Wondering what other Library readers couldn't get enough of in 2021?

2021 is over, so let's take a look at which books were most popular with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library readers this year. We pulled circulation data for our adult fiction (both print and digital), adult nonfiction, young adult fiction, juvenile fiction and graphic novels.

A few listings stood out this year:

• For the first time in a while, no novel returned to the top ten fiction list that appeared there the previous year. 
• Digital usage dominated the list this year. The top print adult novel circulated wouldn’t even have made the digital list. The top adult print nonfiction book would have been #10 on the digital list. 
• Last year, Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming was the #1 nonfiction title.  This year, President Obama’s memoir A Promised Land comes in at #2.  However, President Obama’s memoir did top the audio list.
• Jeff Kenny, once again, dominated the print juvenile fiction list and Dav Pilkey cleaned up on the digital side.
• The top graphic novel, Sisters by Raina Telgemeier, circulated more than twice the number of times as the second place graphic novel. It was also the top Young Adult book of the year.

We hope you enjoy going through this year’s lists and be sure to visit your local library branch and our webpage and get started on reading the books for this year’s list.

Print Adult Fiction

• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
• The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• Win by Harlan Coben
• A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
• The Guest List by Lucey Foley
• The Red Book by James Patterson & David Ellis
• Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Bounty: A Fox and O’Hare Novel by Janet Evanovich & Steve Hamilton​

Digital Adult Fiction

1. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
3. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
4. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
6. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab
7. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
8. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
9. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
10. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Print Adult Nonfiction

1. Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
2. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
3. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
4. Peril by Bob Woodward & Robert Costa
5. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
6. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
7. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson
8. I Alone Can Fix it: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig & Philip Rucker
9. Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at any Age by Sanjay Gupta, MD with Kristin Loberg
10. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant

Digital Adult Nonfiction

1. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
2. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
3. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
4. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
5. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
6. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
7. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
8. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
9. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
10. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Print Young Adult Fiction

1. Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
2. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
3. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
5. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
6. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
7. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
8. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
9. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
10. I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal

Digital Young Adult Fiction

1. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
2. Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards
3. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
6. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
7. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
8. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
9. I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
10. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Fiction & Nonfiction Audio Books (Digital and Physical)

1. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
2. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
4. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
6. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
7. Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell
8. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
9. Becoming by Michelle Obama
10. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

Graphic Novels (Young Adult & Adult)

1. Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
2. The boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
3. My Hero Academia 1, Izuku Midoriya: Origin by Kohei Horikoshi
4. My Hero Academia 3, All Might by Kohei Horikoshi
5. My Hero Academia 2, Rage, You Damned Nerd by Kohei Horikoshi
6. My Hero Academia 24, All it Takes is One Bad Day by Kohei Horikoshi
7. My Hero Academia16, Red Riot by Kohei Horikoshi
8. The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan
9. My hero academia 25, Tomura Shigaraki Origin by Kohei Horikoshi
10. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood