Heated Rivalry, The Housemaid and Fourth Wing: TikTok launches BookTok bestseller list

BBC

If you've picked up a book recently, there's a good chance it's because someone on TikTok told you to.

What we read is no longer driven by bookshops or bestseller charts alone, but by a constant stream of fast, highly personal recommendations.

From rapid-fire reviews to emotional reactions, creators are shaping reading habits at scale and #BookTok has more than 77 million posts.

Now, this influence is being formalised with the launch of the UK's first official #BookTok bestseller list.

The new chart, compiled by Media Control and NielsenIQ BookData - which also provides data for traditional charts such as the Sunday Times bestseller list - combines UK sales data with analysis of the #BookTok hashtag.

TikTok

The inaugural top 20, which will be updated monthly, is entirely made up of female authors, with Irish writer Chloe Walsh appearing most frequently.

All six books in her Boys of Tommen series - which follow a group of teenagers navigating love, friendship and trauma at a private school - feature on the list.

The chart also reflects how BookTok is reshaping the lifecycle of books - Donna Tartt's The Secret History, first published in 1992, appears on the list after finding a new audience decades later through TikTok.

Many of the titles on the list are also either recent or upcoming screen adaptations including Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing and Chloe Walsh's Boys of Tommen series.

Dominating the list are titles linked to the platform's biggest genre, romantasy, with books by Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros making it into the chart.

BookTok influencers Kris and Mads say it's no surprise romantasy dominates the list as these authors have built highly engaged fanbases online, with readers sharing reactions, theories and recommendations that sustain long-term interest.

"It's such an accessible genre and allows readers to get passionate about something light and fun with other people".

Kris and Mads

For them, the new list reflects how younger readers are discovering books.

They say audiences are "more likely to scroll their social media feeds than read prominent news outlets", with readers "highly motivated to read what their friends or favourite creators are recommending".

The influence of these creators can have a swift impact. After they shared the self-published series The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, they say it "completely sold out on Amazon".

BookTok has the potential to highlight titles that might otherwise go unnoticed.

"Plenty of independent titles have caught fire with no budget and that's down to readers who champion them."

Championing overlooked genres

Lucy Stewart, deputy publishing director at Hodder & Stoughton, says TikTok is giving some genres greater visibility.

Romance, in particular, has seen "a huge rise in unabashed public appreciation, sales and respect thanks to the power of BookTok and its creators".

She adds she is "in favour of more accessible celebrations of reading and book-buying".

For readers like Amy, 32, from Hampshire, it's the mix of discovery and discussion that makes her turn to TikTok "all the time for recommendations".

She says BookTok has helped her "explore genres I never would have known about otherwise" and calls it a "great tool when you're in a reading slump and want to get back into it or try a new genre".

Do traditional bestseller lists still matter?

The rise of a BookTok chart does not necessarily mean traditional lists are disappearing, but it may suggest a shift in the literary landscape.

NielsenIQ BookData says 11 million UK book sales in 2025 were attributed to BookTok - around 6% of all book sales.

Young adult author Abiola Bello says the influence of BookTok is increasingly visible beyond the app, with retailers responding directly to online trends.

"WHSmith have a 'TikTok made me buy it' section in store and I've seen my book on the shelves there."

Sara Roberts, senior marketing manager at Transworld, says BookTok is now "one of the most powerful forces in publishing" and acts as "an amazing trend spotter" for what readers are looking for.

But she adds traditional marketing still matters, noting that while BookTok reaches a highly engaged audience, many readers still rely on reviews and traditional media to guide their reading choices.

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Ultimately, she says, the approach depends on the book, with some titles thriving on BookTok, while others "rely much more heavily on traditional review coverage to reach the right person".

Publishing director at Evermore, Claire Simmonds, agrees and says the platform has been "a real game changer" for sales and discovery, but stresses it is part of a wider ecosystem.

"BookTok can be the spark," she says, "but everything else needs to be in place to catch that momentum."