Announcing the Winners of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards!
With more than 4.75 million votes cast and counted, the 13th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards are now official. Launched in 2009, the GCAs honor the year’s best books as decided by you, the readers.
Several tight races came down to the wire this year, playing out in the final days of the tally. The closest call was the Romance category, where People We Meet on Vacation narrowly took top honors over the also-beloved The Love Hypothesis. Similarly, perennial favorite Rick Riordan won Best Middle Grade & Children's book (for Daughter of the Deep), followed closely by Victoria Schwab’s Bridge of Souls. This makes Riordan the most decorated author in Goodreads Choice Awards history, with 11 wins.
Seventeen categories! Seventeen winners! Seventeen incredible books! Sincere congratulations to all the nominees—thank you for giving us another year of great reading. Thanks, too, to everyone who voted and all of the Goodreads community. And now, the winners of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards…
Several tight races came down to the wire this year, playing out in the final days of the tally. The closest call was the Romance category, where People We Meet on Vacation narrowly took top honors over the also-beloved The Love Hypothesis. Similarly, perennial favorite Rick Riordan won Best Middle Grade & Children's book (for Daughter of the Deep), followed closely by Victoria Schwab’s Bridge of Souls. This makes Riordan the most decorated author in Goodreads Choice Awards history, with 11 wins.
Seventeen categories! Seventeen winners! Seventeen incredible books! Sincere congratulations to all the nominees—thank you for giving us another year of great reading. Thanks, too, to everyone who voted and all of the Goodreads community. And now, the winners of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards…

Best Science Fiction: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Best Horror: The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Best History & Biography: Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Thank you to all of the readers who make the Goodreads Choice Awards such a success every year! Happy reading!
Check out more recent articles, including:
Staff Picks: Goodreads Employees’ Top Reads of 2021
Goodreads Members' 60 Most Popular Books from the Past Five Years
The 51 Most Read Books of the 2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge
Comments Showing 1-50 of 85 (85 new)
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Marci
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Dec 08, 2021 07:05PM
I really thought Cloud Cuckoo Land was gonna make this list 😱
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Lots of great books this year in the history and biography category, but Empire of Pain is outstanding. Nice to see it get the recognition.
Joshua wrote: "Really don’t trust the average reader to choose the best of the best lol."Average readers, average books. Twilight has 5.5 million ratings!
The last thing he told me best mystery/thriller what nope sorry just my opinion but so many more on that list that far exceeded this book
Not surprised by most of the winners. Only surprised that I couldn't vote in most of the categories because I did not read any of the books.
Marci wrote: "I really thought Cloud Cuckoo Land was gonna make this list 😱"It's probably not for everyone, but I loved it and expect it to be on every respectable Best of 2021 list.
Heard of all of them, but have only read one of the winners, The Final Girl Support Group, which I did enjoy. The fact that the book voted best in romance looks more like chick lit was disappointing although I know it sold well.
im so happy People we meet on vacation won best romance!!! EMILY HENRY IS THE BEST ROMANCE WRITER OUT THERE😭 also rlly happy for Rule of Wolves!!! 🥰💞 can’t believe A court of silver flames won tho… like for real???
R wrote: "Lots of great books this year in the history and biography category, but Empire of Pain is outstanding. Nice to see it get the recognition."I really enjoyed Empire of Pain. It's also the only winner I have read.
How does Malibu Rising win in the historical fiction category?? While I enjoyed the book, I am surprised by the win.
I didn't read a lot of these, but I'm thrilled that Project Hail Mary got best SF. Andy Weir outdid himself on that one.
Yesss i really love People we meet on vacation and voted for it :) one of my faves of 2021 !! congrats Emily Henry!! looking forward to your other books!! <33
These are NOT the best books of the year, just the most popular. I am disappointed with most of the choices on this list. The only one I agree with is Firekeeper's Daughter.
Project Hail Mary has rightfully won "best Sci-Fi". But why wasn't it nominated in the "best fiction" category as well?
Truly wish I understood the hype for “People We Meet on Vacation”. “The Love Hypothesis” will always have my heart <3
I read A Court of Silver Flame like 5 times this year. I'm so happy to see it won! I also read and loved Rule of Wolf which was amazing and I'm happy others appreciated its greatness












































