You Came, You Saw, You Read

Here’s What San Francisco Was Reading and Listening to in 2025

With millions of books and media available at their fingertips, San Franciscans have no shortage of options when it comes to what to read or listen to. With so much competition, what were the City’s most popular titles at the end of the first quarter century? San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) dug into its data to find out. Discover what San Franciscans of all ages were checking out in our Top 10 lists for 2025.

Fiction

Top Print Adult Fiction

1. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
2. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
3. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
4. The Women by Kristen Hannah
5. All Fours by Miranda July
6. James by Percival Everett
7. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
8. The Chinese Groove by Kathryn Ma
9. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
10. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Top eBooks Adult Fiction

1. The Women by Kristen Hannah
2. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
3. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
4. The Wedding People by Alison Espach
5. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
6. Funny Story by Emily Henry
7. A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
8. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
9. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
10. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney landed the top spot on the Adult Fiction—Print list, and also appeared in the top three for eBooks, demonstrating the popularity the Irish writer enjoys stateside. The romantasy genre had a second strong year in our Top 10, with Rebecca Yarros’s sequel Onyx Storm landing at #2 on both the Adult Fiction—eBooks and Adult Audiobook lists, and #3 on the Adult Fiction—Print list.

Only one other fiction title nabbed a spot on the top circulating print, eBook and audiobook lists: historical novel The Women by Kristen Hannah. And notably, one title has appeared for the third consecutive year on the Adult Fiction—Print list: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin.

Top Adult Audiobook Fiction and Nonfiction

1. The Women by Kristen Hannah
2. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
3. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
4. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
5. Funny Story by Emily Henry
6. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
7. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
8. The Wedding People by Alison Espach
9. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

10. James by Percival Everett

     

Nonfiction

In 2025, a mixture of memoir, sociology, mental health and self-improvement titles landed on the top nonfiction print and eBook lists. SFPL’s “One City One Book” selection, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, propelled the classic memoir by Dr. Maya Angelou to the #1 spot on the Adult Nonfiction—Print list. Anxiety about our reliance on technology and the tech industry also fueled San Francisco’s reading; the bestseller The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic by Jonathan Haidt and Sarah Wynne-Williams’s insider account of Meta, Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism appear on both the print and eBook lists. And The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, by popular podcaster Mel Robbins, took the top nonfiction eBook spot as well as #3 on the print list.

Top Print Adult Nonfiction

1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
2. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic by Jonathan Haidt
3. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins
4. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
5. Abundance: What Progress Takes by Ezra Klein
6. Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot
7. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
8. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
9. Solito by Javier Zamora
10. Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia

Top eBook Adult Nonfiction

1. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins
2. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Churchwell
3. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Abundance: What Progress Takes by Ezra Klein
6. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
7. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay Gibson
8. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic by Jonathan Haidt
9. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
10. Educated by Tara Westover

Children’s and Young Adult

In 2025, graphic novels reigned supreme on the children’s top titles list. Dog Man Dav Pilkey ceded only two spots in the Top 10 to Jeff Kinney of Wimpy Kid fame and Ellen T. Crenshaw for a Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel. Dog Man, Pilkey’s 13-volume series, demonstrates the seemingly unlimited appetite of young readers for funny, action-packed graphic novels with heart-warming themes such as empathy and persistence.

Authors Suzanne Collins and Sarah J. Maas dominated the young adult fiction list, taking home seven out of the 10 titles featured on the list. Collins’s dystopian series, which launched 17 years ago with The Hunger Games, continues to draw in new teen readers. And the epic fantasy novel A Court of Thorns and Roses, the first in Maas’s bestselling series, celebrated both its 10th anniversary and a second place spot on our charts this year.

Top Children’s Fiction

1. Cat Kid Comic Club: Influencers by Dav Pilkey
2. Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder by Dav Pilkey
3. Dog Man: Grime and Punishment by Dav Pilkey          
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess by Jeff Kinney
5. Dog Man and Cat Kid by Dav Pilkey
6. Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls by Dav Pilkey
7. Dog Man Unleashed by Dav Pilkey
8. Dog Man: Big Jim Begins by Dav Pilkey
9. Dog Man by Dav Pilkey
10. The Baby Sitters Club: Kristy and the Walking Disaster by Ellen T. Crenshaw

Top Teen Fiction

1. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5. The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
6. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
7. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
8. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
9. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
10. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Music

Vinyl stayed classic with many familiar titles from previous years at the top of the charts. Jazz saxophone greats Miles Davis and John Coltrane took the first and second spots, as well as #7, #9 and #10. Rounding out the list were 2024 releases by Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft) and Taylor Swift (The Tortured Poets Department), and two LPs from The Beatles.

Top Vinyl

1. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
2. A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
3. Abbey Road by The Beatles
4. The Beatles by The Beatles
5. Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish
6. We Are by Jon Batiste
7. Miles Davis, Vol. 2 by Miles Davis
8. The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift
9. Blue Train by John Coltrane
10. Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album by John Coltrane

San Francisco’s identity has long been shaped by its love of both literature and music. In 2025, that cultural richness was alive at SFPL, where library users of all ages explored new books, revisited beloved classics and celebrated the joy of stories in all their forms.