In second place was the 8,654 copies of the Russian edition of the same title ("Моё будущее в Эстонии. 40 замечательных профессий"), also published by Päike ja Pilv.

The third most popular book was Jekaterina Lomaško's action book "Let's Figure Out! Dio, Aiti and Estonian Friends" ("Nuputame! Dio, Aiti ja Eesti sõbrad"), published by Päike ja Pilv and sold 7028 copies.

In fourth place came Olav Osolini's "Where the Duck Flies" ("Kus lendab part"), published by Varrak, which sold 4,735 copies, and in fifth place came Vilma Parbo's "AB for Toddlers," ("AB mudilastele"), published by Koolibri, which sold 4,638 copies.

The best-selling e-book was "The Invitation", by U.K. writer Lucy Foley, which was published by Eesti Raamat and sold 1,565 copies.

Kaidi Urmet, head of the Publishers' Association, stated that comparing the data from recent years, it can be fairly said that the interest in books has significantly decreased. This is most reflected in the total number of books sold.

Whereas in 2019 a total of 250,328 copies of the books from the top 100 were sold, in 2020 the figure was 214,498 and in 2021, 212,090 copies. "Compared with 2019 alone, it is possible to say that the decline has been about 15 percent," Urmet said.

The number of titles in the original literature in the ranking is 50 titles, which Urmet estimates, is quite common. "Over the years, the original heritage and translations have been more or less halved, and a bit of fluctuation here and there is common."

When comparing quantitatively how many works and translation books by Estonian authors have been sold, the share of original literature in the list of the top 100 in 2021 was 58 percent, the share of original literature in the list of the top 100 in 2020 was 57 percent, i.e. there is no big change here.

As in previous years, at the top of the rankings are children's books published by Päike ja Pilv on behalf of the grocery store Maxima.

There are not many works of fiction in the rankings - there are 14 books for adults - but compared to 2020, more have been purchased in quantitative terms - in 2021, about 31,000 works of fiction were purchased, and in 2020, more than 21,000.

"As always, behind the big fluctuations are the appearance of our popular authors or popular works. For the second year in a row, Olav Osolin is leading the list of fiction works, but Andrus Kivirähk's new book or Stefano Massini's "Lehman Brothers" and David Vseviov's "Uncle Moritza's Dictionary."

There are 44 titles of non-fiction works for adults in the table of the 100 best-selling books - a total of 86,824 copies - of which 29 titles are original works. A total of 61,514 copies have been purchased and make up 71 percent of the non-fiction works acquired.

"This once again confirms that our authors are trusted. There are different books in this division: there are biography, history, crossword and self-help books, but there is one difference compared to last year's charts: we also have two cookbooks."

There are a total of 42 titles in the list of children's books, their sales number was high again - 94,767 copies. Although the number is large, the number has been over 100,000 in previous years, Urmet noted.

"Preparatory books for school are still successful and there is a lot of interest in stickers and playbooks for children. There are more fiction books for children than before. Illustrated editions of 'Harry Potter' and 'Alice Wonderland' new versions have been welcomed well.

The publishing houses Koolibri (28), Varrak (26), Pilgrim (15) and Helios (7) had the highest number of popular books.

In the case of e-books, the Union listed books with 100 or more licenses sold. "Looking at the numbers for the last three years, it is clear that the effects of the pandemic and the restrictions are clear: in 2019 there were 18 names sold, 18 in 2020; 62 in 2021 and 43 in 2021."

In the case of e-books, most fictional translation books are purchased - there are 30 on the list, a total of about 15,000 licenses have been purchased.

The Estonian Publishers' Association (Eesti Kirjastuste Liit) was established in 1991 and currently has 27 publishers under its umbrella. Its book sales ranking has been compiled since 2000, where sales figures are also shown. Textbooks and appendices to periodicals are not included in the ranking of the books, however.

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