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What are the most popular library book checkouts from 2025? While there is no definitive answer, we have a number of tools we can pull from to make some educated guesses. Among them are the increasingly popular “Your Library Wrapped” social posts that circulate this time of year.
Looking at 40 different top library book checkout lists from big and small public libraries across the USA, here are some of the most popular books of the year. What makes looking at public library book popularity fun is that it is year-agonistic, meaning that books published this year might sit alongside books published several years ago. Genre books tend to see more top books lists in libraries than in other outlets who compile or write about the year’s best or top books.
Of particular note this year, books published in 2024 that earned some kind of accolade, that were part of a major celebrity book club, or that had adaptation news arise landed among the most popular nationwide. This isn’t surprising–and we can likely thank ebook access for helping circulate more of these in-demand titles to patrons. When a book is popular, though ebooks are much more costly for libraries than print copies, additional ebook purchases can often be done quicker than print. We’ll see this when we look at next year’s roundup of most popular books, too, as one of the largest distributors of print materials to public libraries went under this fall.
Other interesting trends this year include seeing genre fiction among the most popular titles. They’re a library staple that can too often be overlooked in “best of” lists from non-library outlets. Authors who have immense and long-time followings saw their titles on these lists, such as David Baldacci and Louise Penny. This year, we also saw popular BookTok authors also rise through the ranks, such as Rebecca Yarros and Freida McFadden. Meanwhile, only one library had a Sarah J. Maas title among its most circulated, a change from the last few years.
White authors tend to dominate in these lists, but the lists across the 40 libraries surveyed are more varied than just what’s at the top. This is, of course, a reflection of how publishing is still a predominantly white industry, and the books that tend to get bigger publicity and marketing around them are by white authors. It’s also worth addressing here that some of the biggest genre writers are long-time writers, so hitting the top of the most-circulated list as a newer genre writer can be tough. Again: that doesn’t mean they aren’t here or don’t circulate in libraries. It means they’re not at the tippy top.
The good news is that when an author of color sees their book receive publicity and accolades, that attention is reflected in the library. One of this year’s biggest circulating titles? It’s James by Percival Everett. While it did not make the cut off for the most borrowed title of the year, James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store landed on several most circulated lists this year, too.
Another element to consider in looking at these lists is the role that the digital platforms for library ebooks play themselves. Some collections will simply have more copies of particular titles than others, allowing for more checkouts of said titles; hoopla, for example, allows many library users to borrow titles simultaneously, so when something is popular, more people have access at once than they do through a service like Libby (this is part of why hoopla has become unsustainable financially for libraries, particularly over the last year). Likewise, whatever books are being promoted on those digital platforms via book lists or readalike lists–aka, what to read if you liked a particular title or movie–can impact what people borrow. It was interesting looking through hundreds of the most popular titles and seeing some surprises bubble up on the “top ebook” checkout lists. As you’ll see below, though, the top checkouts in print and ebooks have been collapsed into single lists.
Whether a major metropolitan library, a midsize suburban library, or a teeny rural library, here’s what Americans were picking up across the country in 2025, based on 40 different public library lists.
This list includes combined ebooks and print books. Some libraries create separate lists of top checkouts in each, but even in those separate lists, there’s a lot of crossover (The Women by Kristin Hannah was on both for the same library, for example). It makes sense to collapse them into a broader “fiction” category. Only a couple of libraries had separate “genre” lists in their wrap ups; those titles were not included. This reflects only the top lists which mixed fiction genres. The below is only for adult fiction and does not include the YA book which appeared on numerous lists as among the most circulating: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, which was on four lists.
The same caveat for fiction applies to nonfiction. The list includes both the print and ebook top lists. You’ll notice that there are far fewer titles which rose to the top of the most circulated in public libraries. Fiction dominated this year.
Just for fun, which authors saw the most representation of unique book titles on these 40 lists? Here’s who was hot in libraries, based on having the most number of different books appear:
The most popular books in US public libraries lists this year came from Allen County Public Library, Arlington Public Library, Avon Free Public Library, Boerne Library, Boston Public Library, Cincinnati Public Library, Cranbrook Public Library, Denver Public Library, Des Moines Public Library, Gail Borden Public Library, Harvard Public Library, Hennepin County Public Library, Kansas City Public Library, Kern County Library, King County Library, Las Vegas-Clark County Library, Lawrence Public Library, Lois Wagner Memorial Library, Marathon County Library, Marin County Free Library, Milton Public Library, Morris Area Public Library, New Berlin Public Library, New York City (all boroughs), Palm Beach County Library System, Rock Island Public Library, San Francisco Public Library, San Luis Obiso Public Library, Scappoose Public Library, Seattle Public Library, Silvis Public Library, Sno-Isle Libraries, Stillwater Public Library, Suffolk County Library, Taylor County Public Library, Timberland Regional Library, Tulsa City-County Library, Verona Library, Washington County Library, West Plains Public Library, White Oak Library, and Worcester Public Library.
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