#14 — September 2025 bestsellers + spooktacular Halloween and horror book sales

In episode 14 of NielsenIQ BookData's The Bestsellers podcast, Belle and Philip count down the top 20 bestselling books in the UK in the month of September (02.04), reveal their "Beyond the Bestsellers" picks (13:18), and put horror and ghost stories "Under the Spotlight" (24:50). Along the way they discuss some big first-week sales numbers for a few new fiction hardbacks, a GCSE set text that's a perennial September seller, and Stephen King's influence on the horror market.

Books featured in this episode that can be purchased at all good booksellers include: 

— Jamie Oliver's Eat Yourself Healthy
— SenLinYu's Alchemised
— Janet and Allan Ahlberg's Funnybones
— Bram Stoker's The Burial of the Rats
— Seishi Yokomizo's Murder at the Black Cat Cafe

Further reading:

— The Bookseller on the record-setting sales of Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook
— The Guardian on SenLinYu's Alchemised
— Dazed on horror's new popularity

For more information about who we are and what we do, visit NielsenIQ BookData Home - NIQ. Follow Nielsen Book on X (@bookdata), Linkedin (@nielsen-book) and Instagram (@nielsenbook). Get in touch with Philip and Belle at thebestsellerspodcast@nielseniq.com.

Episode hosted by Philip Stone and Belle Edelman, and produced and edited by Chris White. Theme music by Nela Ruiz.

Thanks for listening!

Chapters

• 2:04 September Top 20
• 13:18 Under the Spotlight