Curious as to what your friends and neighbors were reading, watching, and listening to in 2021? Us too!
2021 ushered in a year of stellar new releases from old favorites, a barrage of debut authors, and lots of titles that broadened our bookshelves (and minds) and filled up our streaming queues. Here's a look at the top 10 books, movies, and songs by age group and format.
ADULTS:
No surprises here. The Four Winds, The Vanishing Half, and The Midnight Library took top honors across all formats this year.
Adult Fiction:
1. The Four Winds
2. The Vanishing Half: A Novel
3. The Midnight Library
4. The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel
5. A Time for Mercy
6. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
7. A Gambling Man
8. Sooley: A Novel
9. Daylight
10. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Adult eBooks:
1. The Midnight Library: A Novel
2. The Four Winds: A Novel
3. The Vanishing Half: A Novel
4. The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel
5. The Guest List: A Novel
6. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
7. Bridgerton Collection, Volume 1: Bridgerton Series, Books 1-3
8. Anxious People: A Novel
9. A Time for Mercy
10. Malibu Rising: A Novel
Adult Audiobooks:
1. The Vanishing Half: A Novel
2. The Four Winds: A Novel
3. The Midnight Library: A Novel
4. The Guest List: A Novel
5. A Promised Land
6. Greenlights
7. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
8. The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel
9. Where the Crawdads Sing
10. Anxious People: A Novel
TEEN:
Series seem to take top marks across teen formats in 2021--with lots of checkouts of The Grisha Trilogy and A Court of Thorns and Roses Series as well as older favorites like the Twilight series and The Hunger Games.
Teen Fiction:
1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
2. Midnight Sun
3. One of Us is Lying
4. The Hunger Games
5. Catching Fire
6. The Cruel Prince
7. The Hate U Give
8. We Were Liars
9. Throne of Glass
10. Salt to the Sea
Teen eBooks:
1. Shadow and Bone: The Grisha Trilogy, Book 1
2. Five Total Strangers
3. Midnight Sun: Twilight Series, Book 5
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses
5. Siege and Storm: The Grisha Trilogy, Book 2
6. One of Us Is Lying
7. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: The Hunger Games Series
8. A Court of Mist and Fury
9. Six of Crows: Dregs Series
10. A Court of Wings and Ruin
Teen Audiobooks:
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, Book 1
2. Midnight Sun
3. A Court of Mist and Fury: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, Book 2
4. A Court of Wings and Ruin: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, Book 3
5. The Hunger Games: The Hunger Games Series, Book 1
6. Children of Blood and Bone: Legacy of Orisha Series, Book 1
7. Five Total Strangers
8. The Hate U Give
9. Legendborn
10. The Book Thief
CHILDREN:
Long story, short. It was a good year to be Mo Willems, a wimpy kid or everyone's favorite teen wizard.
Children's Fiction:
1. I Love My New Toy!
2. I Will Take a Nap!
3. Pigs Make Me Sneeze!: An Elephant & Piggie Book
4. I Really Like Slop!
5. Waiting is not easy!
6. The Thank You Book
7. I Will Surprise My Friend!
8. Pete the Cat and the Cool Caterpillar
9. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
10. Elephants Cannot Dance!
Children's eBooks:
1. The Deep End (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 15)
2. The Good Egg
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
4. Grime and Punishment: Dog Man Series, Book 9
5. Logan Likes Mary Anne!: Baby-Sitters Club Graphix Series, Book 8
6. Guts: Smile Series, Book 3
7. Smile: Smile Series, Book 1
8. Fetch-22: Dog Man Series, Book 8
9. Cat Kid Comic Club: Cat Kid Comic Club Series, Book 1
10. The Bad Seed
Children's Audiobooks:
1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
8. A Wrinkle In Time
9. The Dragonet Prophecy
10. The Lightning Thief
MUSIC & MOVIES/TV:
From cross-over country to broadway soundtracks, animated films and superhero favorites, library customers got their fill of music and movies this year.
Albums:
1. Box of Fire, Aerosmith
2. Traveller, Christ Stapleton
3. Lover, Taylor Swift
4. NOW That's What I Call Music 76, Various Artists
5. Folklore, Taylor Swift
6. The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
7. From a Room: Volume 1, Chris Stapleton
8. 25, Adele
9. Guitar Man, George Benson
10. Starting Over, Chris Stapleton
Streaming Music:
1. Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
2. The Greatest Showman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
3. 80s Mixtape, Various Artists
4. KIDZ BOP 2021
5. Evermore, Taylor Swift
6. SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo
7. Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle
8. folklore - deluxe version,Taylor Swift
9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Various Artists
10. Frozen 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/Deluxe Edition
Films:
1. Frozen II
2. Spider Man: Far From Home
3. The Marksman
4. News of the World
5. Wonder Woman 1984
6. The Lion King
7. The Croods, A New Age
8. Tenet
9. Little Women
10. Honest Thief
Streaming Movies & TV:
1. Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus (hoopla) / (kanopy)
2. Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late (hoopla) / (kanopy)
3. Sweet Home Alabama (hoopla)
4. I'm An Animal Season 1 (kanopy)
5. The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog (hoopla)
6. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (kanopy)
7. The Tumblies (kanopy)
8. Intimacy
9. What We Do In the Shadows (kanopy)
10. The Librarians (kanopy)
LIBRARY OF THINGS:
And last but not least, here's a quick look at the top five things your friends and neighbors were checking out from our Library of Things collection in 2021.
1. Seed Bundles
2. Photography Kits
3. Pressure Washers
4. Projection Kits
5. Electric Tiller and Cultivator
Browse the full collection, here
Looking for something new to read, watch or listen to in the new year? Stop by any location to browse our Fresh Picks collections, try our staff-curated lists or personalized recommendations service or broaden your bookshelf with our #BroaderBookshelf Challenge and your talents with our Library of Things.
