Annual Bestseller Awards Recognize Bestselling Authors
NielsenIQBookData, in partnership with BolognaBookPlus, celebrated the annual Bestseller Awards in central London with Ruth Jones, Davina McCall and David Nicholls among the stellar line-up of prize-winning authors.
The Bestseller Awards, which were presented by Rebecca Jones, former BBC arts correspondent and Chief News Presenter, are the only awards based on UK volume sales data, recognising all-time sales across print and e-book formats. The awards honour the authors whose books have sold more than 250,000 copies (Silver); more than 500,000 copies (Gold); and more than one million copies (Platinum).
The Awards celebrated 21 stand-out titles that have achieved Silver, Gold and Platinum status, together totalling sales of more than 7.3 million books. The UK bookmarket continues to demonstrate its resilience, with readers showing a strong appetite for a good story particularly in the crime thriller genre, with fiction sales rising in volume by 0.2%. In total, more than 191m print books were purchased in the UK in 2025,generating £1.814bn in value. On average, more than half a million books were bought each day last year.
The awards…
The journalist and author Bella Mackie received a Platinum award for her dark and satirical debut novel How to Kill Your Family.
The Series Platinum Award this year goes to author Jim Field and illustrator Kes Gray for achieving sales of more than two million copies of the laugh-out-loud children’s book Oi Frog. This new award was introduced last year to recognise and acknowledge a series that has gone on to achieve great success, not just in terms of sales but also for sustaining reader loyalty.
Children’s book sales were further celebrated at the Bestseller Awards with author Fiona Watt receiving the Author Platinum Award in recognition of sales of more than five million copies of her bestselling baby and toddler book series That’s Not My… Fiona Watt, who has been an in-house author and Editorial Director at Usborne for more than 30 years, has to date sold more than 20 million books.
Three authors received the Gold Award: thriller writers Claire Douglas for The Wrong Sister, T.M. Logan for Lies, and Asako Yuzuki for Butter.
Thirteen authors were presented with Silver awards. Davina McCall and Dr Naomi Potter achieved Silver status for their game-changing women’s health title Menopausing, alongside Caroline Hirons for Skincare.
Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones picked up the most awards on the night, taking home three Silver awards for her three novels Love Untold, Never Green and Us Three. Also recognised in the Silver category were David Nicholls for You Are Here; psychological thriller writer B. A. Paris for The Breakdown; and Sarah Winman for Still Life. Silver awards went to four authors for their debut novels: Michelle Frances for The Girlfriend; Jennie Godfrey for List of Suspicious Things; Monica Heisey for Really Good, Actually; and Janice Hallett for The Appeal. Meanwhile, Claire Douglas picked up her second award of the night for The New Neighbours, and New York Times best-selling author Coco Mellors received two silver awards for Cleopatra and Frankenstein and for Blue Sisters.
Commenting on behalf of NielsenIQBookData, Andre Breedt, Managing Director, said, “We’re delighted to host The Bestseller Awards once again and to shine a spotlight on the incredible achievements of authors, illustrators, and the teams who champion their work.”
Jacks Thomas, Guest Director, BolognaBookPlus, said, “In a fast-changing digital world, the recognition of the written word directly from the creative mind that ‘pens’ it, is something to be valued and celebrated more than ever before. The world of book publishing depends on, and recognises, the symbiotic relationship between fact, fiction and how they are presented illustratively to the consumer. BolognaBookPlus is, as ever, in awe of the creativity statistically recognised at the Bestseller Awards and delighted to bring them to a wider audience.”
What next?
This year sees the expansion of the NielsenIQBookData Bestseller Awards into the Italian market. The inaugural Italian Bestseller Awards will be announced at BolognaBookPlus on 13 April and will feature three categories: Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction and Children’s.
The Bestseller Awards data is provided by NielsenIQBookData’sBookScan service, which has been tracking UK book sales continuously for over 30 years. BolognaBookPlus, an advocate of authors, rights, and creativity, delivers the annual awards in partnership with NielsenIQBookData.