The 2023 Rakuten Kobo book report: digital reading in the year of Barbenheimer

AMSTERDAM – January 9, 2024 – Rakuten Kobo proudly shares the 2023 Kobo Book Report, exploring the most notable trends and reading habits of Dutch readers this year.

Dutch people hit the books hard in 2023 and increased their 2022 reading by 9.9%, reading the equivalent of over 9000 years in eBooks and audiobooks. So, what kept Dutchies turning pages? This year, Kobo readers were drawn to page-to-screen adaptations like The Summer I Turned Pretty and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Additionally, Dutchies' interest in the Biography and Autobiography genre spiked by 14%.

We already knew True Crime was hot and happening because of podcasts like De Kasteelmoord and De Gifmenger, but also, in books, we see this is a scorching topic. The sale of the True Crime genre has risen by 18 per cent year on year. A lot of Dutchies became very aware of their health after the pandemic. ​ It looks like this focus is here to stay as the Mind, Body, Spirit genre sales increased 45.28%. Health and fitness increased with 15 per cent and the Medical genre with 53 per cent. We are looking forward to the European health stats for 2024, convinced the Dutchies will be top of the league.

This year, the most popular reading day in the Netherlands was June 25, 2023, while the most popular reading months were July and August. The most-read days of the week were Sunday and Monday. Overall, the Dutch spent the most time reading in the late evening, with users across the country opting to enjoy their books between 8:00 and 10:00 PM. When it comes to page-turning productivity, results varied:

“In troubled times, when people are feeling uncertain, they turn enthusiastically to reading. We’ve seen groundbreaking new releases and outstanding page-to-screen adaptations take the world by storm,” said Michael Tamblyn, CEO, Rakuten Kobo. “We are delighted to note that our Dutch readers are reading more and more often - everything from memoirs, romance, true crime to fantasy.”

Barbenheimer lights up movie screens and reading trends:
​The dual release of The Barbie Movie and Oppenheimer created one of the most notable media moments of 2023. The juxtaposition of the films comically opposite themes created a social media frenzy that caught everyone’s attention, and thus ‘Barbenheimer’ was born. We saw this trend transfer from the big screen to the small, with Kobo readers digging into both movie themes. Books featuring J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb increased by almost 500 per cent in 2023, while books mentioning Barbie increased by 75 per cent. Additionally, in very Barbie-coded fashion, 71 per cent of Kobo bestsellers were written by female authors and featured strong female leads.

Page-to-screen adaptations continue to attract new readers:
​Older books continue to see a second surge in popularity thanks to page-to-screen adaptations capturing new readers. The standout success of the year is the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Marin J. Sherwin, which inspired the box office hit Oppenheimer. Following the release of the much-anticipated flick, sales of books containing "Robert Oppenheimer" or "Atomic bomb" grew over 178 per cent year-over-year. American Prometheus isn’t the only phenomenon – here are some other adapted books that saw a mass of new readers this year:

The Netherlands bestselling books of 2023:
​Self-Help to Romance to Thrillers to Fantasy to Literary Fiction, Dutch reading interests were vast and varied this year. While genres may vary, one thing was sure, the Dutch were craving female voices. In a very Barbie-coded end to 2023, 17 of the 20 top-selling titles were written by women. Here are the top eBooks and audiobooks in The Netherlands this year:

The Netherlands’ top 10 bestselling eBooks of 2023:

The Netherlands’ top 10 audiobooks of 2023:

The Netherlands' top 10 books on social media of 2023:
​We see that Dutch book lovers don't often have books that are on trend and so read more of what they like so it can be quite diverse but there are still a number of popular books (which are mostly English and emerge from English booktok) that are mutually captured by Dutch fans so:

About Rakuten Kobo Inc. ​
​Rakuten Kobo Inc. is the world’s digital bookseller created by and for book lovers. Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten Group, Inc. and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo’s millions of worldwide users can read anytime, anywhere, and on any device. With a mission to make reading lives better for all, Rakuten Kobo connects readers to stories using thoughtful and personalized curation of eBooks and audiobooks, and the best dedicated eReaders and apps for reading. With the singular focus of making reading lives the best they can be, Kobo’s open platform allows people to fit reading into more moments in their busy lives. ​

To learn more about Rakuten Kobo, visit www.kobo.com.

Press contact ​
​Kshitiz Ahuja
​Senior Manager, Global Communications ​
​[email protected]