Osman, Haig and Rowling books among most popular digital titles borrowed from libraries via OverDrive

The most popular digital books borrowed from libraries in 2022 via OverDrive have been revealed, with Richard Osman, Matt Haig, Bella Mackie and J K Rowling topping the charts. 

According to OverDrive – which provides schools and libraries with access to e-books, audiobooks, digital newspapers and magazines – Osman e-books were the most popular last year, with The Man Who Died Twice and The Thursday Murder Club (both from Viking) coming in at first and second place. His books were followed by Haig’s The Midnight Library (Canongate), Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family (The Borough Press) and Audrey Blake’s The Girl in His Shadow (Sourcebooks) at numbers three, four and five respectively on the list. In sixth place was Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World Where Are You (Faber & Faber) followed by Lee Child’s Better off Dead (Transworld) and Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Pottermore). Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain (Picador) was in in ninth place and Lisa Jewell’s The Night She Disappeared (Cornerstone) in tenth.

Retaining the number one spot for most-borrowed audiobooks was Rowling’s Harry Potter series (Pottermore). This was followed by 1979 by Val McDermid (Clipper Audiobooks), Becoming by Michelle Obama (Viking) and Mythos by Stephen Fry (Penguin). The World’s Worst Teachers by David Walliams (Nudged Children’s Audiobooks) was fifth on the list, while Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Duke Classics) came in at number six. Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes (Clipper Audiobooks) was seventh, How to Kill Your Family by Mackie (The Borough Press) was eighth, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Clipper Audiobooks) was ninth and The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan) was tenth.

Nick Forster, regional manager for OverDrive, said: “UK public libraries achieved a 10% year-on-year growth in digital book usage, which ties-in with increasing digital usage around the world. As digital library lending continues growing in popularity, UK librarians are finding new ways to make the most of the budgets they have to meet the needs of their readers. We’re supporting them with proven best practices in areas like collection development, curation, holds management and outreach using OverDrive-enabled data, tools and services.”