JK Rowling’s New Novel Misses 2025 Bestseller Lists as Market Shifts

For the first time in years, a major new novel by J.K. Rowling has slipped past the year’s biggest bestseller lists, signaling a sharp shift in how (and what) readers are buying.

The book, published under her Robert Galbraith crime pen name and following on from The Running Grave, failed to appear on several key 2025 year-end charts in the UK, despite Rowling’s long dominance of the market. Its quieter performance lands just as children’s author Julia Donaldson officially overtakes Rowling as the UK’s all-time top author by volume sales.[1]

The end of an era — and the rise of romantasy

Donaldson clinched the top spot in 2024, driven by more than 3.1 million print copies sold in the UK that year alone.[1] It’s a symbolic passing of the torch: from the wizarding generation to the picture-book families who grew up on The Gruffalo and its many companions.

At the same time, the fantasy shelves around Rowling have transformed. Driven by BookTok and the boom in romantasy, UK science fiction and fantasy sales jumped by more than 40% in 2024, boosting a flood of newer voices and buzzy series onto the charts.[2] Readers chasing high-emotion fantasy love stories and viral TikTok picks are reordering the pecking order once ruled by Hogwarts.

Rowling’s own Wizarding World, however, remains a powerhouse in other corners of the industry. Her digital publishing company Pottermore Ltd recently reported more than £54 million in revenue in a single year, thanks to e-books, audiobooks and tie-in titles that keep Harry Potter firmly embedded in global reading habits.[3][4]

Controversy, bookstores and reader sentiment

Rowling’s slipping print rankings don’t exist in a vacuum. In recent years, her outspoken activism around trans issues has led some independent bookstores and festivals to distance themselves from her work. One prominent San Francisco shop publicly stopped stocking Harry Potter entirely, citing solidarity with trans customers and staff.[5]

That tension has played out across the wider culture, from university trigger warnings on Harry Potter to fierce online debates over whether readers can still separate the books from the author. Recent research even suggests that politically left-leaning readers literally visualize Rowling’s face differently from right-leaning readers, underscoring how polarized her public image has become.[6]

And yet, within her own franchises, Rowling continues to expand. Under the Galbraith name, her Cormoran Strike novels keep generating new TV installments; she recently confirmed the return of Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger for The Running Grave adaptation, cementing the series as one of crime TV’s steadiest continuations.[7]

For readers, the muted chart showing of her latest novel is less about one “flop” and more about a turning point. Bestseller lists are now where author reputation, online fandoms, and fast-moving genre trends collide — and even the once-untouchable names are no longer guaranteed a spot at the top.