Spotify is trying to make audiobooks more like podcasts
Audiobook Charts on Spotify rank books weekly overall and by genre using listening and engagement.
Rolling out in the U.S. and U.K.: go to Search > Audiobooks > Audiobook Charts.
Extras: sync progress with real books and AI 90-second Recaps, helping you discover new audiobooks.
Spotify is obviously best known for music streaming, but it’s recently been making a huge push into audiobooks. Over the last year, the streaming service has added several features that bring it up to speed with and even go beyond Audible. The latest addition lets you see charts for books just like you can for podcasts.
Audiobook Charts are pretty much exactly what you would expect. Similar to the charts for music and podcasts, the Audiobook Charts rank titles overall and by genre. The rankings are based on listening and engagement statistics, and they’re updated every week.
The top overall chart is a list of 30, while each individual genre chart has 10. The current genres include:
Romance
Mystery & Thriller
Self-Help
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Biography & Memoir
Business & Careers
Teen & Young Adult
Religion & Spirituality
History
Parenting & Relationships.
Audiobook Charts are rolling out right now in the U.S. and the U.K. You can find the charts by going to the “Search” tab, selecting “Audiobooks,” and scrolling down to “Audiobook Charts.” If you’ve never checked the charts before, this is the same way you can find them for “Music” and “Podcasts” as well.
The previous audiobook feature launches included a really nifty method for syncing your progress with a physical book, and a "Recap" button for hearing an AI-generated 90-second summary of what you've read so far. Audible also offers a Recap feature, but the ability to sync with a real book is unique to Spotify.
Spotify isn’t the only audiobook service with charts—Amazon has a top 100 “Best Sellers” list for Audible. However, Spotify has always been about music discovery. Charts fit right in with that mission of helping people to discover new stuff to listen to. Finding books that you might like is harder than finding music you might like, so this is a welcomed feature.
Source: Spotify
