Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club named UK's most borrowed library book

Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) was the UK’s most loaned book in 2020/21, according to newly released Public Lending Right (PLR) data. 

Lee Child also continues to dominate, coming second and 10th in the overall charts with Blue Moon (Transworld) and The Sentinel (Transworld) respectively. Blue Moon also topped the chart for the most loaned title in print. 

Ann Cleeves’ The Long Call (Macmillan) came third in the overall charts, followed by Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library (Canongate), Michelle Obama’s Becoming (Viking) and Jojo Moyes’ The Giver of Stars (Penguin). Bernardine Evaristo’s 2020 Booker Prize-winning Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton) came in seventh, while J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Bloomsbury Children’s) took eighth and Peter James’ Find Them Dead (Macmillan) registered ninth. 

In print, crime and thriller continues to prove popular, with three entries for Child, and two for Cleeves. Michael Connolly also had two entries in the top 10 with The Night Fire (Orion) and Fair Warning (Orion), while debut novelist Delia Owens’ crept in with Where the Crawdads Sing (Corsair). 

Rowling’s Chamber of Secrets and Obama’s Becoming were the two most borrowed audiobooks, while Cleeves’ The Long Call topped the e-book chart. 

Rowling reigns supreme in children’s, holding the top seven spots with her Harry Potter titles, while David Walliams takes eighth to 10th position with Slime, The World of David Walliams and The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins Children’s Books). 

James Patterson was the most popular author, followed by Child and Julia Donaldson. 

Tom Holland, author and chair of the PLR Advisory Committee, said: “At the best of times, the work done by PLR on behalf of authors is a thing of wonder. To have kept the show on the road during a time of pandemic, and ensured that authors will continue to be paid for library loans, despite the very worst that Covid could do, has been nothing less than heroic. 

“This year’s PLR figures reflect both the creative ways in which libraries managed loans when buildings were closed and the importance of being published in all formats – print, e-book, e-audio and audio. This flexibility ensured most borrowers requests could be fulfilled by the library and that all authors could benefit from the loans of their works. While the Most Borrowed author listings continue to reflect the success of authors with many titles to their name, the Most Borrowed title listings celebrates new authors and reflects the significance of multiple formats on a title’s popularity.” 

The full lists and more information on PLR are available here.