For the first time this century, Australia’s top five best-selling books in a calendar year have all been written by local authors. But only two – Apples never fall by Liane Moriarty, which has sold nearly 2 million copies, causing a market blitz, and The cabin in the 143 floors by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton – were released in 2021.

The other three – Happiest man on earth by the late Eddie Jaku, The barefoot investor by Scott Pape and The Lost Words Dictionary by Pip Williams – were published in 2020, 2016 and 2020 respectively.

In one of the most difficult years for the book industry, in which it has been hit by bottlenecks and critical supply chain issues, overall sales edged down to 65.4 million. pounds, but the value rose 2.5% to over $ 1.2 billion, according to the figures. for last year from Nielsen BookScan, which surveys booksellers across the country.

The top 10 was completed by perennial favorite Lee Child, writing with his brother Andrew (Better to die), Delia Owens (Where the crayfish sing), Charlie Mackesey (The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse), And two blue securities, The swimming pool and The backyard. Eleven of the top 20 titles were Australian.

Besides Scott Pape, Dave Grohl’s The narrator was the top-performing non-fiction title, selling over 84,000 copies in a $ 45 hardcover. Jane harper The dry, which was originally released in 2016, received an additional film-related edition released in late 2020 that accounted for 60% of the more than 82,000 copies sold. Sally Rooney’s highly anticipated third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, sold over 76,000 copies, while Matthew Reilly’s latest Jack West jnr novel, One Impossible Labyrinth, sold around 72,000 copies.

In the top 10 adult titles by Australian titles, Reilly’s novel came in sixth, followed by two titles by Trent Dalton, boy swallows the universe and Love stories, that of Kim McCosker The Easiest Air Fryer Book Ever!, and Hannah Kent’s third novel, Devotion.

Australian Booksellers Association chief executive Robbie Egan said in addition to the blockages, supply issues had been the major issue and the entry into the crucial Christmas period was worse than expected. “Fortunately, they came out in December,” said Mr Egan, “but stores in Brisbane and Melbourne were hit hard, and northern Queensland and the Victoria region struggled.”

The problems arose because all three distribution centers for publishers – two in Sydney, one in Melbourne – use the same delivery company and when Melbourne and Sydney opened after the lockdown demand created a deadlock.