Audiobooks, Best 2021, Best Books, Best Year-End

The Best AudioBooks of 2021 (A Year-End List Aggregation)

“What are the best Audiobooks released in 2021?” We looked at 200 of the top Audiobooks , aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 30 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Audiobooks” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 150+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2021 Articles:

Previous Years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

Happy Scrolling!



Top 30 Best Audiobooks From 2021




30.) Beautiful World, Where Are You written by Sally Rooney and read by Aoife McMahon

Beautiful World, Where Are You

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Cosmopolitan



29.) Eartha & Kitt written by Kitt Shapiro, Patricia Weiss Levy and read by Karen Chilton

Eartha & Kitt

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audiofile
  • Five Books 2



28.) Empire of Pain written by Patrick Radden Keefe and read by Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • The Washington Post



27.) Facing The Mountain written byDaniel James Brown and read by Louis Ozawa

Facing The Mountain

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audiofile
  • Five Books 2



26.) Feeding the Soul written by Tabitha Brown and read by Tabitha Brown

Feeding the Soul

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Cosmopolitan



25.) Fuzz written by Mary Roach and read by Mary Roach

Fuzz

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile



24.) Great Circle written by Maggie Shipstead and read by Cassandra Campbell and Alex McKenna

Great Circle

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Slate



23.) My Broken Language written byQuiara Alegría Hudes and read by Quiara Alegría Hudes

My Broken Language

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile



22.) One Last Stop written by Casey McQuiston and read by Natalie Naudus

One Last Stop

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Marie Claire



21.) Project Hail Mary written by Andy Weir and read by Ray Porter

Project Hail Mary

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile



20.) Somebody’s Daughter written by Ashley C Ford and read by Ashley C Ford

Somebody's Daughter

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile



19.) The Four Winds written byKristin Hannah and read by Julia Whelan

The Four Winds

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Marie Claire



18.) The Lincoln Highway written by Amor Towles and read by Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, and Dion Graham

The Lincoln Highway

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Slate



17.) The Maidens written by Alex Michaelides and read by Louise Brealey, Kobna Holdbrick-Smith

The Maidens

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audiofile
  • Slate



16.) The Night Gate written by Peter May and read by Peter Forbes

The Night Gate

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audiofile
  • Five Books 2



15.) Unbound written byKasia Urbaniak and read by Kasia Urbaniak

Unbound

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Cosmopolitan



14.) Velvet Was The Night written bySilvia Moreno-Garcia and read by Gisela Chípe

Velvet Was The Night

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audiofile
  • Slate



13.) Apples Never Fall written byLiane Moriarty and read by Caroline Lee

Apples Never Fall

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Cosmopolitan



12.) Concrete Rose written byAngie Thomas and read by Dion Graham

Concrete Rose

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Marie Claire



11.) Crying in H Mart written byMichelle Zauner and read by Michelle Zauner

Crying in H Mart

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Cosmopolitan
  • Marie Claire



10.) Firekeeper’s Daughter written byAngeline Boulley and read by Isabella Star LaBlanc

Firekeeper's Daughter

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Booklist 2



9.) Harlem Shuffle written byColson Whitehead and read by Dion Graham

Harlem Shuffle

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Financial Times



8.) Just As I Am written byCicely Tyson, Michelle Burford and read by Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Robin Miles

Just As I Am

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Marie Claire



7.) Matrix written byLauren Groff and read by Adjoa Andoh

Matrix

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Slate



6.) People We Meet on Vacation written byEmily Henry and read by Julia Whelan

People We Meet on Vacation

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Cosmopolitan



5.) Seven Days in June written byTia Williams and read by Mela Lee

Seven Days in June

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Cosmopolitan



4.) The Love Songs of W E B Du Bois written byHonorée Fanonne Jeffers and read by Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, and Prentice Onayemi

The Love Songs of W E B Du Bois

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • The Washington Post



3.) The Sandman: Act II written byNeil Gaiman and read by James McAvoy, Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, David Tennant, and more

The Sandman: Act II

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Slate



2.) You Got Anything Stronger? written byGabrielle Union and read by Gabrielle Union

You Got Anything Stronger?

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Cosmopolitan
  • Marie Claire



1.) Four Hundred Souls written byIbram X Kendi, Keisha N Blain [Eds] and read by JD Jackson, Kevin R Free, January LaVoy, Robin Miles, Dion Graham, Angela Y Davis, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and a Full Cast

Four Hundred Souls

Lists It Appears On:

