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100 of the Most Popular YA Books of the Past Five Years
While it’s hard to truly quantify what catches on in the realm of pop culture, it’s often fun to try. Looking forward is basically impossible—if book publishers knew how to do that, they’d be gazillionaires. But looking back in time? That’s generally fascinating.
We’ve collected below the 100 most popular YA books on Goodreads over the past five years, as determined by overall shelvings—books that Goodreads members have already read or Want to Read. We’ve also selected for enthusiasm: We’ve culled anything that scored under a 3.5 in average star ratings. Finally, we’ve collapsed popular series into a single representative book. If multiple titles from a series made the list, we included only the first book from the time period in question.
You’ll find several familiar names on the list and an eclectic mix of genres, themes, and styles—from existential romance to classic sci-fi, from labyrinthine mystery to insightful contemporary fiction. Also: enchanted cranes and snow leoponaires.
Scroll over the book covers below for more details about each title. If you see any interesting books conspicuously absent from your own shelves, don’t forget about your Want to Read list.
How many of these popular YA books have you read? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments Showing 101-150 of 312 (312 new)
Priscilla wrote: "Zero. This is pathetic. Most of The Nephews really are nephews not nieces, and they like action movies and cartoon videos but what they read is mostly nonfiction and Serious Literature. And the nov..."If they like action movies and cartoons, then I would highly recommend Iron Widow, which reads like Historical Fiction mixed with Sci-Fi. What qualifies as "Serious Literature" for your nephews? I'm sure what counts now was considered "unserious" when it was new. There are a lot of really great books on this list. I wouldn't right them off immediately.
Jessica wrote: "11. And yet my reading skews toward YA."same. I'm at 32, but I tend to read a lot of titles that don't necessarily get a ton of hype 🤷🏽♀️ you're ahead of the curve 😌
Ellen wrote: "I’ve read 17! But how on earth is A Court of Mist and Fury not on this list?! It came out in 2016- I’m pretty certain that’s more popular than Tower of Dawn- which was my least favorite of Throne o..."ACOMAF is considered New Adult, not YA. Additionally, 2016 is 6 years ago, which is outside of the time frame.
read 20, but have another 25 or so of them on my list :D
13 books read on this list ! Alice Oseman beeing there twice, as they SHOULD
15 from the list so far. So many waiting in my want-to-read list :(
Stacey wrote: "I thought you said you'd roll all series titles under the first book in the series? Tower of Dawn? One of Us is Next? Two Can Keep a Secret? Daughter of the Siren Queen? Aristotle and Dante Dive in..."Thunderhead is also the 2nd book - Scythe is the first and its Bloody AMAZING
I’ve only read 5 😂 I own a lot of them!
11 but there are many I hope to get around to reading!!
Just finished Dean Whitlock's "Finn's Clock." Fun read! Action, a bit o romance. Only three others, if you don't count Kate DeCamillo's amazing "The Beatryce Prophesies." I have others waiting. Reynold's is one of my 'new' favourite writers. So freaking good.
None! Only started reading YA books... Although I did read the first Hunger Games(Suzanne Collins) and Perfect(Cecilia Ahern).
Interesting, one TOG book and it’s TOD, my fav btw…
8 read but a lot more on my to read list. I do have to remark some are not the first book in a series which makes it possible I read some of the series but not that one.
only 4, and they were all really good. I have a lot of reading to do
Patricia wrote: "18. I absolutely loved The Skyward series, The Firekeeper's Daughter, and The Grace Year. The rest weren't that great."The Grace Year was great!
Only 2. :/ … I'm surprised there are not more Sarah J Mass bookks.
Lady Willpower wrote: "14 or 15. Most were good, a few were great, and one broke my heart."Can you elaborate? Especially on the great ones… was the one that broke your heart, "They Both Die at the End".?
16 With a whole bunch more in my want to read list.
15 completed. Lots of others that I started but just didn’t find worth the time. Scythe series and Cruel Prince top the list!
14 - a few of my favs in here, some not so much.
75!!! Damn, was it a waste of my time, do you think?Some real gems, i think!
Top 5 off the top of my head:
We Hunt the Flame
Skyward
The Shadow Between Us
These Violent Delights
Tower of Dawn
read about 56-57 :0also have abt 10 on my tbr
"If multiple titles from a series made the list, we included only the first book from the time period in question."
All of the first books in this series are older than the past 5 years. It's rolled under the first book within that 5 year period. Thus why you're seeing titles like Tower of Dawn and One of Us Is Next.