Today I’m sharing the 10 authors with the:

1. Most books on the list

2. Most weeks on the list

I’ve also included some fun “race” chart videos that show how the data stacked up over 15 years.

Some posts in the series will be free, but you’ll need to become a paid subscriber to access all the findings (only US$5/month or US$50/year).

Data Source

List: The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers1

Sales Period: 2011 to 2025

Methodology: I analyzed the data to determine which authors have had the most books and spent the most weeks (across multiple books, if applicable) on the list during the 15-year time period.

Authors: Most Books on the List

The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers, 2011 to 2025

1. Danielle Steel - 83 books

2. Christine Feehan - 59 books

3. Stuart Woods - 44 books

4. Nora Roberts - 39 books

5. David Baldacci - 37 books

6. Debbie Macomber - 33 books

7. (Tied for 6th) Susan Mallery - 33 books

8. Robyn Carr - 26 books

9. John Sandford - 25 books

10. (Tied for 9th) James Patterson - 25 books

Danielle Steele tops this ranking with 83 books on the list over 15 years, which is an average of 5.5 books a year. She had a whopping 8 books on the list in both 2017 and 2019!

Author Stuart Woods passed away in 2022, so that was the last year he had books on the list.

I would categorize half of this list (5 of 10) as romance authors: Christine Freehan, Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, and Robyn Carr.

▶️ Check out the video below to see how the books stacked up over time.

Note: I counted writing duos as unique authors. For example, James Patterson has published books with several different co-authors, so books by each unique pairing were counted separately.

Authors: Most Weeks on the List

The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers, 2011 to 2025

1. Colleen Hoover - 463 weeks (16 books)

2. John Grisham - 365 weeks (22 books)

3. David Baldacci - 262 weeks (37 books)

4. E. L. James - 253 weeks (8 books)

5. Freida McFadden - 208 weeks (14 books)

6. Stephen King - 207 weeks (23 books)

7. Rebecca Yarros - 206 weeks (4 books)

8. Kristin Hannah - 201 weeks (13 books)

9. Delia Owens - 193 weeks (1 book)

10. Nicholas Sparks - 181 weeks (14 books)

Colleen Hoover tops this ranking with 463 weeks on the list over 15 years, which is an average of 31 weeks per year. In 2022, she had 9 books on the list for a cumulative total of 216 weeks.

It’s interesting to see the variation in the number of books that contributed to each author’s total number of weeks—from Delia Owens with 1 book to David Baldacci with 37 books. David Baldacci is the only author that appears on both lists (Most Books AND Most Weeks).

▶️ Check out the video below to see how the weeks stacked up over time. It really shows how fast Colleen Hoover’s popularity grew starting in 2021!

Stay tuned for more from the NYT15 series!

In my December 2025 analysis of The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers list, I announced that I would be shifting to a quarterly analysis since my monthly Amazon Kindle Store analysis provides a much larger and richer data set.

However, as I started working on the 2026 Q1 analysis, I still found that this small dataset wasn’t providing any new insights—particularly given the amount of labour involved (NYT only provides publisher name, everything else I have to manually research/code).

Based on that, I’ve decided to go back to doing a NYT monthly ranking, but without additional analysis.

I’m not giving up on NYT Best Sellers analysis though! Instead, I’m going to focus on the new series I introduced last November that highlights findings from the 15-year dataset (2011-2025) I’ve slowly been building. These findings will likely be a mix of free and paid posts.

Okay, with that mind, let me catch you up on the Q1 monthly rankings for January, February, and March 2026!

Data Source

List: The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers

Sales Periods:
January 2026 (5 weeks: December 28, 2025 to January 31, 2026)1
February 2026 (4 weeks: February 1 to 28, 2026)2
March 2026 (4 weeks: March 1 to 28, 2026)3

Methodology: Part way through 2025 I switched to a sum of ranks calculation for this ranking. However, after using it for several months, I feel that it favours rank over number of weeks on the list too much—since arguably it’s more difficult to stay on the list for multiple weeks than rank highly on the list for one week. So I’ve decided to switch back to a simpler ranking methodology, ranking by:

• number of weeks on the list this month

• then average rank this month

• then number of weeks on the list all time.

January 2026

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers: January 2026

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 5 weeks (Avg Rank: 3)
   All Time: 8 weeks

2. The Long Game by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 5 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)
   All Time: 5 weeks

3. Game Changer by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 4 weeks

4. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry 🅰️
   This Month: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 41 weeks

5. In Your Dreams by Sarah Adams
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 1 week

6. Alchemised by SenLinYu 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 15 weeks

7. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 2 weeks

8. The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 1 week

9. Brimstone by Callie Heart 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)
   All Time: 7 weeks

10. Dark Joy by Christine Feehan
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)
    All Time: 1 week

11. We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 1 week

February 2026

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers: February 2026

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 6)
   All Time: 12 weeks

2. The Long Game by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 12)
   All Time: 9 weeks

3. Lights Out by Navessa Allen 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 15)
   All Time: 29 weeks

4. Game Changer by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 15)
   All Time: 6 weeks

5. And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)

   All Time: 1 week

6. Alchemised by SenLinYu 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)
   All Time: 16 weeks

7. Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 1 week

8. (TIED FOR 7) Just for the Cameras by Meghan Quinn 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 1 week

9. An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
   All Time: 6 weeks

10. The Night Prince by Lauren Palphreyman 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 1 week

11. Throne of Nightmares by Kerri Maniscalco
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)
    All Time: 1 week

March 2026

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers: March 2026

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 🅰️
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)
   All Time: 16 weeks

2. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover 🅰️
   This Month: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 3 weeks

3. Just Friends by Haley Pham
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 9)
   All Time: 2 weeks

4. Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 10)
   All Time: 2 weeks

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 🅰️
   This Month: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 13)

   All Time: 52 weeks

6. The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 2)
   All Time: 1 week

7. The Wings That Bind by Briar Boleyn
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)
   All Time: 1 week

8. Love Song by Elle Kennedy 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)
   All Time: 1 week

9. Hunt the Villain by Rina Kent 🅰️
   This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 6)
   All Time: 1 week

10. In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)
    All Time: 1 week

11. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)
    All Time: 3 weeks

12. Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)
    All Time: 1 week

13. Lights Out by Navessa Allen 🅰️
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 30 weeks

14. Blood & Roses, Vol. 1 by Callie Hart
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)
    All Time: 1 week

15. Beneath by Ariel Sullivan
    This Month: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)
    All Time: 1 week

Happy reading! Let me know if you have any questions.

Leave a comment

Paid subscribers get access to the full analysis, as well as the Top 100 list data I’ve compiled in Airtable—perfect for fellow data nerds who like to get into the details! Here’s a peak at what the spreadsheet/table looks like on desktop:

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

Upgrade to paid

Data Source

List: Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid), US Kindle Store. Data accessed from Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter.1

Sales Period: March 2026

Methodology: This is an exclusive monthly ranking I’ve created in consultation with Kindletrends. It’s based on five Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) lists pulled throughout the month (accessed from the Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter: March 3, 8, 15, 21 and 29, 2026), which I’ve then compiled and ranked using a sum of ranks calculation. The Monthly Top 100 list generated is the basis for the analysis that follows.

Table of Contents

1. Top 20 Book Ranking (Free, all other sections Paid)

2. Overview

3. Publisher

4. Price

5. Publication Age

6. Point of View (POV)

7. Subgenre

8. Authors

9. Representation

10. Covers

11. Length

12. Series

13. Reviews

14. Ratings

1. Top 20 Book Ranking

Top 20 of Kindle Store Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) list this month.

🆕 = New on Top 100 list this month compared to last month

1. 🆕 In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde

2. 🆕 Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score

3. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

4. 🆕 A Court of Thorns and Roses 6 by Sarah J. Maas

5. 🆕 Hunt The Villain by Rina Kent

6. 🆕 A Court of Thorns and Roses 7 by Sarah J. Maas

7. 🆕 Law Maker by Susie Tate

8. 🆕 Love Song by Elle Kennedy

9. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros

10. 🆕 Across the Vanishing Sky by Catherine Cowles

11. Woman Down by Colleen Hoover

12. The Deal by Elle Kennedy

13. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

14. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

15. Just For the Cameras by Meghan Quinn

16. The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson

17. 🆕 The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez

18. 🆕 What Happened Next by Edwin Hill

19. 🆕 Tempting Boss by Lilian Monroe

20. First Witches Club by Maisey Yates

⬇️ Paid subscribers can see the full list below

Read more

In other news, Pittsburgh will soon have two romance bookstores when The Shelf Love Society opens in April, joining Passionate Pages which opened at the end of January. While there are several other examples of two romance bookstores cities, this is the first time the stores will be located on the same street! (Butler Street in Lawrenceville, for those familiar with Pittsburgh.) You can read more in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story (linking to it on PressReader to avoid the paywall).

