In 2023, audiobook sales rose 9%, to $2 billion, continuing the category's steady growth over the years, and a majority of adults in the U.S. (52%) have listened to an audiobook, meaning that nearly 149 million Americans have yet to try audiobooks.
These and other findings came from surveys on sales and on consumer attitudes done for the Audio Publishers Association by Toluna Harris Interactive and Edison Research, respectively. They are available in their entirety to APA members.
Other findings:
Surveyed in February, some 38% of American adults listened to an audiobook, up from the 35% reported a year earlier. And the most avid audiobook fans listened to an average of 6.8, up from 6.3 a year earlier. Overall, all audiobook listeners listened on average to 4.8 audiobooks, up from 4 the year earlier.
Some 53% of adult audiobook listeners say their children also listen to audiobooks. And 77% of those parents say a key benefit of audiobook is giving their children a break from screens.
Some 46% of audiobook listeners have borrowed a digital audiobook from a library in the last year.
With 64% of sales revenue, fiction is the top audiobooks category for the third consecutive year. Top fiction categories are general fiction (21%), science fiction/fantasy (14%), and romance (11%).
The fastest-growing audiobooks categories are history/biography/memoir (up 22%), health & fitness (up 20%), religious/faith-based (up 17%), and romance (up 14%).