Leading book publishers share of bestsellers list U.S. 2021

In 2021, the Big Five publishers in the United States held 77.4 percent of positions on the bestselling adult paperback list, down from 79 percent in the previous year, meaning that more of the bestselling adult paperbacks in 2021 came from independent publishers, than majors. Whilst the Big Five lost some ground, majors still accounted for the majority of all bestselling hardcover and paperback books in the United States each year, with Penguin Random House commanding the highest share.

Share of adult hardcover and paperback bestseller positions held by leading publishers in the United States from 2019 to 2021

Characteristic	Pengiun Random House	HarperCollins	Simon & Schuster	Hachette	Macmillan	Total share of Big Five
Hardcover - 2019	39.7%	15.5%	9.6%	15%	12.7%	92.5%
Paperback - 2019	27.8%	25.4%	8.8%	15.4%	6.3%	83.7%
Hardcover - 2020	38.3%	16.7%	12.8%	11.9%	9.4%	89.1%
Paperback - 2020	25%	25.4%	8.8%	15.4%	6.3%	79%
Hardcover - 2021	37.4%	13.6%	13.9%	12.6%	13.5%	91%
Paperback - 2021	21.5%	27%	5.3%	17.1%	6.5%	77.4%

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Release date

January 2022

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Region

United States

Survey time period

2019 to 2021

Supplementary notes

The source runs two adult paperback and two adult hardcover lists each week, each including 20 titles, and as such there are 2,080 positions on each list in total over the course of a year. The data represents each publisher's share of the 2,080 hardcover bestsellers and 2,080 paperback bestsellers list positions.

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