Okay, on to the numbers.

Overview

According to my research, there are now 259 physical romance bookstores in 11 countries around the world, 179 (or 69%) of which are in the United States.

If we also include online and pop-up romance bookstores, the total number of stores grows to 428 (303 or 71% of which are in the United States).

Romance Bookstore Directory

Growth of Physical Stores

So far in 2026, there has been a net increase of 32 physical romance bookstores worldwide (33 have opened, 1 has closed). In the United States specifically, there’s been a net increase of 24 physical romance bookstores.

Growth Rates

I’ve discovered more physical romance bookstores that opened in 2025, so I’ve updated the growth rates as follows:

Worldwide

• 2022: 10 stores

• 2023: 32 stores, 230% increase

• 2024: 92 stores, 179% increase

• 2025: 227 stores, 147% increase

3-Year Growth Rate from 2023 to 2025: 588%

United States

• 2022: 5 stores

• 2023: 18 stores, 260% increase

• 2024: 65 stores, 261% increase

• 2025: 155 stores, 138% increase

3-Year Growth Rate from 2023 to 2025: 761%

These detailed updates are a benefit for paid subscribers (only US$5/month or US$50/year). Everyone can see the high-level numbers before the paywall, but you’ll need to subscribe for all the juicy details…including a list of all the upcoming romance bookstore openings! 🗓️

Upgrade to paid

There are now 445 bookstores in the directory (including Coming Soon)—16 were added in March.

The following is a breakdown of bookstores by type: Physical, Online, Pop-up, and Coming Soon along with a list of ALL the recently opened and added stores in each category!

📌 Please note that these categories overlap—a store can categorized as multiple types. For example, a bookstore can be online and have pop-ups, with a physical location coming soon.

Read more

Read more

The goal of the directory has always been to provide a free and useful resource to romance readers.

The directory is also an excellent research and marketing tool for romance bookstores. I regularly hear anecdotes from bookstore owners about customers finding them through the directory. I know many bookstores have also used my directory and other data as part of the business planning process for their stores (for example, using my Best Romance Book lists to plan which titles to stock).

I provide this service to bookstores for free, but there are costs (like web hosting) and a lot of labour (research, data collection, web updates, etc.) involved in proactively maintaining the directory.

I’m hoping that more bookstores will see the value of the Romance Bookstore Directory and choose to support it financially by becoming a paid subscriber of Romancing the Data.

Ways to Support the Directory

• Tell your customers about the Romance Bookstore Directory.

• If media approach you about a romance bookstore story, refer them to the Romance Bookstore Directory for the latest data.

• If you’re able to support the directory financially, become a paid subscriber (US$5/month or US$50/year).

Upgrade to paid

New Supporter Designation

To recognize my romance bookstore supporters, I’m introducing a new Supporter designation to indicate which bookstores are financially supporting the directory, either through an active paid subscription to Romancing the Data or other contributions.

I will also be featuring the Supporter bookstores in the top spot of the directory on a rotating basis, as well as occasionally featuring them in blog and social media posts.

My goal is to give these bookstores a bit of extra love because they are helping keep the directory running!

Here’s an example of what the Supporter badge and the feature spot looks like:

Current Romance Bookstore Supporters

There are currently 18 romance bookstore supporters (21 individual stores):

1. A Love Affair Book Boutique

2. Beguiled Books

3. Bookish Boutique

4. Books Ever After

5. Exes&Ohs Books

6. Fiction & Friction

7. Flame & Fable

8. Friends to Lovers Bookstore

9. In Bloom Bookery

10. Pages & Grapes

11. Perfect Match Bookshop

12. Steamy Lit

13. Sweet TBR Bookstore

14. Swoon City

15. The Blush and Binding

16. Thirst Books

17. Under the Cover Romance Bookshop (Missouri)

18. Why Choose Bookstore

Thank you so much to my current romance bookstore supporters! I look forward to giving you a bit of extra love in the coming months.

If you’re a paid subscriber whose bookstore is missing from the list above, please comment below or email me.

Happy reading!

Which platform was the most popular? Who had the largest following? Did any of the authors have small followings? Read on to learn what I discovered.

Methodology

I recently published two Top 100 Romance Best Sellers of 2025 lists—one based on the Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance, the other based on The New York Times Combined Fiction list.

To identify the bestselling romance authors of 2025, I consolidated the two lists (removing all duplicates) and found there were 102 unique authors who had at least one book on at least one of the lists.

Next, I looked up the number of followers each of these authors has on the following platforms (data collected on March 18, 2026):

• Facebook

• Facebook Groups

• Instagram

• Threads

• TikTok

Note: I didn’t include X/Twitter as few authors listed it as one of their social media platforms.

Caveats

Before I get to the good stuff, a few caveats:

• Some of the authors on the list are not usually categorized as romance authors, but they appear on the list because their book was assigned at least one Romance subcategory in the US Kindle Store.

• I did my best to search all the platforms and identify genuine author accounts (often using author websites as a reference); however, I cannot guarantee that the data is 100% accurate. For example, I could easily miss reader Facebook Groups if they are private and hidden from search results.

• I included all accounts I found, whether they are being actively used or not.

• This data does not indicate causation, i.e., that their social media following resulted in their bestseller status (or vice versa).

Overall Followers

All platforms combined

Followers

• Median # of Followers: 184,050

• Average # of Followers: 467,107

Following Size Breakdown

• +1M followers: 10%

• 500K-1M followers: 15%

• 100-500K followers: 45%

• <100K followers: 30%

Most Popular Platforms

Among these bestselling romance authors, the most popular social media platforms—based on how many authors have accounts on them—along with their median and average follower counts are listed below:

1. Instagram - 98%

• Median # of Followers: 104,500

• Average # of Followers: 222,301

2. Facebook - 86%

• Median # of Followers: 18,000

• Average # of Followers: 97,115

3. TikTok - 77%

• Median # of Followers: 42,100

• Average # of Followers: 166,868

4. Threads - 53%

• Median # of Followers: 19,200

• Average # of Followers: 40,192

5. Facebook Groups - 47%

• Median # of Members: 14,000

• Average # of Members: 31,579

Paid subscribers can read on for a breakdown of the 10 largest and smallest combined social media followings, as well as the top 10 authors on each platform. They can also access the data for all 102 bestselling authors on Airtable.

Upgrade to paid

Read more

Without further ado, here is the February 2026 Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) analysis, in partnership with market research newsletter Kindletrends.

Paid subscribers get access to the full analysis, as well as the Top 100 list data I’ve compiled in Airtable—perfect for fellow data nerds who like to get into the details! Here’s a peak at what the spreadsheet/table looks like on desktop:

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

Upgrade to paid

Data Source

List: Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid), US Kindle Store. Data accessed from Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter.1

Sales Period: February 2026

Methodology: This is an exclusive monthly ranking I’ve created in consultation with Kindletrends. It’s based on four Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) lists pulled throughout the month (accessed from the Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter: February 3, 8, 15 and 22, 2026), which I’ve then compiled and ranked using a sum of ranks calculation. The Monthly Top 100 list generated is the basis for the analysis that follows.

Table of Contents

1. Top 20 Book Ranking (Free, all other sections Paid)

2. Overview

3. Publisher

4. Price

5. Publication Age

6. Point of View (POV)

7. Subgenre

8. Authors

9. Representation

10. Covers

11. Length

12. Series

13. Reviews

14. Ratings

1. Top 20 Book Ranking

Top 20 of Kindle Store Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) list for February.

🆕 = New on Top 100 list this month compared to last month

1. Woman Down by Colleen Hoover

2. 🆕 Just For the Cameras by Meghan Quinn

3. Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren

4. 🆕 The Wild Card by Stephanie Archer

5. Alchemised by SenLinYu

6. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros

7. Daggermouth by H. M. Wolfe

8. 🆕 Leave It Up To Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey

9. 🆕 Sweet Surrender by Bella Matthews

10. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

11. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

12. Valentine’s Slay by Navessa Allen

13. 🆕 First Witches Club by Maisey Yates

14. 🆕 An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

15. Death to Valentine’s Day by Catherine Cowles

16. The Long Game by Rachel Reid

17. 🆕 Beast Business by Ilona Andrews

18. Time Will Tell by Hannah Bonam-Young

19. Land of Dreams by Gian Sardar

20. Brimstone by Callie Hart

⬇️ Paid subscribers can see the full list below

Read more

If we also include online and pop-up romance bookstores, the total number of stores grows to 410 (290 or 71% of which are in the United States).

Romance Bookstore Directory

These detailed updates are a benefit for paid subscribers (only US$5/month or US$50/year). Everyone can see the high-level numbers before the paywall, but you’ll need to subscribe for all the juicy details…including a list of all the upcoming romance bookstore openings! 🗓️

Upgrade to paid

There are now 429 bookstores in the directory (including Coming Soon)—14 were added in February.

The following is a breakdown of bookstores by type: Physical, Online, Pop-up, and Coming Soon along with a list of ALL the recently added and updated stores in each category! This includes some new charts as well. 📊

📌 Please note that these categories overlap—a store can categorized as multiple types. For example, a bookstore can be online and have pop-ups, with a physical location coming soon.

Read more

Each day of Round 1, 4 popular lines will face off against each other, with the winner moving on to the next round. The final head-to-head battle for the cup will take place on Wednesday, March 4.

32 lines will compete, but only one can win the cup!

WHEN
Daily polls from February 18-March 4, 2026
Voting ends each day at 11 pm PT

WHERE
@romancingthedata on Instagram

Follow on Instagram

RESULTS

Round 1: Group Stage

Group 1: Ilya, Episode 1 (February 18 - 1,599 votes)

1. “OK.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 12%

2. “Is lie, liar told you that.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 62%

3. “What colour? Is big?” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 13%

4. “Hollander, you are having panic attack.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 13%

🏆 WINNER: “Is lie, liar told you that.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 62%

Group 2: Ilya, Episode 2 (February 19 - 1,674 votes)

1. “Never in life have I blushed. Russians do not do this.” (Ilya, Episode 2) - 55%

2. “You will murder me.” (Ilya, Episode 2) - 20%

3. “Mr. Businessman. Mr. Landlord.” (Ilya, Episode 2) - 10%

4. “Such a good trick.” (Ilya, Episode 2) - 16%

🏆 WINNER: “Never in life have I blushed. Russians do not do this.” (Ilya, Episode 2) - 55%

Group 3: Ilya, Episodes 4-6 (February 20 - 1,736 votes)

1. “You like tuna melt?” (Ilya, Episode 4) - 2%

2. “I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.” [in Russian] (Ilya, Episode 5) - 54%

3. “Stupid Canadian wolf bird.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 32%

4. “I’m on the cover of the f*cking game.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 12%

🏆 WINNER: “I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.” [in Russian] (Ilya, Episode 5) - 54%

Group 4: Ilya, Episode 6 (February 21 - 1,816 votes)

1. “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 48%

2. “She would have loved you. Like I love you.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 27%

3. “Gimme kiss.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 11%

4. “Oh, they don’t know I play for Boston?” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 13%

🏆 WINNER: “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 48%

Group 5: Shane (February 22 - 1,808 votes)

1. “Wow. Genetic.” (Shane, Episode 2) - 23%

2. “We didn’t even kiss.” [Deleted text] (Shane, Episode 2) - 24%

3. “I kind of prefer being the hole rather than the peg.” (Shane, Episode 5) - 18%

4. “Yes! Bet-ter.” (Shane, Episode 5) - 35%

🏆 WINNER: “Yes! Bet-ter.” (Shane, Episode 5) - 35%

Group 6: Shane/The Cottage (February 23 - 1,875 votes)

1. “Will-you-come-to-my-cottage-this-summer?” (Shane, Episode 5) - 43%

2. “I’m coming to the cottage.” (Ilya, Episode 5) - 40%

3. “Sir, I’m just a bellboy! You can’t treat the staff like this.” (Shane, Episode 6) - 10%

4. “Don’t marry Svetlana. Just don’t.” (Shane, Episode 6) - 7%

🏆 WINNER: “Will-you-come-to-my-cottage-this-summer?” (Shane, Episode 5) - 43%

Group 7: Shane & Ilya (February 24 - 1,854 votes)

1. “I might open.” “I might knock.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 1) - 14%

2. “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 39%

3. “He’s visiting, and we’re, uh...” “Lovers.” “No, Ilya, that’s gross.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 21%

4. “My boyfriend?” “I mean, yes. I think so, probably.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 26%

🏆 WINNER: “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 39%

Group 8: Supporting Characters (February 25 - 1,808 votes)

1. “Girl...” (Maria, Episode 3) - 17%

2. “Or. I pick or.” (Kip, Episode 3) - 20%

3. “He deserves sunshine. And so do you.” (Elena, Episode 3) - 27%

4. “I just hope Jane knows how lucky he is.” [in Russian] (Svetlana, Episode 5) - 35%

🏆 WINNER: “I just hope Jane knows how lucky he is.” [in Russian] (Svetlana, Episode 5) - 35%

Round 2: Final 8

Group 1 vs Group 2 (February 26 - 1,879 votes)

1. “Is lie, liar told you that.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 55%

2. “Never in life have I blushed. Russians do not do this.” (Ilya, Episode 2) - 45%

🏆 WINNER: “Is lie, liar told you that.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 55%

Group 3 vs Group 4 (February 27 - 1,883 votes)

1. “I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.” [in Russian] (Ilya, Episode 5) - 49%

2. “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 51%

🏆 WINNER: “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 51%

Group 5 vs Group 6 (February 28 - 1,812 votes)

1. “Yes! Bet-ter.” (Shane, Episode 5) - 20%

2. “Will-you-come-to-my-cottage-this-summer?” (Shane, Episode 5) - 80%

🏆 WINNER: “Will-you-come-to-my-cottage-this-summer?” (Shane, Episode 5) - 80%

Group 7 vs Group 8 (March 1 - 1,794 votes)

1. “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 88%

2. “I just hope Jane knows how lucky he is.” [in Russian] (Svetlana, Episode 5) - 12%

🏆 WINNER: “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 88%

Round 3: Final 4

Group 1/2 vs Group 3/4 (March 2, 1,794 votes)

1. “Is lie, liar told you that.” (Ilya, Episode 1) - 20%

2. “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 80%

🏆 WINNER: “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 80%

Group 5/6 vs Group 7/8 (March 3)

1. “Will-you-come-to-my-cottage-this-summer?” (Shane, Episode 5) - 45%

2. “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 55%

🏆 WINNER: “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 55%

Round 4: Final 2

Final Vote (March 4)

1. “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 53%

2. “I love you.” “Holy sh*t.” “I mean...” “I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6) - 47%

🏆 FINAL WINNER: “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6) - 53%

Round 1: Group Stage

32 lines | Voting between 4 lines, winning line moves to next round

• Wednesday, February 18 : Group 1

• Thursday, February 19: Group 2

• Friday, February 20: Group 3

• Saturday, February 21: Group 4

• Sunday, February 22: Group 5

• Monday, February 23: Group 6

• Tuesday, February 24: Group 7

• Wednesday, February 25: Group 8

Round 2: Final 8

8 lines | Voting between 2 lines, winning line moves to next round

• Thursday, February 26: Group 1 vs Group 2

• Friday, February 27: Group 3 vs Group 4

• Saturday, February 28: Group 5 vs Group 6

• Sunday, March 1: Group 7 vs Group 8

Round 3: Final 4

4 lines | Voting between 2 lines, winning line moves to next round

• Monday, March 2: Group 1/2 vs Group 3/4

• Tuesday, March 3: Group 5/6 vs Group 7/8

Round 4: Final 2

2 lines | Winning line wins the cup!

• Wednesday, March 4: THE FINAL VOTE!

Voting Bracket Breakdown

Note: I chose the first 20 lines to be included based on what I observed to be the most popular among the fandom. The remaining 12 lines were voted by fans on my Instagram page (1,600+ people voted!).

