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The first “best books of 2025 so far” list landed in May. That’s two months before the midway point of the year, and that honor of being first went to The New York Times. Since then, several other outlets have released their picks for the best books of 2025 so far. Among them are outlets known for their books–see Amazon and Barnes & Noble–and outlets that lean more into pop culture and cover books with less fervor than the retailers.
Given how many “best of 2025 so far” book lists have dropped, what books are emerging as among the most popular books picked for these lists? Are these titles forerunners for 2025 awards? Are they titles which got plenty of splashy promotion and thus, were most likely to rise to the top of TBRs from editors? Are these just damn good books that more people need to pick up? What the hell does “best” even mean, anyway?
The only way to really know is to take an inventory of as many as possible.
To build this list of the most popular books among the best of 2025 lists, I had to set some evaluation criteria. First, I selected lists published between the first week May and the second week of July. These were all lists specifically designated as best of the year so far, distinguishing them from monthly “best of” lists. Only wide-ranging lists were included, rather than genre-specific ones. If a publication had a separate fiction and nonfiction list, that was fine; if they had a general fiction list and then separate lists for sci-fi, romance, and mystery, only the general fiction list made the cut, so long as they had a range of genres (in other words, they weren’t just “literary fiction”). The lists included had as broad a range of topics as possible, so outlets that only covered specific categories of books–i.e., business books–were out. I also elected to leave out the sprawling lists of “favorites” of the year put out by NPR. They’re fine lists, but they did not use the “best of” moniker.
This left a total of 10 lists to explore. Those lists came from Esquire, The New York Times, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, Vulture, BookTok (via Mashable), TIME, The BBC, and AV Club. They showcase a wide range of titles individually, as well as collectively and taken together, are a reminder of how different audiences and perspectives come together to tell a story about what makes a “best” of the year. It’s like looking at the bestselling books of 2025 so far from Publishers Weekly‘s first half of the year and then looking at the same metrics but from Bookshop.org. They highlight very different readerships.
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There were 150 titles total.
So what books are the most popular titles on the best of 2025 so far lists? Here are the top four books, all of which landed on four lists each:
These titles represent a very wide range of voices, experiences, and backgrounds. Though still predominantly male voices, each of the authors come from marginalized backgrounds. This representation is really noteworthy, given that just 10 years ago seeing a “best of” list comprised of various “best of” lists that was entirely inclusive voices would have been difficult to imagine. We’ve also got a range of genres, as well as both fiction and nonfiction.
Continuing on, here are the next cluster of popular books among the best of so far lists. All of these titles landed on three lists each:
Again: a really wonderful mix of voices and styles show up. Among the second group of most popular best of 2025 so far titles are the latest entry in a YA dystopian series, a biography about a beloved American writer, and two works of literary fiction.
And finally, here are all of the titles which landed on two lists each:
When you break down the numbers, all of this amounts to 27 titles showing up on more than one of the 10 lists. If you like your math in percentages, that’s 18% of titles overlapping. Perhaps it’s better to think of it the opposite–82% of the titles on these lists were entirely unique.
There’s no real meaning to what that 82% unique factor means, other than perhaps that in 2025, we haven’t seen a significant number of but a few standout titles. That’s not to say there haven’t been great books (just look at this list!) but rather, we’re in a position that maybe the best of the best will be in more alignment when we get to our end of the year best of lists. We’ve also got awards to wait on, and often, awards chatter helps some titles garner “best of” attention among various outlets.
Perhaps, too, this is a sign that these “best of” lists are becoming more diverse in what they include. We’re seeing more books that could have previously been written off as “too genre,” or “book club” material being taken more seriously as among the strongest books of the year. Reese and Jenna are highlighting more books that are seeing “best of” attention, and we’re seeing a rise in romance and romance-adjacent titles finally being taken more seriously.
There’s one thing for sure, though, in 2025 and it’s this: we’ve had a pile of great reads hit shelves already and will see even more great reading in the second half of the year.
Okay, there are two things for sure. The second is that we’ll likely see The New York Times drop their best books of 2025 in early October, right alongside other book outlets such as Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly as they race to be first to name specific titles and capitalize on (very) early holiday wishlist and shopping plans.
Curious what Book Rioters thought deserve a spot among the best books of 2025 so far? You can check out our full list here.