The current popularity paradoxes of the book market (book enthusiasm on digital platforms on the one hand, decline in book sales on the other) are best illustrated by bestseller lists. To this end, the article concep­tualizes bestseller lists as a medium of second-order popula­rization in contrast to other evaluation practices in the literary field that engage in first-order popula­rization (e. g. literary prizes). Based on theoretical approaches and empirical findings, the article shows how bestseller lists are modified in order to react to the continuous depopula­rization of the book and the competition from digital platforms such as Amazon and TikTok. It thus argues for a literary sociology of the popular.

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Schaffrick, Matthias (2024): „Bestsellerlisten in Theorie und Empirie. Ansätze einer Literatur­sozio­logie des Popu­lären“, in: Thomas Hecken und Niels Werber (Hg.): Listen, Rankings, Charts. Zur Behaup­tung des Populären. Hamburg (Sonderheft Kultur­wissen­schaft­liche Zeit­schrift), S. 160–174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28937/9783787349319_8.