BBC
If you bought a book recently, chances are it was because someone on TikTok asked you to.
What we read is no longer driven solely by bookstores or bestseller charts, but by a constant stream of quick, highly personal recommendations.
From quick reviews to emotional reactions, creators are shaping reading habits at scale and #BookTok has over 77 million posts.
Today, that influence is made official with the launch of the UK’s first official #BookTok bestseller list.
The new chart, compiled by Media Control and NielsenIQ BookData – which also provides data for traditional charts such as the Sunday Times bestseller list – combines UK sales data with analysis of the #BookTok hashtag.
TikTok
The first top 20, which will be updated monthly, is made up entirely of female authors, with Irish writer Chloe Walsh appearing most frequently.
All six books in his Boys of Tommen series – which follow a group of teenagers navigating love, friendship and trauma at a private school – made the list.
The chart also reflects how BookTok is reshaping the life cycle of books: Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, first published in 1992, appears on the list after finding a new audience decades later through TikTok.
Many titles on the list are also recent or upcoming film adaptations, including Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us, The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and the Boys of Tommen series by Chloe Walsh.
The list is dominated by titles related to the platform’s biggest genre, romance, with books by Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros making the rankings.
BookTok influencers Kris and Mads say it’s no surprise that romance dominates the list, as these authors have built highly engaged fan bases online, with readers sharing reactions, theories and recommendations that support long-term interest.
“It’s such an accessible genre that allows readers to get excited about something light and fun with other people.”
Kris and Mads
For them, the new list reflects the way young readers discover books.
They claim that audiences are “more likely to scroll through their social media feeds than to read top media outlets,” with readers being “highly motivated to read what their friends or favorite creators recommend.”
The influence of these creators can have a rapid impact. After sharing the self-published series The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, they say it is “completely out of print on Amazon.”
BookTok has the potential to highlight titles that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“A lot of indie titles have caught fire without a budget and it depends on the readers who champion them.”
Defending neglected genres
Lucy Stewart, deputy publishing director at Hodder & Stoughton, says TikTok gives greater visibility to certain genres.
Romance, in particular, has seen “a huge increase in appreciation, sales, and unapologetic public respect thanks to the power of BookTok and its creators.”
She adds that she is “in favor of more accessible celebrations of reading and book buying.”
For readers like Amy, 32, from Hampshire, it’s the mix of discovery and discussion that has her turning to TikTok “all the time for recommendations”.
She says BookTok has helped her “explore genres I otherwise would have never heard of” and calls it “a great tool when you’re in a reading slump and want to get back into it or try a new genre.”
Are traditional bestseller lists still important?
The rise of a BookTok ranking doesn’t necessarily mean the demise of traditional lists, but it may suggest a shift in the literary landscape.
NielsenIQ BookData reports that 11 million UK book sales in 2025 were attributed to BookTok, or around 6% of all book sales.
Young adult author Abiola Bello says BookTok’s influence is increasingly visible beyond the app, with retailers responding directly to online trends.
“WHSmith has a ‘TikTok made me buy it’ section in store and I saw my book on the shelves there.”
Sara Roberts, senior marketing manager at Transworld, says BookTok is now “one of the most powerful forces in publishing” and acts as “an incredible trend spotter” for what readers are looking for.
But she adds that traditional marketing still matters, noting that even though BookTok reaches a highly engaged audience, many readers still rely on reviews and traditional media to guide their reading choices.
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Ultimately, she says, the approach depends on the book, with some titles thriving on BookTok, while others “rely much more on traditional review coverage to reach the right person.”
Evermore’s publishing director, Claire Simmonds, agrees and says the platform has been a “true game changer” in terms of sales and discovery, but emphasizes that it is part of a wider ecosystem.
“BookTok can be the spark,” she says, “but everything else has to be in place to take advantage of that momentum.”
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