By Adam Sockel, Staff Writer | March 2021

In a year that felt different in every possible way, something that remained constant was the appreciation and usage of libraries. Millions of readers have long enjoyed digital books from their local libraries but in 2020, in the face of COVID-19 restrictions and building closures, more people than ever turned to ebooks and audiobooks for their enjoyment. Digital book checkouts from libraries around the world experienced a 30 percent increase from 2019, a previously record-setting year in its own right.

In total, more than 400 million ebooks and audiobooks were borrowed across all OverDrive platforms in 2020. Here are some of the most popular titles at public libraries across the globe:

Ebooks

• • Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  • Becoming by Michelle Obama
  • Educated by Tara Westover
  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  • The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
  • White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  • The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
  • The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
  • The Guardians by John Grisham
  • Blue Moon by Lee Child

Audiobooks

• • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
  • Becoming by Michelle Obama
  • Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  • Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Educated by Tara Westover
  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
  • So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  • White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  • The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
  • The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Fiction ebooks & audiobooks released in 2020

• • Walk the Wire by David Baldacci
  • Camino Winds by John Grisham
  • The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
  • The Guest List by Lucy Foley
  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
  • The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
  • American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
  • In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
  • Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
  • Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Nonfiction ebooks & audiobooks released in 2020

• • Untamed by Glennon Doyle
  • The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
  • Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
  • Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump
  • Open Book by Jessica Simpson
  • Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
  • The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton
  • Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
  • A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker
  • Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby

Juvenile & young adult ebooks & audiobooks

• • Harry Potter series by K. Rowling
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
  • The Hunger Games series bySuzanne Collins
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic by Michael McCreary
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
  • The Maze Runner by James Dashner
  • Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs