Two comics and a literary prize on the podium

The best-selling book ranking for 2024 is dominated by two great comic book classics: Asterix and Gaston. In 2024, the new volume of The Adventures of the Little Gaul, L'Iris blanc, by Fabcaro and Didier Conrad, won over the crowd, with 1.59 million copies sold. For lovers of bubbles, 2024 will remain the year of the Return of Lagaffe. Drawn by Delaf, in the direct line of Franquin's work, this twenty-second album has aroused the curiosity of readers. It won the silver medal in the ranking with 479,000 books sold. Finally, unsurprisingly, the 2024 Goncourt Prize winner, Veiller sur elle by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, climbed to the third step of the podium, with a sales volume of 434,000 copies. The top 10 shows a nice parity, with five women: Colleen Hoover, Maud Ankaoua, Fred Vargas, Virginie Grimaldi, and Mélissa Da Costa. French authors take their place, without complex, in front of the big names of the novel, like Pierre Lemaître, whose two volumes of the trilogy Les années glorieuses, are enjoying great success. The third part is expected for the beginning of 2024 by Calmann-Lévy editions.

Publishing trends in 2024

The top 50 published by the GfK institute offer an overview of readers' new purchasing habits: while white literature and thrillers remain unshakeable pillars, other literary genres are growing:

• comics with 11 titles in the top 50 including 5 volumes of the cult manga One Piece by Eiichirō Oda;
• the feel-good novel with 12 bestsellers; ● dark romance which places 4 books in the ranking; ● life stories.

In 2024 , a comic strip already reached the top step of the podium: Le Monde sans fin, miracle énergétique et dérive climatique by Christophe Blain and Jean-Marc Jancovici. A real bookstore phenomenon! The success of this documentary comic strip has not waned in 2024: with 231,000 copies sold, it has gained fifteenth place in the ranking. It addresses essential questions about the climate, energy choices, the changes experienced by our planet, and the impact of man on his environment with pedagogy and a touch of humor.

Literary prizes and life stories

By bringing media coverage to works, literary prizes help to boost sales volume. This was the case in 2024 for Triste tigre by Neige Sinno, after winning the Prix Femina 2024 , the Prix Goncourt des lycéens and four other awards. This novel about incest and sexual violence confronts the reader with the trauma experienced by the author in her childhood. Despite the difficult and daring subject, it won over its readership with its power and its anchoring in reality. Bookstores have noticed that life stories are all the rage. The top 50 includes biographies of famous people: Prince Harry's substitute, and Pagny by Florent de Florent Pagny. And testimonies like The Next Time You Bite the Dust by Panayotis Pascot.

The success of feel-good authors who often self-publish

Self-publishing allows talented authors to find their readership before being spotted by a publishing house. Since Agnès Martin-Lugand in 2024, several writers have had a brilliant career in traditional publishing after self-publishing at least one of their titles. They are often authors of feel-good novels, works written in a simple, pleasant-to-read style, which we devour in a few hours to clear our minds and have a good time. Ten years later, the commercial success of feel-good authors is confirmed. Whether or not they have gone through the self-publishing process, they have become sure values. In the 2024 best-selling book rankings, Mélissa Da Costa, Virginie Grimaldi, Maud Ankaoua, and Agnès Ledig rub shoulders with personal development bestsellers such as The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz. This movement of self-publishing towards success is not limited to the French-speaking world. Thus, Colleen Hoover, an American novelist specializing in romance and young adults, reached fourth place with her novel Jamais Plus and has two other titles in the top 50. Times magazine recognized her as one of the hundred most influential people in the world in 2024.

Melissa Da Costa dethrones Guillaume Musso

If there is only one name to remember from this literary year, it is that of Mélissa Da Costa. Four of her novels are ranked in the top 50: Les douleur fantômes , Tout le bleu du ciel and La faiseuse d'étoiles, titles published by Livre de poche, as well as Les femmes du bout du monde , her sixth novel, released in March 2024 by Albin Michel . This young writer, born in 1990, thus confirms her rise: she is once again one of the ten most appreciated writers in France. With more than 1.1 million copies sold in 2024, she takes first place in the French novel market, thus dethroning Guillaume Musso, the sales record holder for twelve years.