K-Book Trends - South Korea's May Bestsellers

South Korea's May Bestsellers

2019.06.10

A look at the bestseller lists at South Korea's biggest bookstore chains for the third week of May this year shows two Korean authors keeping a strong grip at the top. According to Kyobo Book Centre, YES24 and Aladin, Kim Young-ha's Why Travel (Munhakdongne) and Hong Chun-wook's The History of Money Through 50 Incidents (Rok Media) took the top spots, showing their popularity is still going strong. Meanwhile, Cho Hyun-ah's Yeon's Letters (Sonbom Books) surged quickly in the charts even before its official releasescheduled for May 27, thanks to pre-orders for the book version of the online comic series. This once again reflected the undying demand for online comics in South Korea. As for foreign books, Bernard Werber's Depuis l'au-dela (Open Books) easily found its way inside the top 10 list.
When comparing bestsellers among the three bookstore chains, essays were in vogue at Kyobo with Pooh Bear, Happiness Happens Every Day (RH Korea) in 3rd place and I Have Decided to Live as Me (Maumsup) taking 9th. Aside from essays, books dealing with self-help, philosophy and economy/management all received equal attention in May. At YES24, Seol Min-seok's Great Adventure Into Korean History 10 (IHuman), Magic Thousand Character Classic (Owl Book), Genius Butt Detective and the Curry Mystery (Mirae&Iseum) found themselves all top 10 bestsellers, showing young readers were influential in their performance. In the case of Aladin, comic books were popular as Haikyu!! 35 (Daewon CI), The Complete Edition of Battle Angel Alita 3, 4 (Ani Books) were among the top 10 bestsellers there.
A look at all three bestseller lists shows essays are still popular in South Korea, with famous authors Kim Young-ha and Bernard Werber enjoying steady popularity. The lists also showed online comic series and comics for children have been in demand, dotting the bestseller charts. Reader preferences and publishing trends of South Korea could easily be observed by comparing charts from the three bookstore chains.

* The following lists were provided from the official websites of Kyobo Book Centre, YES 24 and Aladin. The lists for YES24 and Aladin are for the 3rd week of May while for Kyobo, the list is for May 14 to 21.

〈South Korea's May Bestsellers〉

Kyobo Book Centre
1		Why Travel Author \| Kim Young-ha Publisher \| Munhakdongne Genre \| Essay
2		*The History of Money Through 50 Incidents* Author \| Hong Chun-wook Publisher \| Rok Media Genre \| Economy
3		Pooh Bear, Happiness Happens Every Day (Limited Cherry Blossom Edition) Author \| Original Pooh Bear Publisher \| RH Korea Genre \| Essay
4		*Yeon's Letters* Author \| Cho Hyun-ah Publisher \| Sonbom Books Genre \| Online serial comic
5		*Depuis l'au-Dela 1* Author \| Bernard Werber Publisher \| Open Books Genre \| Novel
6		*Depuis l'au-Dela 2* Author \| Bernard Werber Publisher \| Open Books Genre \| Novel
7		*Atomic Habits* Author \| James Clear Publisher \| Business Books Genre \| Self-help
8		*How Philosophy Can Become A Weapon For Life* Author \| Yamaguchi Shu Publisher \| Dasanchodang Genre \| Philosophy
9		*I Have Decided to Live As Me* Author \| Kim Su-hyun Publisher \| Maumsup Genre \| Essay
10		*The Customer Decides My Fate* Author \| Park Jong-yoon Publisher \| Song Books Genre \| Economy/Management

YES24
1		Why Travel Author \| Kim Young-ha Publisher \| Munhakdongne Genre \| Essay
2		*The History of Money Through 50 Incidents* Author \| Hong Chun-wook Publisher \| Rok Media Genre \| Economy
3		*Yeon's Letters* Author \| Cho Hyun-ah Publisher \| Sonbom Books Genre \| Online serial comic
4		*Seol Min-seok's Great Adventure Into Korean History 10* Author \| Seol Min-seok, Story Box Publisher \| IHuman Genre \| Children's comics
5		*Magic Thousand Character Classic 45* Author \| Kim Hyun-su Publisher \| Owl Book Genre \| Children's comics
6		*Reading Strategy for Studying* Author \| Choi Seung-pil Publisher \|Chaek Guru Genre \| Humanities
7		*My Monthly WageIndependence Project* Author \| Yoo Mok-min Publisher \| Leaders Book Genre \| Economy/ Management
8		*Genius Butt Detective and the Curry Mystery* Author \| Troll Publisher \| Mirae&Iseum Genre \| Picture Book
9		*The Irreversible Promise* Author \| Gaku Yakumaru Publisher \| Book Plaza Genre \| Novel
10		*Depuis l'au-Dela 1* Author \| Bernard Werber Publisher \| Open Books Genre \| Novel

Aladin
1		*Yeon's Letters* Author \| Cho Hyun-ah Publisher \| Sonbom Books Genre \| Online serial comic
2		Why Travel Author \| Kim Young-ha Publisher \| Munhakdongne Genre \| Essay
3		*The History of Money Through 50 Incidents* Author \| Hong Chun-wook Publisher \| Rok Media Genre \| Economy
4		*Exhalation* Author \| Ted Chiang Publisher \| Elly Book Genre \| Novel
5		*Haikyu!! 35* Author \| Furudate Haruichi Publisher \| Daewon CI Genre \| Comics
6		*Depuis l'au-Dela 1* Author \| Bernard Werber Publisher \|Open Books Genre \| Novel
7		*Depuis l'au-Dela 2* Author \| Bernard Werber Publisher \| Open Books Genre \| Novel
8		*Jin-Yi, Jinny* Author \| Jeong Yu-jeong Publisher \|Eunhaengnamu Genre \| Novel
9		*Battle Angel Alita Full Edition 4* Author \| Kishiro Yukito Publisher \| Anibooks Genre \| Comics
10		*Battle Angel Alita Full Edition 3* Author \| Kishiro Yukito Publisher \| Anibooks Genre \| Comics