Since so many of the lines are from Ilya, I decided to organize the bracket groups by character—that way Ilya is mostly competing against himself in the first round (Groups 1-4)! Shane has two groups mostly to himself (Groups 5 & 6), although Group 6 also has Ilya’s cottage line. Group 7 is lines from both Shane & Ilya and Group 8 is lines from supporting characters. There is no perfect way to organize the groups…these are going to be tough votes no matter how they are grouped!!

Group 1: Ilya (Episode 1)

1. “OK.” (Ilya, Episode 1)

2. “Is lie, liar told you that.” (Ilya, Episode 1)

3. “What colour? Is big?” (Ilya, Episode 1)

4. “Hollander, you are having panic attack.” (Ilya, Episode 1)

Group 2: Ilya (Episode 2)

1. “Never in life have I blushed. Russians do not do this.” (Ilya, Episode 2)

2. “You will murder me.” (Ilya, Episode 2)

3. “Mr. Businessman. Mr. Landlord.” (Ilya, Episode 2)

4. “Such a good trick.” (Ilya, Episode 2)

Group 3: Ilya (Episodes 4-6)

1. “You like tuna melt?” (Ilya, Episode 4)

2. “I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.” [in Russian] (Ilya, Episode 5)

3. “Stupid Canadian wolf bird.” (Ilya, Episode 6)

4. “I’m on the cover of the f*cking game.” (Ilya, Episode 6)

Group 4: Ilya (Episode 6)

1. “I don’t ever want that problem to ever go away.” (Ilya, Episode 6)

2. “She would have loved you. Like I love you.” (Ilya, Episode 6)

3. “Gimme kiss.” (Ilya, Episode 6)

4. “Oh, they don’t know I play for Boston?” (Ilya, Episode 6)

Group 5: Shane

1. “Wow. Genetic.” (Shane, Episode 2)

2. “We didn't even kiss.” [Deleted text] (Shane, Episode 2)

3. “I kind of prefer being the hole rather than the peg.” (Shane, Episode 5)

4. “Yes! Bet-ter.” (Shane, Episode 5)

Group 6: Shane/The Cottage

1. “Willyoucometomycottagethissummer?” (Shane, Episode 5)

2. “I'm coming to the cottage.” (Ilya, Episode 5)

3. “Sir, I'm just a bellboy! You can't treat the staff like this.” (Shane, Episode 6)

4. “Don't marry Svetlana. Just don't.” (Shane, Episode 6)

Group 7: Shane & Ilya

1. “I might open.” “I might knock.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 1)

2. “I love you.” “Holy sh*t. I mean...I love you too.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6)

3. “He's visiting, and we're, uh...” “Lovers.” “No, Ilya, that's gross.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6)

4. “My boyfriend?” “I mean, yes. I think so, probably.” (Shane & Ilya, Episode 6)

Group 8: Supporting Characters

1. “Girl...” (Maria, Episode 3)

2. “Or. I pick or.” (Kip, Episode 3)

3. “He deserves sunshine. And so do you.” (Elena, Episode 3)

4. “I just hope Jane knows how lucky he is.” [in Russian] (Svetlana, Episode 5)

Happy voting! 💜

Welcome to my January 2026 Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) analysis, in partnership with market research newsletter Kindletrends.

Paid subscribers get access to the full analysis, as well as the Top 100 list data I’ve compiled in Airtable—perfect for fellow data nerds who like to get into the details! Here’s a peak at what the spreadsheet/table looks like on desktop:

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

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Data Source

List: Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid), US Kindle Store. Data accessed from Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter.1

Sales Period: January 2026

Methodology: This is an exclusive monthly ranking I’ve created in consultation with Kindletrends. It’s based on four Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) lists pulled throughout the month (accessed from the Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter: January 3, 11, 17 and 25, 2026), which I’ve then compiled and ranked using a sum of ranks calculation. The Monthly Top 100 list generated is the basis for the analysis that follows.

Table of Contents

1. Top 20 Book Ranking (Free, all other sections Paid)

2. Overview

3. Publisher

4. Price

5. Publication Age

6. Point of View (POV)

7. Subgenre

8. Authors

9. Representation

10. Covers

11. Length

12. Steam/Spice

13. Series

14. Reviews

15. Ratings

1. Top 20 Book Ranking

Top 20 of Kindle Store Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) list for January.

🆕 = New on Top 100 list this month compared to last month

1. 🆕 Woman Down by Colleen Hoover

2. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

3. 🆕 Chaotic by Shantel Tessier

4. The Long Game by Rachel Reid

5. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

6. Game Changer by Rachel Reid

7. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros

8. 🆕 We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark

9. 🆕 Bluebird Gold by Devney Perry

10. Brimstone by Callie Hart

11. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

12. Quicksilver by Callie Hart

13. 🆕 Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren

14. Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

15. 🆕 Land of Dreams by Gian Sardar

16. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

17. Role Model by Rachel Reid

18. 🆕 The Exception by Vi Keeland

19. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

20. 🆕 Not Mine to Love by Rosa Lucas

⬇️ Paid subscribers can see the full list below

Read more

I also went back and compiled data from January to June 2025 for some easy measures (i.e., ones that require little manual data collection!), so I could have a full year view.

Here is my analysis of:

1. Publishers

2. Price

3. Point of View (POV)

4. Publication Age

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

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1. Publishers

If no recognizable publisher or imprint is listed, books are assumed to be self-published.

Publisher Type

As you can see in the graph below, the percentage of Big Five published books among the Top 100 Best Sellers slowly began to increase over the year, with a dip in August/September, ending on a high of 31% in December—more than 3 times the 9% it started at in January.

As such, there was a drop in Self Published books on the list, down 38% from January to December this year (from 71% to 44%).

It’s possible this year-end increase in Big Five published books is seasonal—reflecting a slower period in traditional publishing for new releases in November and December, as well as the popularity of traditional best sellers during the holiday gift season.

The trend for Other Traditional published books was a bit less consistent throughout the year, but did increase 25% from January to December 2025 (from 20% to 25%). This category tends to be driven by a smaller number of tentpole authors like Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros. For example, the lows in April and May (10% and 13%, respectively) reflect when no Sarah J. Maas books appeared on the Top 100 (gasp!).

Traditional Publishers

Unique Books

In total, there were 207 unique traditionally-published books on the 12 Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance lists in 2025. HarperCollins got a boost at the end of the year thanks to the success of the Heated Rivalry adaptation—I’m curious to see how long that continues into 2026. With the continued popularity of the show and announcement of Unrivaled, I think the series will have significant staying power.

Here is how those 207 unique books break down by publishing house:

1. Amazon - 34% (70 books)

2. Penguin Random House - 19% (39 books)

3. HarperCollins - 16% (32 books)

4. Hachette - 9% (19 books)

5. Macmillan - 4% (9 books)

6. Simon & Schuster - 4% (9 books)

7. Bloomsbury - 4% (8 books)

8. Other - 10% (21 books)

   1. Entangled - 2% (5 books)

   2. Kensington - 2% (5 books)

   3. Zando - 2% (5 books)

   4. Sourcebooks - 2% (4 books)

   5. Evil Eye Concepts - 1% (1 book)

   6. Tule - 1% (1 book)

Non-Unique Books

I also did a breakdown of the non-unique number of books (i.e., included duplicate titles that appeared in multiple months) by publishing house to account for books that had more staying power on the Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance list in 2025.

In total, there were 453 non-unique traditionally-published books on the 12 Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance lists in 2025

As you can see in the pie chart below, Amazon stays in the top spot, but the rest of the list changes a fair bit, with Hachette moving to second position and Bloomsbury and Entangled moving up the list as well:

1. Amazon - 32% (144 books)

2. Hachette - 14% (65 books)

3. Penguin Random House - 12% (55 books)

4. HarperCollins - 12% (54 books)

5. Bloomsbury - 10% (46 books)

6. Entangled - 8% (38 books)

7. Other - 12% (51 books)

Based on these unique vs. non-unique breakdowns, we can conclude that Penguin Random House had more individual books on the Top 100 list, but Hachette’s books appeared on the list more times. For example:

• Penguin Random House’s top ranking romance was Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, which appeared on the list for 5 months throughout the year.

