Top Syndetics Unbound Titles of 2021

Syndetics Unbound’s year-end “Top Titles” list for all of 2021!

We’ve compiled the most searched-for and looked-at books in public and academic libraries around the world, drawing on the thousands of libraries that use Syndetics Unbound.

Check out this “bar chart race” of the top searched-for books in US public libraries! I hope you find it as mesmerizing as we do. View this visualisation on Flourish.

United States Public Libraries

Here are the top 50 books in US public libraries across all of 2021.

1. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
3. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
6. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
7. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
8. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
9. Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
10. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
11. Sooley by John Grisham
12. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
13. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
14. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
15. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
16. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
17. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
18. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
19. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
20. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
21. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
22. The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
23. The Judge’s List by John Grisham
24. The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny
25. Dune by Frank Herbert
26. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
27. Billy Summers by Stephen King
28. A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
29. A Time for Mercy by John Grisham
30. The Wish by Nicholas Sparks
31. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
32. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
33. Daylight by David Baldacci
34. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
35. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
36. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
37. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
38. Ocean Prey by John Sandford
39. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
40. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
41. The President’s Daughter by Bill Clinton
42. The Push by Ashley Audrain
43. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
44. Win by Harlan Coben
45. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
46. Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
47. Dark Sky by C. J. Box
48. We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker
49. Legacy by Nora Roberts
50. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Here’s a handy graphic for sharing on social media:

Australian Public Libraries

1. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
4. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
5. The Survivors by Jane Harper
6. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
7. The Dry by Jane Harper
8. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
9. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
10. Honeybee by Craig Silvey
11. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
12. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
13. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
14. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
15. The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need by Scott Pape
16. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
17. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
18. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
19. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku
20. All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

Here’s a handy graphic for sharing on social media:

Canadian Public Libraries

1. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
4. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
5. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
6. The Push by Ashley Audrain
7. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
8. The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny
9. Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
10. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
11. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
12. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
13. Sooley by John Grisham
14. Daylight by David Baldacci
15. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
17. All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
18. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
19. A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
20. Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

Here’s a handy graphic for sharing on social media:

United Kingdom Public Libraries

The data for the UK is based on a smaller sample than other countries, so the ranking may not be as accurate.

1. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
3. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
4. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
6. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
7. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
8. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
9. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
10. The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
11. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
12. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
13. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
14. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
15. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
16. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
17. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
18. The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves
19. The Sentinel by Lee Child
20. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Here’s a handy graphic for sharing on social media:

World Academic Libraries

Here are the top books in academic libraries around the world. As you can see, they are dominated by textbooks and core reference titles.

1. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
2. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition by American Psychological Association
3. Research Methods for Business Students by Mark N.K. Saunders
4. Principles of Marketing by Philip Kotler
5. Social Research Methods by Alan Bryman
6. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches by John W. Cresswell
7. Brock Biology of Microorganisms by Michael T. Madigan
8. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge by Project Management Institute Operations Management by Nigel Slack
9. The Study Skills Handbook by Stella Cottrell
10. Pharmacology by H. P. Rang
11. Research Methods in Education by Louis Cohen
12. Case Study Research: Design and Methods by Robert K. Yin
13. Doing Your Research Project by Judith Bell
14. Textbook of Medical Physiology by Arthur C. Guyton
15. Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice by Dave Chaffey
16. Marketing Management by Philip Kotler
17. Leadership: Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse
18. Business Research Methods by Alan Bryman
19. Macroeconomics by Olivier Blanchard

How Do We Know?

This data was collected by Syndetics Unbound. The search data is fully anonymized the day it is collected.