BookTok Bestseller of the Year: Fourth Wing Wins Europe (2026)

The first BookTok Bestseller of the Year for Europe is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. TikTok announced the title on October 8, 2026, ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair, naming it the most successful #BookTok book of 2026 across the European markets where it tracks a bestseller list. This guide covers the full top five, how TikTok and its research partner built the list, and what the accompanying survey does and does not show.

Everything about the BookTok Bestseller of the Year here comes from TikTok’s own Newsroom announcement, read in full on October 11, 2026. That makes it TikTok’s account of its own community, so the figures are labeled as TikTok’s and the survey as TikTok-commissioned.

What to know:

• The winner: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is the first BookTok Bestseller of the Year in Europe, for 2026.
• The rest of the top five: Binding 13, Heated Rivalry, The Mistake and Saving 6.
• Top author: Chloe Walsh, with two titles among the top five books.
• The data: market researcher Media Control, using #BookTok Bestseller List data from Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Austria and Switzerland, January to August 2026.

The 2026 European BookTok Bestseller List

The ranking, as TikTok published it, runs from first to fifth place. The BookTok Bestseller of the Year comes from this list, and each title is a #BookTok book, meaning one that TikTok’s data and sales data from Media Control show gaining ground in the community and in stores.

• 1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, named the Bestseller of the Year.
• 2. Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh.
• 3. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid.
• 4. The Mistake by Elle Kennedy.
• 5. Saving 6 by Chloe Walsh.

TikTok also ranks authors. Chloe Walsh is the most successful #BookTok author in Europe so far this year, with Rebecca Yarros, Hazel Riley, Rachel Reid and Elle Kennedy completing the top five authors. Walsh has two of the five titles, Binding 13 and Saving 6, while Yarros has one, Fourth Wing, in first place.

How the BookTok Bestseller of the Year Is Chosen

The BookTok Bestseller of the Year is built from platform data and sales data. TikTok says the first European #BookTok Bestseller List brings together the books making the biggest impact “across the community and in sales,” based on data from the platform and market researcher Media Control. The footnote gives the scope: #BookTok Bestseller List data from Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Austria and Switzerland, January to August 2026.

The list behind the BookTok Bestseller of the Year has been growing. It launched in Germany in 2023 with Media Control, expanded to Austria and Switzerland in 2024 and, per the announcement, reached the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain this year. TikTok’s earlier Newsroom post about the expansion describes the monthly list and an in-store sticker program that lets bookshops mark #BookTok titles.

Scale, per TikTok: more than 50 million #BookTok books were sold across Europe in 2025. That figure is repeated in the new announcement as context for the rankings.

What TikTok’s New Survey Says

Alongside the list, TikTok released research it commissioned. Per its footnotes, the survey was fielded by Qualtrics from September 22 to 29, 2026, among TikTok users aged 16 and older, with roughly 500 respondents per market. “BookTokers” are defined as TikTok users who engage with book-related content, and “young readers” as readers on TikTok aged 16 to 39.

Across Italy, the UK, Germany, France and Spain, TikTok reports:

• Roughly 4 in 5 young readers on TikTok report rising interest in reading over the past few years.
• 53% of BookTokers say TikTok helped them discover genres that were new to them, and nearly 3 in 4 say they expanded their reading to include new genres or diverse authors.
• 49% say TikTok inspired them to buy a book or audiobook, and more than half (57%) of TikTok users who bought books spend more on books than two years ago.
• In the UK, 34% of BookTokers attended a book-related event in the past year. In Germany, 28% did and 51% supported a local or independent bookstore.

These are self-reported answers from TikTok users, collected for TikTok. They show what TikTok’s own audience says about itself, not a measure of the whole book market.

Two BookTok Videos From the List

To see what the community behind the BookTok Bestseller of the Year posts, here are two 2026 videos from creators talking about books on the list. They are individual opinions, and no view counts are claimed.

Binding 13

Creator @artteacherkim posted a summer reading video on June 17, 2026. Her caption says that while reading Binding 13 she was “only committed to the one book” and that she read it “straight through day and night.”

@artteacherkim

I really do like every genre and usually read three or four books at a time. While reading Binding 13, I was definitely only committed to the one book. It was so good. I read it straight through day and night! #binding13 #boysoftommen #bookreview #tiktokshop #teacher

♬ Honeybee – Shandryn Trumble

Credit: @artteacherkim/TikTok.

Heated Rivalry

On January 2, 2026, @bookishwithbean posted a video reading another book in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, captioned “Hey so The Long Game did not help, I need more Heated Rivalry ASAP!!” The on-screen text calls it help with a “Heated Rivalry hangover.”

