It has been a decade since Amazon has introduced its Kindle Unlimited program. Amazon has revealed some interesting facts and figures that provide us with a nice picture of how the service has fared over the years. For instance, it has been a staggering 3 billion books that have been read by KU members since its launch. It has also been a boon for the Kindle Direct Publishing authors who have made £2.66 billion ($3.5 billion) from the service so far.
So far as the most-read book on KU is concerned, The Bookseller revealed it is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J K Rowling that wins hands down. Not only has it been the title the most read on KU globally, but J K Rowling has also emerged as the most-read author on the platform so far. Among KDP authors, mystery writer L J Ross has emerged as the most popular KDP author on Kindle Unlimited. Ross is also the second most popular author after Rowling on the Kindle Unlimited platform. The UK-based author has six of her DCI Ryan Mysteries novels on the top 20 most-read titles on KU. Other popular KDP authors include J D Kirk, J M Dalgliesh, and Rachel McLean.
Coming to the most sought-after book genres on KU, its romance titles have been the most famous followed by thriller stories. The most popular romance author has been Colleen Hoover, with Reminders of Him: A Novel emerging as the 15th most-read book over the last ten years. Thriller stories are an all-time favorite of book lovers worldwide and have made up almost half of the top 20 most-read books on KU in the UK during the past decade.
“The magical world of Hogwarts has undeniably stood the test of time, with all seven books featuring in the global and UK top 10 most-read lists,” said Amy Tipper, head of EU books subscriptions at Amazon.
“Interestingly, the books that feature alongside the witchcraft and wizardry series in the global top 10 are authors who have gone viral on BookTok. Freida McFadden, Lucy Score, Colleen Hoover and H D Carlton have all shared huge success on the social channel in recent years—a clear demonstration of the influence of BookTok on the industry and author success.”
Meanwhile, here is the list of the top ten books on KU in the UK for the past decade.
- The Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Holy Island: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L J Ross
- The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
- Sycamore Gap: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L J Ross
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- Heavenfield: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L J Ross
- The Stopover (The Miles High Club) by T L Swan
- Reminders of Him: A Novel by Colleen Hoover
- Angel: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L J Ross
Similarly, here is the list of the top 10 most-read authors on KU in the UK for the past ten years.
- J K Rowling
- L J Ross
- Joy Ellis
- Faith Martin
- Michael Anderle
- J D Kirk
- T L Swan
- J M Dalgliesh
- Rachel McLean
- J S Scott