• Hachette’s top ranking romance was Quicksilver by Callie Hart, which appeared on the list for all 12 months of the year. Hachette also had 3 additional titles that appeared on the list for more than 5 months in the year (i.e., more than PRH’s top book).

Bloomsbury and Entangled are two “other traditional” publishers that have fewer books, but those books tend to appear on the Top 100 lists often so they also ranked higher in the non-unique book breakdown.

Amazon Growth

During 2025, Amazon steadily increasing its share of the Romance Top 100 list, going from a low of 6% in July up to 20% in October and November. It’s not too surprising that the publisher who owns the retail platform is doing well! It begs the question: how much of an advantage do books under Amazon’s imprints have on the platform?

However, Amazon-published books also appear to be locked out of The New York Times Best Sellers lists—none appeared on the The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers list in 2025.

Will this growth continue in 2026?

2. Price

Average Price

Over the year, the average price fluctuated between a low of $5.51 in September and high of $6.85 in July. The average of these 12 monthly averages is $6.11.

I don’t see an obvious pattern here, aside from a slight rise and fall that seems to happen every 3-4 months.

Kindle Unlimited

Looking at books available as part of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service (KU), we see a general trends downward over the year, ending with a low of 74% in December—a 19% decrease from the high of 91% in April.

This downward trends aligns with the upward trend in Big Five-published books among romance best sellers (as seen in the very first graph in this post), which are less likely to be in KU.

I only have data for the last six months of the year in terms of how many best sellers were on sale, but based on the graph below we see more of the romance best sellers were on sale in Q4 of 2025. Not surprising, as this aligns with retail sales period of Black Friday and holiday shopping.

3. Point of View (POV)

Book POV determined manually.

As you can see in the graph below, there has been a fairly steady increase in the number of third person POV books among the Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance throughout 2025—increasing from a low of 6% in March to a high of 27% in December (a 350% increase).

Some of this increase can be attributed to the popularity of Heated Rivalry, based on Rachel’s Reid’s Game Changers series, which is written in third person—especially in December when all six books appeared in the Top 100.

However, there are a number of other romance and romantasy authors that consistently appear in the Top 100 and write in third person. For example:

• Romance: Nora Roberts, Laurie Gilmore, Catherine Coulter, Uzma Jalaluddin (and sometimes Christina Lauren)

• Romantasy: Kaylie Smith, Lindsay Straube, SenLinYu (and sometimes Sarah J. Maas)

Reminder: we can’t say the books in the Top 100 are best sellers BECAUSE they are written in first person (there are too many factors to determine causation).

4. Publication Age

Frontlist = Published in the last year
Backlist = Published more than a year ago

Based on Amazon publication date, which doesn’t always align with the original publication date.

In the bar graph below, you can see that backlist books were more prominent in Q1 and the summer months (July and August) of 2025. This is likely a seasonal trend driven by traditional publishing schedules.

With a full year of data, there does appear to be a regular fluctuation pattern for the publication age of romance best sellers with a peak and valley roughly every 5 months; however, it is more muted in Q1. You can see the peaks for frontlist titles in April/May and October/November, along with the valleys in February/March and July.

Happy reading! If there’s anything else you’d like to see in this analysis, let me know in the comments!

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According to my research, there are now 227 physical romance bookstores in 11 countries around the world, 158 (or 70%) of which are in the United States.

If we also include online and pop-up romance bookstores, the total number of stores grows to 380 (270 or 71% of which are in the United States).

Romance Bookstore Directory

These detailed updates are a benefit for paid subscribers (only US$5/month or US$50/year). Everyone can see the high-level numbers before the paywall, but you’ll need to subscribe for all the juicy details…including a list of all the upcoming romance bookstore openings! 🗓️

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There are now 415 bookstores in the directory (including Coming Soon)—14 were added in January.

The following is a breakdown of bookstores by type: Physical, Online, Pop-up, and Coming Soon along with a list of ALL the recently added and updated stores in each category! This includes some new charts as well. 📊

📌 Please note that these categories overlap—a store can categorized as multiple types. For example, a bookstore can be online and have pop-ups, with a physical location coming soon.

Read more

In total, 243 unique books appeared on the NYT Combined Fiction Best Sellers list in 2025—103 (or 42%) of which I categorized as Romance & Romantasy. The next biggest genres were Mystery & Thriller at 34% and Fiction at 17%.

I ranked the books based on the number of weeks each was on the list in 2025, followed by the average rank across those weeks. There ended up being a lot of ties, so you’ll see a lot of duplicate numbers on the list.

And although this is called the Top 100 (which just has a nice ring to it), there were actually 103 Romance & Romantasy books on the list so I included them all!

Here’s the list, along with some breakdowns.

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

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Data Source

List: The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers

Sales Period: 2025 (52 weeks from December 29, 2024 to December 27, 2025)

Methodology: This 2025 ranking is based on the 52 lists published from January 19, 2025 to January 11, 2026, which I’ve then compiled, consolidated, and ranked based on the number of weeks on the list in 2025, followed by average rank.

Top 100* Romance Best Sellers of 2025

*There were 103 Romance & Romantasy titles on the list, so I included them all.

🅰️ = Also appeared on Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Romance Best Sellers of 2025

1. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) 🅰️
   2025: 30 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 30 weeks

2. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (2023)
   2025: 29 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 104 weeks

3. Lights Out by Navessa Allen (2024)
   2025: 24 weeks (Avg Rank: 12)

   All Time: 27 weeks

4. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (2023)
   2025: 22 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)

   All Time: 71 weeks

5. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (2025)
   2025: 15 weeks (Avg Rank: 5)

   All Time: 15 weeks

6. Alchemised by SenLinYu (2025) 🅰️
   2025: 14 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 14 weeks

7. Quicksilver by Callie Hart (2024) 🅰️
   2025: 14 weeks (Avg Rank: 10)

   All Time: 18 weeks

8. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025) 🅰️
   2025: 12 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

   All Time: 12 weeks

9. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2015) 🅰️
   2025: 12 weeks (Avg Rank: 11)

   All Time: 50 weeks

10. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (2025)
    2025: 8 weeks (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 8 weeks

11. Caught Up by Navessa Allen (2025)
    2025: 7 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 7 weeks

12. Brimstone by Callie Hart (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 6 weeks (Avg Rank: 4)

    All Time: 6 weeks

13. Deep End by Ali Hazelwood (2025)
    2025: 6 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 6 weeks

14. Remain by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 5 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 5 weeks

15. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 4)

    All Time: 4 weeks

16. Mate by Ali Hazelwood (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 6)

    All Time: 4 weeks

17. Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver (2025)
    2025: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 3 weeks

18. Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 3 weeks

19. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (2019) 🅰️
    2025: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 11)

    All Time: 3 weeks

20. Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 3)

    All Time: 2 weeks
    

    

21. Story of My Life by Lucy Score (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 2 weeks

22. Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 2 weeks

22. King of Envy by Ana Huang (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 2 weeks

22. Summer in the City by Alex Aster (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)
    All Time: 2 weeks

22. The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 2 weeks

22. The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 2 weeks

22. Wild Card by Elsie Silver (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 2 weeks

28. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)

    All Time: 2 weeks

29. The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 2 weeks

29. Wild Side by Elsie Silver (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 2 weeks

31. Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver (2025)
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 2 weeks

32. Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal by Meghan Quinn (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 2 weeks (Avg Rank: 12)

    All Time: 2 weeks

33. A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 1)

    All Time: 1 week

33. Enchantra by Kaylie Smith (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 1)3
    All Time: 1 week

33. Rose in Chains by Julie Soto (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 1)

    All Time: 1 week

36. The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 2)

    All Time: 1 week

36. The Fallen & The Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 2)

    All Time: 1 week

36. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 2)

    All Time: 1 week

36. The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 2)

    All Time: 1 week

40. Bonds of Hercules by Jasmine Mas (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 3)

    All Time: 1 week
    

    

40. The Things Gods Break by Abigail Owen (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 3)

    All Time: 1 week

40. Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 3)

    All Time: 1 week

43. Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas (2024) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)

    All Time: 1 week

43. Love Arranged by Lauren Asher (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)

    All Time: 1 week

43. Releasing 10 by Chloe Walsh (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)

    All Time: 1 week

43. The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 4)

    All Time: 1 week

47. Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

47. Firebird by Juliette Cross (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

47. On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn (2024) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

47. Rewind It Back by Liz Tomforde (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

47. Scarred by Emily McIntire (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

47. Severed Heart by Kate Stewart (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

47. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros (2019) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 5)