@bookishwithbean

Hey so The Long Game did not help, I need more Heated Rivalry ASAP!! #heatedrivalry #rachelreid #hockeyromancebooks #rivalstolovers #sportsromancebooks The Game Changers hockey romance book series by Rachel Reid, rivals to lovers romance books, hockey romance books, sports romance books, enemies to lovers romance books

♬ original sound – emma alexii

Credit: @bookishwithbean/TikTok.

Related reading on this site: the Modelland revival, another book pulled back into view by TikTok, and TikTok’s Halloween travel guide, which includes BookTok-inspired stops.

The Bigger Numbers Behind the BookTok Bestseller of the Year

The list sits on top of a set of sales figures TikTok published earlier this year in its Newsroom post on the list’s European expansion. Those numbers explain why TikTok built a Bestseller of the Year in the first place. All are TikTok’s, citing NielsenIQ BookData and Media Control.

• Europe: more than 50 million #BookTok books were sold across Europe in 2025, generating €800 million in revenue across key book markets.
• Germany: the largest share, with 28 million books and €482 million in 2025, more than double the 12 million sold in 2023.
• Genres: the Bestseller List now tracks 17 genres, with Young Adult and New Adult lists added.
• Buyers: the 30 to 39 age group is the fastest-growing buyer group, so the audience is no longer only young readers.
• Authors: Mercedes Ron is the most frequently listed author, with more than 60 chart placements.
• Posts: more than 75 million posts have been created globally with the #BookTok hashtag.

Those figures are about the BookTok list and its sales across several markets. The October 8 announcement adds the first European ranking and a new TikTok-commissioned survey on top of them.

Who Said What at TikTok and Media Control

Two people are quoted in the announcement. Thomas Wlazik, TikTok’s General Manager, Europe, Global Business Solutions, said: “#BookTok began with readers simply sharing the books they love. Today, that community is helping books and authors find audiences across Europe, while giving readers new ways to discover what to pick up next.”

Wlazik added: “This year’s rankings celebrate the titles and authors that have connected most strongly with the community, but the wider story goes beyond the bestseller list. We’re seeing people inspired to read more, buy more books and try genres they may never have considered before.”

Ulrike Altig, Managing Director at Media Control and book researcher, said: “As the programme has expanded, we’ve seen both its audience and the range of genres represented continue to grow. Tracking those shifts gives publishers, retailers and authors a much clearer picture of what readers are discovering and where tastes are heading.”

Where the BookTok Survey Was Fielded

The announcement’s footnotes give the survey scope. It was fielded by Qualtrics from September 22 to 29, 2026, among TikTok users aged 16 and older. The markets in the synthesis, with their sample sizes, were Sweden (550), Italy (500), the United States (500), Spain (501), France (500), Romania (500), Brazil (500), the Czech Republic (500), Germany (500) and the United Kingdom (501).

The percentages quoted in the article body, such as the 53% who discovered new genres, are for BookTokers across five markets: Italy, the UK, Germany, France and Spain. The United States is in the wider survey pool, but the announcement does not give separate US figures. Readers in the US should therefore treat the percentages as European results.

The Frankfurt Book Fair Link

TikTok framed the release around the Frankfurt Book Fair, where it says it will join publishers, booksellers, authors and readers. The announcement says the rankings and findings are being released ahead of the fair, “bringing the latest #BookTok trends and reading habits to the heart of the European publishing industry.”

That timing matters for how to read the list. The announcement reads as trade-facing, aimed at publishers and booksellers as much as at readers, which fits its pairing of a survey with a named research partner. The fair’s own dates are not given in the announcement.

What the BookTok Bestseller of the Year Announcement Does Not Say

• Sales per title: the BookTok Bestseller of the Year announcement gives no unit sales for any of the five books, only their rank.
• The ranking formula: TikTok says the list uses platform data and sales data but does not publish how the two are weighted.
• Independence: the list is a TikTok and Media Control program and the survey was commissioned by TikTok, so both should be read as TikTok’s own reporting.
• Markets: the ranking covers six European markets. The post does not give a separate ranking for each.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the BookTok Bestseller of the Year?

The BookTok Bestseller of the Year is a title TikTok introduced on October 8, 2026 for the most successful #BookTok book in Europe in a given year. The first one, for 2026, is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

Which books are on the European BookTok Bestseller List?

The top five behind the BookTok Bestseller of the Year are Fourth Wing, Binding 13, Heated Rivalry, The Mistake and Saving 6, per TikTok.

Who is the most successful BookTok author in Europe in 2026?

TikTok names Chloe Walsh, who has two titles among the top five books, Binding 13 and Saving 6.

How many books has BookTok sold in Europe?

TikTok says more than 50 million #BookTok books were sold across Europe in 2025.

Sources: TikTok Newsroom, October 8, 2026, TikTok Newsroom, #BookTok expansion post, and the creators’ TikTok videos.