I Regret to Inform You TikTok Has Created a Bestseller List
Methodology? What Methodology?
Hi friends!
Welcome back to Romancing the Phone, where I keep promising to write about historical romance and then the universe intervenes with something more topical (a cruel irony! I promise it’s coming, partially it’s taking so long because I want to do my favorite sub genre justice).
But this week, something emerged that is so relevant to the project of this newsletter that I couldn’t help but write about it. That’s right, BookTok has launched a bestseller list: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tiktok-releases-first-monthly-booktok-bestseller-list
The list, which will be released monthly, currently looks like this:
Notably, this list is for the UK (after being trialed in Germany beginning in 2023). There does not appear to be a timeline to launch a US BookTok Bestseller list, but obviously I am dying to see one. But we’ll settle for analyzing this one first.
Methodology
First, what do we know about the methodology TikTok is using to create this list? What do we know about the methodology used to create any bestseller list? Famously, the NYT list is generated via some combination of data, magic, and handwaving; to wit - we can sort of guess at how books end up on the list, but we don’t actually know how it works. And the same is true here.
The data for this list is compiled by Media Control, the company that compiles data for German bestseller charts, and Nielsen IQ Book Data. The data compiled is a combination of sales data and engagement from the #Booktok community.
What does that mean? Per an excellent article in The Bookseller, “it will identify books that have a large following on TikTok, and then the video-hosting platform will provide statistics for reach, viewership and engagement on content that features those books. Media Control will then use its algorithm to create its official ranking of books.”
Ok. Sure. But the problem with this methodology is revealed when we look at the books that have made this initial list. Is there anything new or timely or interesting here?
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Obviously, Heated Rivalry is leading the pack, and a number of Chloe Walsh books (Binding 13, which I did a deep dive on almost exactly a year ago) are sprinkled through the list. Of course Rebecca Yarros and Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas are well represented here. But the only books that could be considered new-ish are Alchemised (released in fall 2025) and The Night Prince (indie released in Spring 2025 and trad released in February 2026). Do those even count as new books?
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One of the most interesting things about BookTok is the way that time works on the platform. The way the algorithm works, you can be served popular content from months ago. Books that are popular on BookTok aren’t always new releases - BookTok has given many a backlist title a new life. And books that are really popular on BookTok tend to stay popular on BookTok. That’s what we’re seeing here. This list reads more like an all time favorites of BookTok list rather than the platform’s bestsellers for one month. For me, the question here is what will next month’s list look like? Will it be basically the same? Or will the powers that be need to change their methodology somehow so we are looking at something closer to a movers and shakers list?
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Conveniently, Spotify also recently released their list of most streamed audiobooks of all time:
Huh, interesting: 5 of the books are on both of these lists! Even though one represents a timely list and another an all time list. I’ll be interested to watch this space as they fine tune the list for the UK and, presumably, eventually, a US BookTok bestseller list.
I would also love to see a best seller list of books from TikTok shop, which would look completely different than this bestseller list. What I learned last year when I moderated the TikTok panel at the US Book Show is that publishers see huge success with prescriptive books with titles like How to Build Small Barns and Outbuildings on the TikTok shop side. So all of this is far more complicated than this initial list makes it seem.
For now, us Americans will have to make do with Barnes and Noble and Amazon’s BookTok pages, curated to highlight so-called BookTok favorites.
Recs from BookTokers
If the BookTok bestseller list isn’t providing us much insight into new books getting buzz on the platform, why don’t we turn to BookTok creators to tell us what they’re reading and loving lately. Here’s Jaimee, who has compiled a list of books she loved that are being traditionally published (sort of a backdoor BookTok bestseller list. After all, how are publishers finding these books?):
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Here’s Eden talking about popular book recs from her followers:
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Glad to see Yesteryear here, which hit the actual NYT list last week and would be a BookTok bestseller by any reasonable definition. Prepare to see this one everywhere for the next six months at least.
And finally, here’s the best sellers from The Dog Eared Book, an indie bookstore in Palmyra, New York:
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What a fascinating mix of books!
See you next week with our regularly scheduled content, and then perhaps a travelogue about visiting bookstores abroad? xoxo
I’ve never been on TikTok so I’m only familiar with booktok from others but I just find that the books that do well on booktok only belong to a small niche! It’s a bummer to not see good representation from other genres on that list. Lots of great books are not getting their moment they deserve.
This list is the exact thing I'm most tired of: a ranking with no reason attached. It tells me what sold and nothing about why anyone felt anything. I don't care that a book hit a list, I care what it did to a person at 1am. The methodology problem you're describing is really a soul problem. An algorithm can count engagement but it can't tell you which book someone is still thinking about a year later. And the part that gets me is that the loudest 15 seconds now decides what the rest of us even get to read. Do you think a list could ever capture the why, or is that just not what a list is built to do?