On June 4, 2026, TikTok published an article with the top summer reading recommendations from a few of the many BookTokers in #BookTok community. And we wanted to know if having the stamp of approval from these BookTokers impacted the books’ performance in the Canadian market.
#BookTok has been constantly growing and thriving as an online community, with readers and writers from around the world coming together to share their thoughts and their work with each other. In the UK, 51% of readers aged 16-25 get their recommendations from TikTok. In light of this, TikTok has also begun releasing its own bestseller lists in UK and across Europe.
But has this popularity echoed in the Canadian book industry?
As part of our consumer surveying in 2025, we found that 29% of Canadian book buyers participated in TikTok and that this number has stayed roughly the same during the first half of 2026 at 28%. Book borrowers were using TikTok in similar numbers, 26% in 2025 and 28% in the first half of 2026.
Social media in general is also a driver of awareness: 13% of book buyers became aware of the book they bought through social media in 2025. This has since grown to 16% in the first half of the 2026. While in 2025 9% of Canadian borrowers learned about the book they borrowed through social media, this number grew to 10% during the first half of 2026.
So did the Canadian TikTok users see the books on the reading list and were they influenced by social media to buy or borrow the titles? Let’s find out!
BookTok’s summer reading list
The article included the following list of books that were recommended by five BookTokers:
- Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe
- Alchemised by SenLinYu
- There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
- The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter
- Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
- The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
- The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee
- Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
To get the data for these titles, we pulled ISBNs found in our ISBN clusters through LibraryData. We then looked at sales and borrowing data for these ISBNs three months before and after June –– the month that the article was published –– to find out if this list had any impact on readers’ buying and borrowing behaviour across Canada.
Impact on book sales
As shown in the graph below, while the combined sales for all the reading list titles were mostly steady from March to June, when the list was published, between June and July, sales for these titles grew by a staggering 130%. Sales peaked in August, where they were up by 157% when compared with June.
It’s worth noting that two of the reading list books were published within the timeframe below: The Last Contract of Isako was published May 5, 2026 and Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe was published July 28, 2026.
Curious to see how immediate this impact might have been, we decided to zoom in a little further. The graph below looks at sales for the reading list titles six weeks before and after the week that the article was published. While the week after there was no significant change to sales, the following week ending in June 21, sales grew by 26%. This upward trend continued, peaking during the week ending July 12. Sales during this week were up by a noteworthy 91% when compared to sales the week the list was released.
Did this popularity for these titles carry over to Canadian libraries?
Impact on book borrowing
Across Canadian libraries, while there was no significant change in loans after June, in August we can see a significant spike, growing by 74% when compared to the previous month. This incresed number of loans for the reading list titles then seems to hold steady through September.
It is important to note that The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter was published on August 11, 2026.
While there was a slight increase in holds between June to July (8%), the rest seems to be a similar pattern to that of the loans. Holds across libraries grew by a noteworthy 77% in August where it peaked, remaining at that level into September.
Curious for more data about the impact of #BookTok or other social media on the Canadian book industry? Browse our collection of blog posts on the topic. Looking for more data about what Canadians are reading, buying, and borrowing? Visit our research page to look at our most recent reports or sign up to our weekly newsletter, eNews, for up-to-date information!
