The best-selling book of the year 2024 in France is the first part of “The Housekeeper”, a thriller by Freida McFadden released in 2022, according to the GfK ranking published on Friday.
Joël Dicker on the podium
Published by J’ai Lu, the work, which has conquered social networks and will be the subject of a film adaptation, has sold 603,000 copies, ahead of “The midwife of Auschwitz”, by Anna Stuart (also at J’ai Lu), with 500,000 sales.
The two authors are ahead of Joël Dicker, the only Frenchman in the top 3 thanks to “A Wild Animal” and its 425,000 sales.
Overall, there were fewer buyers of new books in 2024 in France: 23 million people acquired at least one book, a decline of 10% over one year, according to this annual GfK barometer.
One in five books is bought second-hand
In total, consumers purchased 315 million new books, down 3%. In terms of sales, the sector’s turnover is stable, at 4 billion euros.
Second-hand books still represent more or less one book sale in five (18% in 2024) and the digital book reader remains a rare bird (less than 5% of sales).
Mangas and comics suffered the most after a prosperous year in 2023, marked by the release of bestsellers like the latest Asterix or Gaston Lagaffe. Conversely, romance remains one of the few growing sectors.
