Generally, there is a lot of crossover between BookTok genres - once something enters the canon, the voracious readers on the platform will try it. Some creators stay strictly in their lane, but for the most part, they read fairly broadly. Marianna, one of BookTok’s so-called big 3, is primarily a romance and romantasy reader who recently has gone down the Brandon Sanderson rabbit hole. As readers branch out from strict romantasy, I think we’ll see more SFF on the platform.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Romantasy
Quicksilver: 629,675 ratings
Fourth Wing: 3,256,814 ratings
ACOTAR: 3,975,138 ratings
SPEAKING OF WHICH. It’s probably time for another quarterly romantasy update, so stay tuned for that. I could list 50 books here as part of the romantasy canon, but for now we’re sticking with Mount Rushmore-level series.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Romance
The Seven Year Slip: 528,471 ratings
Butcher and Blackbird: 559,148 ratings
Funny Story: 1,177,941 ratings
One Golden Summer: 309,893 ratings
King of Wrath: 598,045 ratings
BookTok romance is an interesting one - while BookTok obviously drives romance trends, there are a few particular types of romances that blow up on BookTok: speculative contemporary romance with light magical elements, dark romcoms, setting-driven rom coms, and super spicy books. The most recent addition: One Golden Summer - thanks to an MMC who launched himself instantly into the book boyfriend hall of fame.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Finally, I’ll report on what I think the proposed Oracle acquisition of TikTok means for BookTok once we get some more concrete information, but I am concerned!
So which books and genres are in your personal canon? Mine has a lot more Lisa Kleypas and Tessa Dare and Cat Sebastian than BookTok’s. xoxo
it's interesting that historical romance hasn't seemed to pick up much on booktok when it's such a sturdy bedrock for longtime romance readers.
i think maybe part of what makes the genre comforting to read is maybe too boring to describe as a creator - on paper just with a plot summary they all sound pretty similar, and it's the author's particular style and the characters that makes them each different and fun to read. see also cozy mysteries
My canon has definitely been expanded by BookTok (romantasy!) but at its heart it’s less about genres or authors than one sort of trope—my heart belongs to relationships with just enough tension that gets resolved early enough that the main conflict is between the relationship and something external. Romantasy and RH/WC series really scratch this itch!