Although published decades ago, classic books continue to have a life of their own. They may become less popular or more popular, they may be nearly forgotten or be the new sensational read of the year. Trends, screen adaptations, and social media are the major forces responsible for shaping their evolution. So, here are the most popular classic books of the year 2025.
Method and sources
I combined bestseller lists in Amazon UK and US, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble, with the most popular book lists in online libraries dedicated to the public domain, Project Gutenberg and Standard EBooks. All formats and editions are taken into account, as well as illustrated editions, ebooks and audiobooks. I have given bonus points if the book was listed among the most-read books in Goodreads Reading Challenge, if there was a screen adaptation released this year, and if the book received more press coverage than usual. All the box sets and complete works of an author are calculated under the label “complete + author’s name or series title”.
The Podium
1
FRANKENSTEIN
Mary Shelley
When a monster is artificially created and born into this world
2
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Emily Brontë
When the greatest love story of all time is not a love story
3
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
Alexandre Dumas
When a convict conceives and puts into action the greatest revenge
4
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Jane Austen
When you’re made for each other, but you’re prejudiced, and he’s so proud
5
DRACULA
Bram Stoker
When his teeth are longer than yours and his thirst more unquenchable
Up to the top 30
6
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
Oscar Wilde
When you can live your best life because it’s your portrait that is ageing
7
LITTLE WOMEN
Louisa May Alcott
When your siblings were your life and your everything
8
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Fyodor Dostoevsky
When you feel justified, but you know you deserve to be punished
9
MEDITATIONS
Marcus Aurelius
When a stoic philosopher shares his thoughts with you
10
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Charles Dickens
When you’re haunted by Christmas ghosts until you like Christmas
11
THE GREAT GATSBY
F. Scott Fitzgerald
When you can’t let go of the past, but she has already moved on
12
1984
George Orwell
When Big Brother is watching you, and it is no longer sci-fi
13
ANIMAL FARM
George Orwell
When you hoped for a revolution, but power corrupts everything
14
Dr JEKYLL AND Mr HYDE
Robert Louis Stevenson
When a potion changes you into your worst self
15
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV
Fyodor Dostoevsky
When you want to read a murder story, but it’s philosophy
16
JANE EYRE
Charlotte Brontë
When he is a bit difficult, but you understand and want to change him
17
THE ODYSSEY
Homer
When you’re travelling home, but gods and monsters keep interfering
18
MOBY DICK
Herman Melville
When you expect a whale-hunting adventure, but it is a documentary
19
COMPLETE LORD OF THE RINGS
J.R.R. Tolkien
When an epic battle is looming to save Middle-Earth
20
EAST OF EDEN
John Steinbeck
When your twins are so different that your family saga goes biblical
21
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Lewis Carroll
When Alice falls down the rabbit hole into a nonsensical world
22
THE HOBBIT
J.R.R. Tolkien
When you’d like to stay cosy, but you are called to an adventure
23
WHITE NIGHTS
Fyodor Dostoevsky
When you feel you’re dating, but you’ve been in the friend zone all along
24
THE ART OF WAR
Sun Tzu
When you’d like to know all the strategies, just in case
25
METAMORPHOSIS
Franz Kafka
When you wake up one day, and you’re an insect
26
OF MICE AND MEN
John Steinbeck
When your friend and your shared dream are more real than reality
27
COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES
Arthur Conan Doyle
When there’s a murder, and the truth is in the details
28
COMPLETE JANE AUSTEN
Jane Austen
When you feel you need dating advice from the Regency Era
29
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Harper Lee
When you’re from a white family, but your father is defending a Black man
30
HAMLET
William Shakespeare
When there’s something rotten in your kingdom, but you’re done
Up to the top 50
31 – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
32 – The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
33 – Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
34 – The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
35 – The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
36 – Emma by Jane Austen
37 – Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
38 – The Iliad by Homer
39 – The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
40 – The Idiot by Dostoevsky
41 – Paradise Lost by John Milton
42 – Madonna in Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali
43 – Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
44 – Rebecca by Daphnée du Maurier
45 – War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
46 – Stoner by John Williams
47 – Persuasion by Jane Austen
48 – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
49 – Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm
50 – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Up to the top 100
51 – The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
52 – Confessions by Saint Augustine
53 – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
54 – And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
55 – Middlemarch by George Eliot
56 – The Stranger / The Outsider by Albert Camus
57 – Complete Edgar Allan Poe
58 – Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
59 – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
60 – A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
61 – Walden by Henry David Thoreau
62 – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
63 – The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
64 – Ulysses by James Joyce
65 – Macbeth by William Shakespeare
66 – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
67 – The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
68 – Short Science Fiction by Isaac Isimov
69 – Advent by Gunnar Gunnarson
70 – The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
71 – So Long, See you Tomorrow by William Maxwell
72 – Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
73 – Complete Shakespeare
74 – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
75 – Super-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami
76 – A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
77 – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
78 – The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
79 – The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
80 – Short Fiction by Saki
81 – A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
82 – Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
83 – The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
84 – The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
85 – Sanshirô by Natsume Sôseki
86 – The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
87 – Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
88 – The Republic by Plato
89 – The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
90 – Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
91 – A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
92 – Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
93 – The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett
94 – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
95 – In Darkest London by Mrs Cecil Chesterton
96 – The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
97 – The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett
98 – Complete Narnia by C.S. Lewis
99 – Jamaica Inn by Daphnée du Maurier
100 – A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
