The UK's Publishers Association Charts a 'Steep Rise' in Audiobook Sales

As Joynson points out, the "big jump" news is that in the first six months of this year, audiobook sales were up a massive 71 percent over the sales of the same six-month period in 2019, ahead of the onset of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

For the sake of comparison, consumer ebook sales in this same comparative period in the UK were up 10 percent this year over the 2019 levels, while consumer print was up 6 percent. Needless to say, that means that in the "digital acceleration" we talk about in association with the pandemic's effects, audiobooks in the UK, at least up until June of this year, appear to be leaving their sister formats in the dust.