    All Time: 1 week

54. Between Two Kings by Lindsay Straube (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 6)

    All Time: 1 week

54. Lover Forbidden by J.R. Ward (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 6)

    All Time: 1 week

54. Silver Elite by Dani Francis (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 6)

    All Time: 1 week

54. The Defender by Ana Huang (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 6)

    All Time: 1 week

58. A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week

58. Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week

58. House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas (2024)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week
    

    

58. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (2022)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week

58. Sweet Venom by Rina Kent (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week

58. The Night is Defying by Chloe C. Peñaranda (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week

58. Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 7)

    All Time: 1 week

65. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (2016) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 8)

    All Time: 1 week

65. Pitcher Perfect by Tessa Bailey (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 8)

    All Time: 1 week

65. Soul Searching by Lyla Sage (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 8)

    All Time: 1 week

65. Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 8)

    All Time: 1 week

69. Beautiful Venom by Rina Kent (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

69. Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

69. First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

69. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (2021)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

69. The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole (2022)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

69. Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

69. Till Summer Do Us Part by Meghan Quinn (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 9)

    All Time: 1 week

76. Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week

76. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2023)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week

76. Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week

76. Burning Daylight by Emily McIntire (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week

76. Funny Story by Emily Henry (2024)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week
    

    

76. Good Spirits by B.K. Borison (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week

76. The Robin on the Oak Throne by K.A. Linde (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 10)

    All Time: 1 week

83. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (2017) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)

    All Time: 1 week

83. Bad Bishop by L.J. Shen (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)

    All Time: 1 week

83. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (2022)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)

    All Time: 1 week

83. Kiss The Villain by Rina Kent (2025) 🅰️
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)

    All Time: 1 week

83. Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 11)

    All Time: 1 week

88. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (2021)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)

    All Time: 1 week

88. Dark Hope by Christine Feehan (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)

    All Time: 1 week

88. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)

    All Time: 1 week

88. For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)

    All Time: 1 week

88. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover (2022)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 12)

    All Time: 1 week

93. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (2019)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)

    All Time: 1 week

93. Deadly Storms by Christine Feehan (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)

    All Time: 1 week

93. Pucking Strong by Emily Rath (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 13)

    All Time: 1 week

96. Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)

    All Time: 1 week

96. God of Fury by Rina Kent (2023)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)

    All Time: 1 week

96. God of War by Rina Kent (2024)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)

    All Time: 1 week

96. People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young (2025)
    2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 14)

    All Time: 1 week

100. It Takes a Psychic by Jayne Castle (2025)
     2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)

     All Time: 1 week
     

     

100. Leave Me Behind by K.M. Moronova (2024)
     2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)

     All Time: 1 week

100. The Love Haters by Katherine Center (2025)
     2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)

     All Time: 1 week

100. Thunder Game by Christine Feehan (2025)
     2025: 1 week (Avg Rank: 15)

     All Time: 1 week

Authors with Multiple Books on the List

There are 67 unique authors of the 103 Romance & Romantasy books—23 authors have multiple books on the list. The authors with multiple books:

6 books

• Sarah J. Maas

5 books

• Rina Kent

4 books

• Rebecca Yarros

3 books

• Ali Hazelwood

• Christine Feehan

• Emily Henry

• Rachel Gillig

2 books

• Ana Huang

• B.K. Borison

• Brynne Weaver

• Callie Hart

• Carley Fortune

• Elsie Silver

• Emily McIntire

• Hannah Nicole Maehrer

• Jasmine Mas

• Laurie Gilmore

• Lyla Sage

• Mai Corland

• Meghan Quinn

• Navessa Allen

• Nora Roberts

• Tessa Bailey

Top 103 Breakdown

Subgenre

• Contemporary: 51% (53)

  • Dark: 12.5% (13)

  • Sports: 8.5% (9)

  • Small Town: 7.5% (8)

  • Romantic Comedy: 6.5% (7)

  • General: 6% (6)

  • Suspense: 4% (4)

  • Other: 6% (6)

• Romantasy: 40% (41)

• Paranormal: 8% (8)

• Science Fiction: 1% (1)

Publisher Type

• Big Five: 54% (56)

  • Penguin Random House: 24% (25)

  • HarperCollins: 10% (10)

  • Hachette: 8.5% (9)

  • Macmillan: 8.5% (9)

  • Simon & Schuster: 3% (3)

• Other Traditional: 46% (47)

  • Sourcebooks: 19% (20)

  • Entangled: 12% (12)

  • Bloomsbury: 7% (7)

  • Zando: 4% (4)

  • Kensington: 3% (3)

  • Evil Eye Concepts: 1% (1)

Publication Age (as of last appearance on list)

Frontlist = Published in the last year
Backlist = Published more than a year ago

• Frontlist: 79% (81)

• Backlist: 21% (22)

Authors

• 65% unique (67 authors of 103 books)

• 12% BIPOC (8 of 67 authors)
  Authors who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) in published interviews and articles.

  • Alex Aster

  • Amber V. Nicole

  • Ana Huang

  • Kennedy Ryan

  • Lauren Asher

  • Mai Corland

  • Sangu Mandanna

  • SenLinYu

Covers

Art Style

• Illustrated: 72% (74)

• Photorealistic: 28% (29)

People

• No People: 51% (53)

• Woman: 16.5% (17)

• Couple Clinched: 16.5% (17)

• Couple: 15% (15)

• Group: 1% (1)

Level of Undress

for the 50 books with people on the cover

• No Undress: 94% (47)

• Some Level of Undress: 6% (3)

  • Man partially undressed: 6% (3)

  • Woman partially undressed: 0% (0)

Diversity

for the 50 books with people on the cover

• BIPOC: 10% (5)

• LGBTQ+: 2% (1)

• Visible Disability: 0%

• Polyamory: 2% (1)

Happy reading! If there’s anything else you’d like to see in this analysis, let me know in the comments!

Leave a comment

Since starting my Amazon Kindle Store analysis in July, which provides a much larger and richer data set, my New York Times Best Sellers analysis has felt decidedly less interesting, especially when breaking it down at a monthly level. So for 2026 I’ve decided to shift to a quarterly analysis for the NYT Best Sellers list.

You can see the romance and romantasy book ranking for free before the paywall, but you’ll need to become a paid subscriber for all the details (only US$5/month or US$50/year).

Your support is greatly appreciated!

January Recap

It’s been a busy January with lots of December and year-end analysis! Here’s a recap of what I’ve published so far this month:

• Amazon Kindle Store Romance Best Sellers Analysis: Dec 2025

• Top 100 Romance Best Sellers of 2025: Amazon Kindle Store

• Romance Bookstore Update: December 2025

• Best of the Best Romance Books of 2025

• New Insider Version of Romance Bookstore Directory

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Data Source

List: The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Best Sellers

Sales Period: December 2025 (4 weeks: November 30 to December 27, 2025)1

Frontlist = Published in the last year
Backlist = Published more than a year ago

Romance & Romantasy Book Ranking

All romance and romantasy books on the list in the December 2025 sales period, ranked using a sum of ranks calculation.2

1. Brimstone by Callie Heart
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 6)
   All Time: 6 weeks

2. Alchemised by SenLinYu
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 8)
   All Time: 14 weeks

3. Quicksilver by Callie Heart
   This Month: 4 weeks (Avg Rank: 13)
   All Time: 18 weeks

4. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
   This Month: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 11)
   All Time: 3 weeks

5. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
   This Month: 3 weeks (Avg Rank: 13)
   All Time: 104 weeks

6. Sweet Venom by Rina Kent
   This Month: 1 weeks (Avg Rank: 7)
   All Time: 1 week

Genre

Read more

The year-end lists are in and I’ve completed my meta-analysis to determine the Best of the Best Romance Books of 2025! This year the analysis included 32 lists, which translated to 527 rows of data and 271 books nominated (appeared on at least 1 list).

You’ll notice some significant differences between this list and the Top 100 Romance Best Sellers of 2025 I recently published—in fact, only 4 books appear on both lists (note: the Best Sellers are not limited to 2025 releases). The key differences:

• This list is way more diverse, in terms of authors, representation and subgenre (there are some actual historical romances!)

• This list only has traditionally-published books.

More on these differences in the analysis section below. On to the list!

Best of the Best Romance Books of 2025

Based on my analysis, 33 books rose to the top and appeared on 4 or more ‘Best of 2025’ romance book lists.

The top book, Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan, appeared on a whopping 15 of the 32 lists!

The second place book, One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune, appeared on 11 lists.

Given that there are numerous ties on the list, the books are ranked alphabetically by title within each tied group for the sake of simplicity.

Note: This list has been compiled based on research and should not be considered my own personal recommendations or endorsements.

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Here is the full list!

You can also view the list in my online directory, which allows you to search, as well as filter by list, genre, spice level, representation, Kindle Unlimited eligibility and more.

View in directory

1. Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan (15 lists)

2. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (11 lists)

3. August Lane by Regina Black (10 lists)

4. Deep End by Ali Hazelwood (10 lists)

5. Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (10 lists)

6. First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison (9 lists)

7. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (9 lists)

8. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (9 lists)

9. Fan Service by Rosie Danan (8 lists)

10. A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera (7 lists)

11. A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (7 lists)

12. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (7 lists)

13. Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola (7 lists)

14. Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver (7 lists)

15. Mate by Ali Hazelwood (6 lists)

16. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (6 lists)

17. All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles (5 lists)

18. It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram (5 lists)

19. It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (5 lists)

20. Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti (5 lists)

21. Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews (5 lists)

22. Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi (5 lists)

23. A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell (4 lists)

24. Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams (4 lists)

25. Caught Up by Navessa Allen (4 lists)

26. Female Fantasy by Iman Hariri-Kia (4 lists)

27. Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory (4 lists)

28. Good Spirits by B.K. Borison (4 lists)

29. I Got Abducted By Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming (4 lists)

30. I Think They Love You by Julian Winters (4 lists)

31. Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt (4 lists)

32. Silver Elite by Dani Francis (4 lists)

33. Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston (4 lists)

There’s also a StoryGraph Reading Challenge for this list that you can join.

Join the StoryGraph Reading Challenge

Analysis

Here are some breakdowns of the list along with comparisons to the Top 100 Romance Best Sellers of 2025: Amazon Kindle Store list I recently published.

• Average Price: $12.15
  (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: $6.56)

• Kindle Unlimited: 12% available in KU
  (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 85% available in KU)

• Average Length: 401 pages
  (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 432 pages)

• Series: 48% part of a series
  (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 74% part of a series)

• Publisher Type:

  • Self Published - 0%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 59%)

  • Other Traditional - 15%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 23%)

  • Big Five - 85%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 18%)

• Subgenre:

  • Contemporary - 64%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 69%)

  • Fantasy - 9%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 22%)

  • Paranormal - 6%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 6%)

  • Historical - 15%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 3%)

  • Science Fiction - 6%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 0%)

• Authors:

  • 91% unique (30 authors of 33 books)
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 64% unique, 64 authors of 100 books)

  • Two authors had multiple books on the list—Ali Hazelwood has 3 and B.K. Borison has 2.

  • 37% BIPOC (11 of 30 authors)

    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 5% BIPOC, 3 of 64 authors)
    Authors who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) in published interviews and articles.

• Representation:

  • BIPOC - 30%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 5%)

  • LGBTQ+ - 21%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 5%)

  • Polyamory - 3%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 1%)

• Book POV:

  • First - 64%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 87%)

  • Third - 36%
    (Amazon 2025 Best Sellers: 13%)

Data and Lists

To be included in the analysis, the lists had to be:

1. Focused on romance books at large and not a specific type or subgenre.

2. Focused on romance books published in 2025

3. Free from obvious bias or self-interest (for example, lists from specific publishers were not included).

To see the 32 lists included and access the detailed spreadsheet, go to the methodology overview.

Interestingly, I found fewer lists this year (last year I analyzed 38) and during my research I noticed a trend towards more:

• Mid-year best-of lists (i.e., “Best Romance Books of 2025—so far”)

• Forward-looking lists (i.e., “Most Anticipated Romance Releases”)

This aligns with the decline of traditional book reviews and literary criticism, and the shift towards more promotional content creation and marketing.

Keep in mind that best of lists are generally based on personal opinions and/or vague methodologies; however, I still think they are an interesting data source worthy of analysis.

Happy reading!

Overview

According to my research, there are now 218 physical romance bookstores in 11 countries around the world, 150 (or 69%) of which are in the United States.

If we also include online and pop-up romance bookstores, the total number of stores grows to 366 (258 or 70% of which are in the United States).

Romance Bookstore Directory

Growth of Physical Stores

In 2025, there was a net increase of 126 physical romance bookstores worldwide (131 have opened, 5 have closed).

In the United States, specifically, there was a net increase of 85 physical romance bookstores in 2025 (87 opened, 2 closed).

Growth Rates

Worldwide

• 2022: 10 stores

• 2023: 32 stores, 230% increase

• 2024: 92 stores, 179% increase

• 2025: 218 stores, 137% increase

3-Year Growth Rate from 2023 to 2025: 561%

United States

• 2022: 5 stores

• 2023: 18 stores, 260% increase

• 2024: 65 stores, 261% increase

• 2025: 150 stores, 131% increase

3-Year Growth Rate from 2023 to 2025: 733%

These detailed updates are a benefit for paid subscribers (only US$5/month or US$50/year). Everyone can see the high-level numbers before the paywall, but you’ll need to subscribe for all the juicy details…including a list of all the upcoming romance bookstore openings! 🗓️

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There are now 401 bookstores in the directory (including Coming Soon)—27 were added in December.

The following is a breakdown of bookstores by type: Physical, Online, Pop-up, and Coming Soon along with a list of ALL the recently added and updated stores in each category! This includes some new charts as well. 📊

📌 Please note that these categories overlap—a store can categorized as multiple types. For example, a bookstore can be online and have pop-ups, with a physical location coming soon.

Read more

I’ve been using my monthly ranking methodology to report the Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance for the past six months, so I decided to apply it to a whole year’s worth of data!

That’s right. I compiled 52 Top 100 lists pulled from the Amazon Kindle Store weekly throughout 2025.

That’s 5,200 books, which I consolidated down to 1,155 unique books to determine the top 100.

Here’s the list, along with a few superlatives and breakdowns!

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

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Data Source

List: Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid), U.S. Kindle Store. Data accessed from Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter.1

Sales Period: 2025

Methodology: This 2025 ranking is based on 52 Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) lists pulled weekly throughout the year, which I’ve then compiled and ranked using a sum of ranks calculation.

Top 100 Romance Best Sellers of 2025

1. Till Summer Do Us Part by Meghan Quinn (2025)

2. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025)

3. Quicksilver by Callie Hart (2024)

4. Story of My Life by Lucy Score (2025)

5. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (2019)

6. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover (2019)

7. The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez (2025)

8. What She Saw by Mary Burton (2025)

9. Brimstone by Callie Hart (2025)

10. The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano (2025)

11. Hot for Slayer by Ali Hazelwood (2025)

12. Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry (2025)

13. Rewind It Back by Liz Tomforde (2025)

14. Wild Side by Elsie Silver (2025)

15. The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore (2023)

16. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros (2019)

17. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (2024)

18. Wild Card by Elsie Silver (2025)

19. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025)

20. Rebound by Sadie Kincaid (2025)

    

21. The Butcher by Penelope Sky (2025)

22. Wildest Dreams by L.J. Shen (2025)

23. Outlier by Susie Tate (2025)

24. Bridesmaid by Chance by Meghan Quinn (2025)

25. The Long Game by Rachel Reid (2022)

26. King of Envy by Ana Huang (2025)

27. Phantasma by Kaylie Smith (2024)

28. Haunting Adeline by H. D. Carlton (2021)

29. Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal by Meghan Quinn (2025)

30. Bad Bishop by L.J. Shen (2025)

31. Game Changer by Rachel Reid (2019)

32. Wild Love by Elsie Silver (2024)

33. Alchemised by SenLinYu (2025)

34. Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham (2019)

35. Variation by Rebecca Yarros (2024)

36. The Surrogate Mother by Freida McFadden (2018)

37. The Women of Arlington Hall by Jane Healey (2025)

38. Promise Me Forever by Sadie Kincaid (2025)

39. The Kill Clause by Lisa Unger (2025)

40. Mate by Ali Hazelwood (2025)

    

41. The Wolf King by Lauren Palphreyman (2023)

42. Verity by Colleen Hoover (2018)

43. The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy (2025)

44. Whispers and Wildfire by Claire Kingsley (2025)

45. Gild by Raven Kennedy (2020)

46. Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube (2025)

47. The Ritual by Shantel Tessier (2021)

48. Kiss The Villain by Rina Kent (2025)

49. Chasing Shelter by Catherine Cowles (2025)

50. God of Malice by Rina Kent (2022)

51. The Fix by Mia Sheridan (2025)

52. The Carver by Penelope Sky (2025)

53. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez (2022)

54. Handsome Devil by L. J. Shen (2025)

55. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover (2022)

56. Flawless by Elsie Silver (2022)

57. Insatiable by Leigh Rivers (2023)

58. Forged in Blood by Sadie Kincaid (2024)

59. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2015)

60. Snow Place Like Home by Laura Pavlov (2025)

    

61. The Deal by Elle Kennedy (2015)

62. The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods (2025)

63. How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn (2024)

64. On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn (2024)

65. Mile High by Liz Tomforde (2022)

66. Enchantra by Kaylie Smith (2025)

67. Beautiful Venom by Rina Kent (2025)

68. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (2016)

69. Twisted Love by Ana Huang (2021)

70. Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole (2023)

71. Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas (2024)

72. King of Wrath by Ana Huang (2022)

73. Feathers so Vicious by Liv Zander (2023)

74. Inked Adonis by Nicole Fox (2025)

75. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods (2023)

76. The Things We Water by Mariana Zapata (2025)

77. Love & Other Killers by Brynne Weaver (2025)

78. 10 Days to Ruin by Nicole Fox (2025)

79. Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver (2024)

80. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (2017)

    

81. Playboy by Brittanee Nicole (2025)

82. Dating After the End of the World by Jeneva Rose (2025)

83. Falling by Christina Lauren (2025)

84. Origin In Death by J. D. Robb (2025)

85. Mountain Boss by S.J. Tilly (2025)

86. The Path to Loving Him by Meghan Quinn (2025)

87. The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros (2021)

88. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025)

89. Hunting Adeline by H. D. Carlton (2022)

90. Wrong Number. Right Don. by Natasha L. Black (2025)

91. Forbidden Vows by K.C. Crowne (2025)

92. In Good Company by Kat Singleton (2025)

93. Heartless by Elsie Silver (2022)

94. Remain by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan (2025)

95. The Night Prince by Lauren Palphreyman (2025)

96. Zodiac Academy 2: Ruthless Fae by Caroline Peckham (2019)

97. Eldritch by Keri Lake (2025)

98. The One That Got Away by Mike Gayle (2025)

99. Just Say Yes by Lena Hendrix (2025)

100. Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer (2025)

Most Lists

Four books appeared on all 52 Top 100 lists used to compile this ranking:

• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) - ranked #2

• Quicksilver by Callie Hart (2024) - ranked #3

• The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros (2019) - ranked #16

• God of Malice by Rina Kent (2022) - ranked #50

Interestingly, only three of these books ranked in the top 20 overall. Even though it appeared on all 52 lists, God of Malice by Rina Kent ranked #50 overall because it’s average rank was relatively low.

Most Books

There are 64 unique authors of the 100 books on this list—22 authors have multiple books on the list. The authors with the most books on the list:

6 books

• Elsie Silver

4 books

• Abby Jimenez

• Rebecca Yarros

3 books

• Colleen Hoover

• L.J. Shen

• Meghan Quinn

• Rachel Reid

• Rina Kent

• Sarah J. Maas

Top 100 Breakdown

• Average Price: $6.56

• Kindle Unlimited: 85% available in KU

• Average Length: 432 pages

• Series: 74% part of a series

• Publisher Type:

  • Self Published - 59%

  • Other Traditional - 23%

  • Big Five - 18%

• Publication Age (as of last appearance on list):

  • Frontlist - 59% (published in last year)

  • Backlist - 41% (published more than a year ago)

• Subgenre:

  • Contemporary - 69%

  • Romantasy - 22%

  • Paranormal - 6%

  • Historical - 3% (not genre romance)

• Other Subgenre Elements:

  • 23% described as “dark”

  • 12% mention “billionaire”

  • 11% mention “alpha”

  • 4% holiday romance

• Authors:

  • 64% unique (64 authors of 100 books)

  • 5% BIPOC (3 of 64 authors)
    Authors who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) in published interviews and articles.

• Representation:

  • BIPOC - 5%

  • LGBTQ+ - 5%

  • Polyamory - 1%

• Book POV:

  • First - 87%

  • Third - 13%

• Blurb POV:

  • First - 37%

  • Third - 63%

Happy reading! If there’s anything else you’d like to see in this analysis, let me know in the comments!

Leave a comment

I’m excited to announce a new benefit for my annual paid subscribers: access to an “Insider” version of my Romance Bookstore Directory.

The Insider version has additional bookstore information not available in the public directory on my website, including (if available):

• Email address

• Phone number

• Instagram account

• TikTok account

• Author Interest Form

• Date added

• Year opened

Plus you get access to the data in a Google Sheet, allowing you to sort and filter the list however you’d like (after you’ve made a copy for yourself). You’ll have access to the most up-to-date version of the directory as long as your annual paid subscription is active.

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Who’s It For?

Some romance authors have used my directory to reach out to romance bookstores about stocking their books—this Insider version of the directory should make that process much easier for you.

In addition to authors, the insider directory would also be useful for anyone who is looking to connect with romance bookstores, particularly on social media (see screenshot below—all the Instagram and TikTok links are organized for you!). This includes:

• romance bookstore owners and employees

• publishing industry insiders

• author services providers

• romance book content creators

• romance readers.

How to Access

To get access, you’ll need to become an annual paid subscriber to Romancing the Data for US$50/year. This also gives you access to all the other paid subscriber benefits like my monthly best seller analyses and bookstore updates (learn more).

Once you’ve upgraded, reply to this message or email me directly with the email address you’d like to access the Google Sheet with (NOTE: it needs to be either a Gmail email or non-Gmail email you’ve used to create a Google Account).

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This post focuses on December, but I will have a follow-up post that focuses on trends over the year now that I have 6 months of data from my Amazon Kindle Store analysis!

Paid subscribers get access to the full analysis, as well as the Top 100 list data I’ve compiled in Airtable—perfect for fellow data nerds who like to get into the details! Here’s a peak at what the spreadsheet/table looks like on desktop:

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Data Source

List: Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid), US Kindle Store. Data accessed from Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter.1

Sales Period: December 2025

Methodology: This is an exclusive monthly ranking I’ve created in consultation with Kindletrends. It’s based on five Kindle Store Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) lists pulled throughout the month (accessed from the Kindletrends Romance Weekly Newsletter: December 7, 13, 21 and 27, 2025), which I’ve then compiled and ranked using a sum of ranks calculation. The Monthly Top 100 list generated is the basis for the analysis that follows.

Table of Contents

• Top 20 Book Ranking (Free, all other sections Paid)

• Overview

• Price

• Publisher

• Subgenre

• Publication Age

• Authors

• Covers

• Representation

• Point of View (POV)

• Length

• Steam/Spice

• Series

• Reviews

• Ratings

Top 20 Book Ranking

Top 20 of Kindle Store Monthly Top 100 Best Sellers in Romance (Paid) list for December.

🆕 = New on Top 100 list this month compared to last month

1. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

2. 🆕 The Long Game by Rachel Reid

3. Game Changer by Rachel Reid

4. Brimstone by Callie Hart

5. Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal by Meghan Quinn

6. Snow Place Like Home by Laura Pavlov

7. How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn

8. Quicksilver by Callie Hart

9. 🆕 Where You Belong by Kristen Proby

10. 🆕 Sweet Venom by Rina Kent

11. Bad Bishop by L.J. Shen

12. 🆕 Sin Bin by Chelsea Curto

13. 🆕 The Christmas Trap by L. Steele

14. 🆕 Merry and Bright by Ali Rosen

15. Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

16. 🆕 Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah

17. 🆕 Tea & Alchemy by Sharon Lynn Fisher

18. 🆕 Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

19. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

20. 🆕 In A Heartbeat by Laura Pavlov

⬇️ Paid subscribers can see the full list below

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