From Novels to Economic Outlook Books: The Chuseok Holiday's No. 1 Book Has Changed [fn Book Briefing]

[Financial News] The books most sought after by readers during the Chuseok holiday break have shifted from novels to self-help books and economic outlook books. While the No. 1 title changed, literature consistently remained near the top of the rankings. Last year, comics and light novels stood out, placing 31 titles—the largest number from any category—in the overall top 100.
According to YES24 on the 25th, novels and self-help books each claimed the No. 1 spot in the overall bestseller rankings twice between 2021 and 2025, while business and economics books took the top spot once.■ From Novels to Self-Help and Economic Outlook BooksIn 2021, Lee Mi-ye's "The DallerGut Dream Department Store 2" rose to the top spot. "The DallerGut Dream Department Store 1" also ranked second, giving the same series the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.
Han Kang's "We Do Not Part" ranked fourth, while Matt Haig's "The Midnight Library" came in eighth. Both Korean and international novels appeared in the top 10.
The following year, in 2022, Jeong Ji-a's "Father's Liberation Diary" took the top spot. A Korean novel was thus chosen by holiday-break readers for the second consecutive year.
Self-help books took over the top spot in 2023 and 2024. Benjamin Hardy's "Be Your Future Self Now" and Bichiki's "The Difficult Relationships That Started to Unravel Smoothly" ranked first in their respective years. Last year, "Trend Korea 2026," which forecasts consumer trends for the following year, was the best-selling title.
■ Literature Remains Steady in Popularity, While Comics Make GainsThe rankings of individual books do not always correspond to the distribution by category. Although a business and economics book ranked first last year, comics and light novels placed the largest number of titles in the overall top 100. The trends in holiday reading become clearer when both the success of a single title and the breadth of books chosen by readers are considered.
Novels, poetry and plays remained among the top five categories over the past five years, based on the number of titles included in the overall top 100. The category recorded 16 titles in 2021, 14 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 19 in 2024 and nine last year.
The category ranked first by number of titles in 2022 and 2024. This indicates that demand for literature continued even as self-help books replaced it at the top of the overall bestseller rankings.
Business and economics books also formed a major part of holiday reading lists. The number of titles in the overall top 100 was 24 in 2021, 10 in 2022, 17 in 2023, 10 in 2024 and 18 last year. Self-help books recorded nine, 13, 19, eight and eight titles over the same period.
The advance of comics and light novels was particularly notable last year. They accounted for 31 of the overall top 100 titles, ahead of business and economics books with 18 and humanities books with 12. That was an increase of 23 titles from the eight recorded in 2024.
Among buyers of comics and light novels during last year's Chuseok holiday break, those in their teens and 20s accounted for 44.9%. Nearly half of the category's buyers were therefore from younger generations. A limited-edition hardcover package of the comic "Your Letter" also ranked ninth among last year's top 10 titles.
[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter