Quick linguistics moment: while the word “e-mail” dates back to 1982 [collapsed by the Associated Press to just “email” in 2011], it was definitely not in common usage in 1995. Note the use of “mail” instead in the paragraph about Eyes & Editors. Note: The section on The 2000s in this article references J.K. Rowling, as her books were top sellers from 2000 to 2007.
The 1990s
The 2000s
The 2010s
In 2012 we entered the world of E L James and her Fifty Shades Trilogy, and say what you will about it, but the popularity of the series did some heavy lifting in making kink and consent part of our normal lexicon. In 2015, a baby board book beat out The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up for that coveted top spot in physical books (there’s a joke in there somewhere…), while The Girl on the Train topped the Kindle charts.
The 2020s
Skipping ahead to 2020, Barack Obama’s A Promised Land topped physical books, but not for as long as Michelle Obama’s Becoming did; the First Lady of our Hearts topped the charts in 2018 and was #2 in 2019, while in 2021, Barack’s latest has dropped to #35. As of August 31, 2021, the top-selling physical book for 2021 is Mark Levin’s American Marxism, and the top ebook is Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds.
