If you've picked up a book recently, odds are it was because someone on TikTok told you to. The days of relying solely on bookshops or traditional bestseller charts are fading, as a wave of fast, personal recommendations from creators reshapes reading habits. With over 77 million posts under #BookTok, the platform's influence is now formalized with the UK's first official BookTok bestseller list.
Compiled by Media Control and NielsenIQ BookData — the same data providers behind the Sunday Times bestseller list — the new chart merges UK sales data with #BookTok hashtag analysis. Updated monthly, the inaugural top 20 is dominated by romance and "romantasy" titles, exclusively featuring female authors.
Irish writer Chloe Walsh leads with all six books from her Boys of Tommen series, which follow teenagers navigating love, friendship, and trauma at a private school. Other prominent names include Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yarros. The list also highlights how BookTok revitalizes older titles: Donna Tartt's The Secret History, first published in 1992, appears after finding a fresh audience through the platform.
Many featured books are tied to recent or upcoming screen adaptations, such as Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, Yarros's Fourth Wing, and Walsh's Boys of Tommen series. BookTok influencers Kris and Mads attribute the romantasy dominance to highly engaged fanbases online, where readers share reactions, theories, and recommendations. "It's such an accessible genre," they say, "allowing readers to get passionate about something light and fun with other people."
The new list reflects how younger readers discover books. Kris and Mads note that audiences are "more likely to scroll their social media feeds than read prominent news outlets," and are "highly motivated to read what their friends or favourite creators are recommending." The impact can be immediate: after they shared the self-published series The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion, it "completely sold out on Amazon."
BookTok also champions overlooked genres. Lucy Stewart, deputy publishing director at Hodder & Stoughton, says romance has seen "a huge rise in unabashed public appreciation, sales and respect thanks to the power of BookTok and its creators." She supports "more accessible celebrations of reading and book-buying."
Readers like Amy, 32, from Hampshire, turn to TikTok "all the time for recommendations." She says BookTok helped her "explore genres I never would have known about otherwise" and calls it a "great tool when you're in a reading slump."
But do traditional bestseller lists still matter? NielsenIQ BookData reports that 11 million UK book sales in 2025 — around 6% of all sales — were attributed to BookTok. Young adult author Abiola Bello notes that retailers are responding: "WH Smith have a 'TikTok made me buy it' section in store."
Sara Roberts, senior marketing manager at Transworld, calls BookTok "one of the most powerful forces in publishing" and an "amazing trend spotter." However, she emphasizes that traditional marketing still matters, as many readers rely on reviews and traditional media. Claire Simmonds, publishing director at Evermore, agrees: "BookTok can be the spark, but everything else needs to be in place to catch that momentum."
The rise of the BookTok chart doesn't spell the end for traditional lists, but it signals a shift in the literary landscape — one where a new generation's reading choices are driven by community, discovery, and the scroll of a feed.