Not every book that sells millions of copies earns its place. The publishing world churns out hype machines constantly, promising life-changing reads that often disappoint. Yet every so often, a title comes along that genuinely delivers on its promise. Only about 4% of books surpass 1,000 total sales, and one in 10,000 books will break 100,000 copies, which makes the books we are about to discuss all the more remarkable. They didn’t just sell. They resonated. Here are six bestselling books from 2024 and beyond that truly lived surrounding them.
The Women by Kristin Hannah – A Number-One Phenomenon for a Reason
“The Women” is a historical fiction book about military nurses during the Vietnam War, authored by Kristin Hannah, a seasoned New York Times bestselling novelist and Forbes 50 Over 50 award honoree. The novel hit shelves in early 2024 and immediately captured the reading public in a way few books manage. The novel debuted at number one on The New York Times combined fiction bestseller list for the week ending February 10, 2024, spent eight consecutive weeks atop the list, and ultimately spent a total of ten weeks at number one, making it the most frequent weekly bestseller of the year. That kind of sustained dominance is not a fluke – it is a reflection of how deeply the story connected.
Her works consistently rank among the New York Times bestsellers, with The Women achieving the highest sales in recent years, selling nearly 1.5 million copies in 2024 alone. The praise came from all corners, including high-profile endorsements. Bill Gates praised “The Women” as a “beautifully written tribute” to forgotten veterans and included the book on his summer reading list. It won the Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction, and over 850,000 Goodreads users gave it an eye-popping average rating of 4.62 – as a point of comparison, Pride and Prejudice has a 4.29. Whether you measure it by sales, reader ratings, or critical attention, this is a book that earned every bit of its buzz.
Atomic Habits by James Clear – The Self-Help Titan That Keeps Selling
Atomic Habits is a 2018 self-help book on habit formation by writer James Clear. The book has proven polarizing, receiving a mixture of high praise and strong disapproval. Yet despite some criticism, the numbers tell an undeniable story. By February 2024, it had sold nearly 20 million copies and had topped the New York Times bestseller list for 260 weeks – nearly five years. That is a staggering record for any book in any genre, let alone the crowded self-help space.
James Clear’s Atomic Habits has now sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most impactful and widely read self-development books of our time. Its reach extends far beyond ordinary readers. The book’s success is further amplified by its adaptability to diverse audiences, including corporate clients such as NFL and NBA teams and individual readers seeking self-improvement. In the non-fiction sector, Atomic Habits was the undisputed number one internationally, and the step-by-step manual made it into the annual top 5 bestselling non-fiction books in ten regions, including Mexico and Spain. Six years after its release, the hype shows absolutely no signs of fading.
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – A Thriller That Refuses to Let Go
Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid sold 1.1 million copies in 2024, making it one of the year’s biggest commercial powerhouses. It is a psychological thriller built around a domestic setting and a protagonist whose secrets unfurl at a pace that keeps readers pinned to their seats. The series has become a cultural force in suspense fiction, doing what the best thrillers do – making you suspect everyone and trust no one until the very last page.
TikTok’s BookTok community drove sales for The Housemaid, amplifying its visibility well beyond traditional marketing channels. The sequel, “The Housemaid Is Watching,” landed among the bestselling new books of 2024 as well, with The Housemaid Is Watching published in June of 2024. The combined total new and old title sales for Maas, Henry, and McFadden reached 7.2 million to date, demonstrating their substantial impact on the book market. McFadden’s ability to hold reader loyalty across multiple titles is proof that the hype around her work is firmly grounded in the quality of the storytelling itself.
Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros – Fantasy That Took Over the World
Rebecca Yarros placed two titles in the top ten bestsellers of 2024, with Iron Flame selling 877,000 copies and Fourth Wing selling 810,000 copies. Together, they form the backbone of one of the most successful fantasy series of recent years. Fourth Wing introduced readers to a world of dragon riders, magical warfare, and an enemies-to-lovers romance that lit the internet on fire well before the book hit store shelves.
Romance and fantasy – or “romantasy” – dominated the fiction landscape, with titles like Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros leading the charge. The genre’s success was no accident. The fiction genres with the strongest growth included romance and fantasy/science fiction, and particularly noteworthy are authors such as Colleen Hoover and Rebecca Yarros, who enjoy a large fanbase within the TikTok community BookTok. Romance titles generated 12.7 billion TikTok views in 2024, directly correlating with 28% sales growth in the genre, and titles like Fourth Wing gained traction through viral aesthetics trends, with nearly three in four readers discovering books via social platforms.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – Backlist Gold That Keeps Burning
Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses sold 1.3 million copies in 2024 alone, making it the second bestselling title of the entire year – despite having been originally published nearly a decade ago. That kind of backlist performance is extraordinarily rare in publishing. It speaks to the gravitational pull of a series that readers simply cannot stop recommending to friends, family, and strangers on the internet alike.
Only about 29% of the 200 bestselling books of 2024 were actually published that year – the rest were backlist titles, a slightly larger share than in 2023. Maas’s work perfectly illustrates why backlist matters so much. Adult fiction sales rose by 9.5 million units in the U.S. and 12.6% in revenue globally, with fantasy and romance leading the charge. Across 16 out of 18 territories analyzed, significant revenue growth in fiction was reported, with India up by 30.7%, Mexico up by 20.7%, and Spain up by 12.0%. Maas’s world-building sits at the center of that global appetite for fantasy fiction.
The Print Book Market – Why These Bestsellers Matter More Than Ever
Reading remains strong, with over half of American adults reporting that they read or listen to books annually, and print book sales in the U.S. totaled 782 million in 2024, growing 23% over the past decade. That context matters enormously. The books discussed here were not merely trending on social media – they were physical objects that people bought, held, dog-eared, and passed on. Print books had a relatively good year in 2024, with sales rising by less than 1%, which isn’t much but represents the first increase in three years.
Audiobooks reached $1.8 billion in revenue, while ebooks are projected to hit $14.92 billion globally in 2025. The bestsellers profiled here drove sales across every format, not just print. The global book publishing industry saw a 6.5% year-over-year revenue increase in 2024, driven by strong performance in adult fiction, with digital audio formats growing by 31.2% and hardcover editions growing by 17.8%. These titles thrived because they connected with readers on a human level, and the data across every distribution channel confirms it. The market rewarded quality storytelling, and that is exactly the kind of hype worth believing in.
