VOL.93/2026.04

Best Sellers

 

New Spring, Books Worth Your Attention

 

 

2026.03

 

 

As we approach the spring of 2026, the bestseller charts for the second week of February once again demonstrated the enduring power of fiction, with novels claiming six of the top ten spots. For our 2026 feature, we move beyond the digital sphere to focus on brick-and-mortar bookstores, where readers can personally browse the shelves, feel the texture of the printed type, and choose their books through a physical encounter.

 

In South Korea, major franchises occupy the majority of the physical bookstore market. Currently, four main franchises—Kyobo Book Centre, Youngpoong Bookstore, Jongno Books, and Arc N Book—are in competition. We intend to examine the top ten books across these locations, starting with Kyobo Book Centre, which holds the largest number of branches, followed by Youngpoong, Jongno, and Arc N Book. To begin, we analyzed the Kyobo Book Centre bestseller list for the second week of February 2026.

 

In February 2026, the memoir of the late Lee Hae-chan, Executive Vice-Chair of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council who passed away last January, recorded the highest sales. Fiction also showed remarkable strength, with novels such as the Japanese work Goethe Said Everything, singer-songwriter Hanroro’s Grapefruit Apricot Club, and Yang Gui-ja’s Contradictions entering the bestseller charts. Additionally, two books in the business and economics sector climbed the list, reflecting the current investment fever in South Korea.

 

 

 

 

---

Editor. Haneul Jeong (The Contents Factory Co., Ltd. Researcher)

Designing 'More' Innovative Communication and Experiences Through Content.