Compared to 2024, the top nonfiction audiobooks of 2025 were published much more recently, most of them having just come out in the last couple years. Celebrity memoir dominates the list, with most of the authors performing their own audiobook. Now, let’s compare the nonfiction list with the top audiobooks overall.
Global Top Audiobooks in Premium of 2025
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, Narrated By Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton
- Lights Out by Navessa Allen, Narrated by Elena Wolfe, Jacob Morgan
- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, Narrated By Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Narrated By Jennifer Ikeda
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, Narrated By Jennifer Ikeda
- The House of My Mother by Shari Franke, Narrated By Shari Franke
- The Wedding People by Alison Espach, Narrated By Helen Laser
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas, Narrated By Amanda Leigh Cobb
- Quicksilver by Callie Hart, Narrated By Stella Bloom, Anthony Palmini
- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, Narrated By Julia Whelan
Top New Audiobooks Releases of 2025
- The House of My Mother by Shari Franke, Narrated By Shari Franke
- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, Narrated By Julia Whelan
- The Tenant by Freida McFadden, Narrated By Will Damron, Christine Lakin
- Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, Narrated By Will Damron, Christine Lakin
- Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez, Narrated By Christine Lakin, Matt Lanter
- The Crash by Freida McFadden, Narrated By Leslie Howard
- Caught Up by Navessa Allen, Narrated By Teddy Hamilton, Kasi Hollowell, Jason June
- Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Narrated By Kristen DiMercurio, Julia Whelan, Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green, Narrated By John Green
- Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood, Narrated By Elizabeth Lamont, Eric Nolan
- Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams, Narrated By Sarah Wynn-Williams
- One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune, Narrated By AJ Bridel, Carley Fortune
- Fearless by Lauren Roberts, Narrated By Cecily Bednar Schmidt, Chase Brown, Jared Zeus, Lauren Roberts
All three of these lists are data-driven, so it’s interesting to see Spotify users’ listening trends. On the general top audiobook lists, there are only a few nonfiction titles listed. And like last year, the lists are very white. But Spotify’s audiobook editors have once again supplemented these data-driven lists with curated lists that are meant to help listeners expand their listening horizons. There’s the Editor’s List, Best Debuts, Best Indie, and several different genre lists. Compared to last year, they’ve expanded their nonfiction lists to include memoirs, self-help, celebrity, history, and general nonfiction. Expanding this editorial feature was my biggest request from last year, and I appreciate that Spotify has pushed itself to include more varieties of audiobooks and different genres of nonfiction.
If you’re interested in more diverse titles, here’s a list of audiobooks by BIPOC women writers that were popular on Libro.fm. It includes Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson, narrated by January LaVoy; Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray, narrated by Robin Miles; Sucker Punch, Essays by Scaachi Koul, narrated by Scaachi Koul; and Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools by Mary Annette Pember.
As I perused Spotify’s lists for 2025, I noticed that in their list view, they didn’t name the audiobook narrators. To see who narrated each audiobook, you have to click through and look at the details of each title. Narrators are vital to the success of any audiobook, and I would love to see them featured more prominently. This would also help listeners follow their favorite narrators and find more titles that they’ve performed.
Spotify is still newer to the audiobook game than its biggest competitors, Audible and Libro.fm. Over the last two years, they’ve made great strides in creating a unique experience for their audiobook-loving users. But they have a lot of ground to make up. Time will tell if their push to make Spotify the hub for all of your listening needs succeeds.
You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.