This year marks the 23rd annual World Book Day, so to give a nod to the event that provides thousands of children with books every year, we are excited to reveal the most popular books in the UK!

After reviewing our internal sales data from the last three years, we've found not only the top ten overall books, but also the top ten Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children's books that Brits love to buy and read.

See if your favourite book makes the list below...

The UK's favourite books

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The top ten most popular books in the UK:

  1. Modern Kama Sutra by Kamini Thomas
  2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
  3. Scratch & Sniff Book Of Weed by Seth Matlins & Eve Epstein
  4. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs by Robert Sabuda & Matthew Reinhart
  5. Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard
  6. Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell
  7. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
  8. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
  9. Gotta Get Theroux This by Louis Theroux
  10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Top ten most popular fictional books in the UK:

  1. Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell
  2. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
  3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  4. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
  5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  6. Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood
  7. Origin by Dan Brown
  8. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
  10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Top ten most popular non-fiction books in the UK:

  1. Modern Kama Sutra by Kamini Thomas
  2. Scratch & Sniff Book of Weed by Seth Matlins & Eve Epstein
  3. Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard
  4. Gotta Get Theroux This by Louis Theroux
  5. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
  6. Veg by Jamie Oliver
  7. The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear and Live without Limits by Ant Middleton
  8. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg
  9. The Repair Shop by Karen Farrington
  10. How to Bake by Paul Hollywood

Top ten most popular children's books in the UK:

  1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
  2. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs by Robert Sabuda & Matthew Reinhart
  3. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
  4. Gangsta Granny by David Walliams
  5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  6. Geek Girl by Holly Smale
  7. Dear Zoo by Rob Campbell
  8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
  9. Zog by Julia Donaldson
  10. War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
The UK's favourite books

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Along with researching the top books, we also surveyed 3,000 of our customers to discover their common reading habits. From our research we found that one in three (35%) adults have not read an entire book in the last five years, and two in three Brits (67%) would like to read more.

We also looked into the most popular book genre in the UK, with crime and thriller coming up top with 44% of people stating it as their favourite. It was followed by romance (28%) and biographies/true stories (11%). The least popular genre was poetry, drama and criticism books, which only 2% of people selected!

Cas Paton, founder and CEO of OnBuy.com said,

"In celebration of World Book Day we wanted to find out which books are the UK's favourites, and although World Book Day is often aimed at children to encourage them to read, we thought it was important to shine a light on adults and their relationship with reading.

"Our research suggests the majority of adults would like to read more, so hopefully our list inspires some members of the public to pick up a book! It was also fascinating to see what books are the most popular in the UK, with the top ten including both classics and modern favourites - a great starting list for any new reader!"