There are few better ways to start off the new year than with another Subject spotlight and more quarterly data-driven insights into a specific corner of the Canadian book market.
Looking for your next page-turner? No genre will hold you in suspense more than Thrillers — and Canadians can’t seem to get enough of them.
In our annual Canadian Book Consumer Study, we track the popularity of book subjects purchased by Canadian book buyers throughout the year. So far in collecting data for our forthcoming 2021 edition, Thrillers are the second most popular Fiction category purchased by Canadians after Fantasy, accounting for 14% of all purchases.
Just how many Thrillers titles are Canadians really reading?
Below, we explore the Canadian sales and library circulation of Thrillers during the fourth quarter of 2021 with the help of our SalesData and LibraryData services.
Enough sitting on the edge of our seat — onto the data!
Buying Thrillers
Compared to 2020, Thrillers were a less popular choice for Canadian book buyers in the last months of 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, the sales of Thrillers during the fourth quarter dropped 20%, shown in the graph below.
That being said, the sales of Thrillers trended up during the fourth quarter for both years. From October to December 2021, sales of Thrillers titles increased 55% over the entire quarter. During the same quarter in 2020, sales for this subject category only increased 20%.
Even though Thrillers titles had fewer sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 than in 2020, some of Fiction / Thrillers' 14 BISAC subcategories saw big increases year-over-year, especially:
Fiction / Thrillers / Political — up 549%;
Fiction / Thrillers / General — up 226%; and
Fiction / Thrillers / Legal — up 181%.
From October to December 2021, the most purchased Thrillers subcategories were:
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense — 47% of all Thrillers sales;
Fiction / Thrillers / Political — 13% of all Thrillers sales; and
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological — 11% of all Thrillers sales.
Borrowing Thrillers
Trends were reversed in the library. Over the fourth quarter of 2021, the library loan and renewal of Thrillers titles was up 18% and 15% from 2020.
Yet, the library circulation of Thrillers titles trended down for the most part during the fourth quarter, shown in the graph below. From October to December 2021, the loan of Thrillers titles steadily decreased 6%, while renewals saw a decrease of 4%. During 2020, library loans decreased 10% but saw a 30% increase in renewals over the fourth quarter.
Which BISAC Thrillers subcategories held Canadian library borrowers in suspense? From October to December 2021, these subcategories saw the greatest increases in library circulation compared to 2020:
Fiction / Thrillers / Historical — loans up 115% and renewals up 88%;
Fiction / Thrillers / Political — loans up 57% and renewals up 16%; and
Fiction / Thrillers / Legal — loans up 52% and renewals up 25%.
During the fourth quarter of 2021, the most circulated Thrillers subcategories were:
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense — 48% of all Thrillers loans and 49% of all Thrillers renewals;
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological — 12% of all Thrillers loans and 12% of all Thrillers renewals; and
Fiction / Thrillers / Crime — 11% of all Thrillers loans and 11% of all Thrillers renewals.
Reading Thrillers
These are the top selling and top borrowed Thrillers titles for the fourth quarter of 2021.
Top borrowed
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
State of Terror by Louise Penny 🍁 and Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Top selling
State of Terror by Louise Penny 🍁 and Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Judge's List by John Grisham
Never by Ken Follett
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Better off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child
Until next time!
Stay tuned for future instalments of this series or sign up to our eNews for more digestible data on the Canadian book market.
How to use CataList reports to keep track of new drop-in titles and changes to key elements that publishers make to their forthcoming titles.