The past 2020 was a very difficult year, and the whole country was looking forward to the long New Year holidays. People were able to sleep, relax and devote time to books. The international audiobook service Storytel analyzed which genres and works were preferred by Russian listeners during the holidays, as well as which writers are popular with Russians in the first days of the new year.
Traditionally, January 1 is the "day of silence". Audiobooks are the least listened to of all public holidays on the first day of the year. However, starting from January 2, Russian listeners have been actively interested in audiobooks and have consistently listened to them a lot throughout the New Year holidays.
Konstantin Milchin, editor-in-chief of Storytel: “For the new year, everyone rushed to listen to detective stories, apparently everyone considers the last year a crime against humanity and is looking for a book where an intelligent detective finds villains. On the other hand, some great detective novelties were released by the new year - for example, a new detective by J. K. Rowling or Abir Mukherjee's novel “A Man with a Great Future”.
We also noted that at the end of 2020 and in the coming 2021, we especially often listened to audiobooks about New Year's miracle and magic, starting from the last week of December. Such works as "Happiness Cookies", "Christmas and the Red Cardinal", "Christmas Stories", "Christmas Eve", "New Year's Flight" and even "Christmas by Hercule Poirot" began to listen in mid-December and actively listened to all the holidays. Their daily listens grew 4 times on average.
New Years holidays 2021 vs 2020
Interestingly, in both 2020 and 2021, two of the top ten most popular writers were repeated: Boris Akunin, who again takes first place, and Max Fry, who, like last year, is in seventh position. All other writers in the top 10 have changed.
This year, Russians preferred to listen to detective stories and thrillers, which were slightly diluted with science fiction and non-fiction.
In 2021, the top ten were: Robert Galbraith (pseudonym J. K. Rowling), Fredrik Buckman, the timeless classics - Agatha Christie and the king of horrors - Stephen King, the popular Norwegian author U Nesbø. From science fiction writers, the aforementioned Max Fry and Sergey Lukyanenko, who did not enter the top ten popular authors last year, got into the top 10. At the bottom of the rating: Yuval Noah Harari, who took third place last year, came ninth this year, and Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist and writer who tells the modern history of our country in his works.
Top 10 Most Popular Authors for New Years 20211. Boris Akunin 2. Robert Galbraith 3. Fredrik Backman 4. Agatha Christie 5. Stephen King 6. Yu Nesbo 7. Max Fry 8. Sergey Lukyanenko 9. Yuval Noah Harari 10. Mikhail Zygar
We've also noticed a change in favorite audiobook genres since 2020. Traditionally, the first place for several years has been held by science fiction and fantasy audiobooks. However, if last year fiction was in second place, and audiobooks on psychology and personal development came in third, then in 2021 detectives took second place, and works of fiction moved to third. Classical audiobooks were in fourth place during the New Year holidays, while psychology and personal growth audiobooks were in fifth place.
Traditionally, the first place for several years has been held by audiobooks of the science fiction and fantasy genre.
If last year children's works were not included in the top 10 popular genres at all, then this year they immediately climbed to sixth place, which means that children also spent time with their favorite literary characters on New Year's holidays. Thrillers ranked seventh in popularity, historical audiobooks ranked eighth, and non-fiction, documentary audiobooks ranked ninth.
Last year, the top ten included audiobooks on economics and business. In 2021, Russians preferred to disconnect from work and thoughts from it as much as possible, the economy and business lost their place, being below the tenth place.
Top 10 Most Popular Audiobooks for New Years 2021 Robert Galbraith, Bad Blood 2. Fredrik Buckman, Troubled People 3. Yuval Noah Harari, “Sapiens. A Brief History of Humanity "4. Abir Mukherjee, "A Man with a Great Future" 5. Fredrik Buckman, Uwe's Second Life 6. Mikhail Zygar, “Everyone is free. The story of how elections ended in Russia in 1996”7. Agatha Christie, "Christmas of Hercule Poirot" 8. Frances Burnett, "How to Become a Lady" 9. Alisa Ardova, "Wife by mistake" 10. Marina Stepnova, "Garden"