Led by Donkeys tops Bookshop.org's list of bestselling titles for 2024

Led by Donkeys (Thames and Hudson) has been Bookshop.org’s bestselling title of the year by unit volume, while Booker Prize-winner Samantha Harvey’s Orbital (Vintage) has also been highly popular with customers shopping at independent bookshops via the online retailer. 

Fern Brady’s Strong Female Character (Brazen), Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo (Faber) and Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate) have also been in demand in 2024. Elsewhere in fiction, Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting (Penguin) and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead (Faber) are high on the list of titles that customers have opted for this year.

Cold War Steve Annual 2025 (Constable) is also among Bookshop.org’s bestselling titles for this year, alongside Tim Spector’s The Food for Life Cookbook (Jonathan Cape) and The Book of Wild Flowers: Reflections on Favourite Plants by Angie Lewin and Christopher Stocks (Thames and Hudson). 

This marks the first time that the online book retailer has revealed a list of the year’s 100 bestselling titles.

"We firmly believe that independent bookshops play an essential role in the publishing ecosystem, not least as they bring to the fore titles that would traditionally sit outside commercial best-selling lists," said Jasper Sutcliffe, head of business development at Bookshop.org UK. "They are instrumental in encouraging a sense of discovery in readers, and we are proud that our top books of the year reflect this rich variety—from political annuals to healthy cookbooks, translated fiction to titles deepening our appreciation for nature."