Subject Spotlight: Humorous

Welcome back to Subject spotlight, the blog series where we give you quarterly data-driven insights into a specific corner of the Canadian book market. In our previous post, we shared sales and library circulation data for the Fiction / Satire BISAC subject. This time, we’re taking a sneak peek into humor!

How did Fiction / Humorous titles perform during the second quarter of 2026? Let’s find out with the help of our SalesData & LibraryData services.

Buying Fiction / Humorous

As shown in the graph below, year-over-year sales of Humorous titles were up 273% in April, 98% in May, and 289% in June.

In 2025, sales increased by a noteworthy 173% from April to May, and went down by 37% in June.

In 2026, sales of Humorous titles were up 45% from April to May. The upward trend continued with a 24% increase from May to June.

Overall, the sales of Humorous titles increased by 72% and 80% in the second quarters of 2025 and 2026, respectively.

The year-over-year percentage changes in sales for the BISAC subcategories under Fiction / Humorous titles are:

• Fiction / Humorous / Dark Humor — up 60%
• Fiction / Humorous / General — down 75%

And from April to June, the most purchased Humorous subcategory was Fiction / Humorous / Dark Humor, making up 92% of all Fiction / Humorous sales.

Borrowing Fiction / Humorous

Year-over-year, Humorous loans increased by 66% in April, decreased by 3% in May, and went back up by 24% in June. Overall loans increased by 11% in the second quarter of 2025 and decreased by 17% in the second quarter of 2026.

Year-over-year renewals increased by 72% in April, 9% in May, and 43% in June. Overall, renewals increased by 3% in the second quarter of 2025 and decreased by 14% in the second quarter of 2026.

How did loans and renewals for subcategories of Humorous titles change in Canadian libraries? From April to June, Fiction / Humorous / Dark Humor increased in loans by 40% and renewals by 127%. Meanwhile, Fiction / Humorous / General loans increased by 18% and renewals by 23%.

During the second quarter of 2026, the most circulated Humorous subcategories were:

• Fiction / Humorous / Dark Humor — 61% of all Fiction / Humorous loans and 76% of all Fiction / Humorous renewals
• Fiction / Humorous / General — 39% of all Fiction / Humorous loans and 24% of all Fiction / Humorous renewals

Reading Fiction / Humorous

Stay tuned for future instalments of this series or sign up to our eNews for more digestible data on the Canadian book market.

Until next time!