Richard Osman’s The Bullet That Missed (Viking) is the bestselling book on Amazon this year.
The online retailer ranks books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered (in print and e-book) from its website. Osman’s previous Thursday Murder Club book, The Man Who Died Twice (Viking) is also in the top 10, at number seven, while the original, The Thursday Murder Club, is just outside in 11th place. Amazon said Osman’s dominance shows that people are “still avid readers of ‘cosy crime’ — a trend that is supported by Richard Coles’ appearance in the top 50 with Murder Before Evensong (W&N) and upcoming cosy crime novels from Kat Ailes, Alice Bell, Stig Abell and Janice Hallett to be released in 2023.”
Cooking and self-help books dominate Amazon’s top 10 this year, with Dr Julie Smith’s Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before (Penguin Michael Joseph) at number two, Jamie Oliver’s One: Simple One-Pan Wonders (Penguin Michael Joseph) at number three and Pinch of Nom Comfort Food: 100 Slimming, Satisfying Recipes (Bluebird) by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone at number four.
Amazon said: “Food and drink books make up a fifth of the books in top 100 in total, with leading names including Joe Wicks, Stanley Tucci, Mary Berry and Yotam Ottolenghi following hard on the heels of Nom and Jamie Oliver.”
TikTok favourite Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us (Simon & Schuster) comes in at number five, with her sequel It Starts with Us (Simon & Schuster) at number 10. In total she has six books in the top 100 bestselling books from Amazon. A spokesperson for the retailer said: “The power of TikTok to transform backlist into bestsellers is evident in her success with books that were published years earlier making the list. In the midst of the global lockdown, Hoover decided to offer the electronic version of five of her books free of charge. After enjoying the freebies, her fans began to buy the rest and this has now translated into astonishing success in this year’s Amazon Books bestseller list.”
Robert Galbraith’s The Ink Black Heart (Sphere), the sixth book in the Cormoran Strike series, is number six while Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing (Corsair) is at number eight. James Clear’s Atomic Habits (Cornerstone) is ninth.
Amazon noted: “While celebrity biographies might have been kept off the top spots, there are still celebrity-penned books from Matthew Perry, Bob Mortimer (featuring in both the fiction and non-fiction lists) and Davina McCall in the top 50 bestselling titles. TV adaptations also continue to drive book sales with Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper (Hodder Children’s Books) series featuring four times in the top 100 after the success of the TV show earlier this year and J R R Tolkien’s Silmarillion (HarperCollins) makes the top 100 after ’The Rings of Power’ launched on Amazon Prime.”
Lisa de Meyer, UK books country manager, added: “Reflecting British readers’ love of a good murder mystery and our increasing desire for smart thinking books, Amazon’s bestselling books of 2022 show a real range and variety.”
Nielsen BookScan’s 2022 full-year bestsellers chart will be published in January.
