Breaking Down 2020 Bestsellers by Publisher

PW runs two hardcover and two paperback lists each week, and each list has 20 titles on it, meaning that in the course of a year there are 2,080 hardcover and 2,080 paperback positions on the lists total. On the hardcover side, the Big Five controlled 89.1% of all available bestseller slots-down from 92.5% in 2019. They had an even greater loss in paperback, with their share of positions falling to 79%, versus 83.7% in 2019. And among the top publishers there was a bit of shuffling. Simon & Schuster gained ground on the hardcover side, moving it ahead of Hachette and Macmillan to become the #3 house in terms of bestsellers. Hachette paperbacks performed well, gaining ground on HarperCollins and Penguin Random House. Macmillan lost share in both hardcover and paperback formats.