  • Audible
  • Audiofile
  • Five Books 2
  • Marie Claire




The 150+ Additional Best Audiobooks Released In 2021



31) A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Book 1 – List: Booklist
32) A Lady’s Formula for Love – List: Booklist 2
33) A Master of Djinn – List: Booklist 2
34) A Rage in Harlem – Chester Himes List: Penguin
35) A Swim in a Pond in the Rain – George Saunders List: Marie Claire
36) Aftershocks – Nadia Owusu List: Cosmopolitan
37) Always – Morris Gleitzman List: Audiofile
38) American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850 – List: The Washington Post
39) Any Way The Wind Blows – Rainbow Rowell List: Audiofile
40) Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World – Benjamin Alire-Sáenz List: Audible
41) Arsenic and Adobo – List: Booklist 2
42) Atlas of the Heart – Brené Brown List: Penguin
43) Back in the Burbs – Avery Flynn and Tracy Wolff List: Audible
44) Balthazar – Lawrence Durrell List: Audiofile
45) Bamboozled by Jesus – Yvonne Orji List: Audible
46) Bath Haus – P J Vernon List: Audible
47) Be Well – Jessica Clemons, MD List: Audible
48) Beasts of Prey – List: Booklist 2
49) Beautiful Country – Qian Julie Wang List: Audible
50) Bewilderment – Richard Powers List: Audible
51) Billy Summers – Stephen King List: Audible
52) Black Boy Joy – Kwame Mbalia [Ed] List: Audiofile
53) Black Water Sister – Zen Cho List: Audiofile
54) Black, White, and The Grey – Mashama Bailey and John O Morisano List: Audible
55) Blood Grove – Walter Mosley List: Audiofile
56) Broken Horses – Brandi Carlile List: Audible
57) Call Us What We Carry – Amanda Gorman List: Audible
58) Caul Baby – Morgan Jerkins List: Cosmopolitan
59) Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls – Kaela Rivera List: Audible
60) Cemetery Boys – List: Booklist
61) China Room – List: The Washington Post
62) Clap When You Land  – List: Booklist
63) Class Act – Jerry Craft List: Audible
64) Clea – Lawrence Durrell List: Audiofile
65) Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr List: Audiofile
66) Death by Unknown Event – Danielle Elliot and Eliza Smith List: Audible
67) Detransition, Baby – Torrey Peters List: Audible
68) Don’t Laugh, It’ll Only Encourage Her – Daisy May Cooper List: Penguin
69) Double Blind – Edward St Aubyn List: Penguin
70) E-Day – Nicholas Sansbury Smith List: Audible
71) Exit – List: The Washington Post
72) Faye, Faraway – List: Booklist 2
73) Founding Fubu – Daymond John List: Audible
74) Four Thousand Weeks – Oliver Burkeman List: Audible
75) Get Good with Money – Tiffany Aliche List: Cosmopolitan
76) Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone – Diana Gabaldon List: Audible
77) He Who Fights With Monsters – Shirtaloon List: Audible
78) Hot White Heist – Adam Goldman List: Audible
79) How Beautiful We Were – Imbolo Mbue List: Slate
80) How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith List: Audible
81) How to Save a Life – Lynette Rice List: Cosmopolitan
82) Infinite Country – Patricia Engel List: Marie Claire
83) Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao List: Audible
84) Justine – Lawrence Durrell List: Audiofile
85) Kaleidoscope – Brian Selznick List: Audiofile
86) Keisha The Sket – Jade LB List: Penguin
87) Kent State – List: Booklist
88) Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro List: Audible
89) Legendborn – List: Booklist
90) Lieutenant Dangerous: A Vietnam War Memoir – List: The Washington Post
91) Lola Chick – Maria Escobedo List: Audible
92) Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid List: Marie Claire
93) Marigold – Sara Gran List: Slate
94) Men’s Health – Daniel Goldfarb List: Audible
95) Milk Blood Heat – Dantiel W Moniz List: Audible
96) Mind Body Zone – Deepak Chopra List: Audible
97) Miracle and Wonder – Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam List: Audible
98) More Myself: A Journey – Alicia Keys List: Five Books
99) Mountolive – Lawrence Durrell List: Audiofile
100) My Body, My Podcast – Elizabeth Banks List: Audible
101) My Heart Is a Chainsaw – Stephen Graham Jones List: Audible
102) Ness – Robert Macfarlane List: Penguin
103) No Gods, No Monsters – Cadwell Turnbull List: Audible
104) No One Goes Alone – List: Booklist 2
105) Ocean Prey – John Sandford List: Audiofile
106) Of Women and Salt – Gabriela Garcia List: Cosmopolitan
107) On Juneteenth – Annette Gordon-Reed List: Audible
108) Once upon a Time in Hollywood – List: Booklist 2
109) Oracle – Andrew Pyper List: Audible
110) Peaces – Helen Oyeyemi List: Marie Claire
111) Piranesi – Susanna Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (narrator) List: Five Books
112) Playing Burton – Mark Jenkins List: Audible
113) Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes – Phoebe Robinson List: Audible
114) Raybearer – List: Booklist
115) Razorblade Tears – S A Cosby List: Audible
116) Redemptor – Jordan Ifueko List: Audiofile
117) Reel – Kennedy Ryan List: Audiofile
118) Remote Control – Nnedi Okorafor List: Audiofile
119) Rule Of Cool – Matthew Siege List: Audiofile
120) Rutherford and Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything – Hannah Fry List: Penguin
121) Sankofa – Chibundu Onuzo List: Audible
122) Say You’re Sorry – Lux Alptraum List: Audible
123) Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim List: Audiofile
124) Sleeping Dogs Lie – Samantha Downing List: Audible
125) Somersett – Phillip Goodrich List: Audiofile
126) Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You – List: Booklist
127) Streets, Rhymes & Sugar – Michael Elliot List: Audible
128) Stuntboy, In The Meantime – Jason Reynolds List: Audiofile
129) Such a Fun Age – Kiley Reid & Nicole Lewis (narrator) List: Five Books
130) Tears of Amber – Sofía Segovia List: Audible
131) The 1619 Project – Nikole Hannah-Jones List: Audible
132) The Alexandria Quartet – Lawrence Durrell List: Five Books 2
133) The Angel of Rome – Jess Walter List: Audible
134) The Anthropocene Reviewed – John Green List: Audible
135) The Audacity – Katherine Ryan List: Financial Times
136) The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X and assisted by Alex Haley, Laurence Fishburne (narrator) List: Five Books
137) The Beatryce Prophecy – Kate DiCamillo List: Audible
138) The Boys – Ron Howard, Clint Howard List: Audiofile
139) The Christmas Pig – JK Rowling List: Audible
140) The Cinnamon Bear – Eric Gilliland List: Audible
141) The City We Became: A Novel (The Great Cities Trilogy) – NK Jemisin & Robin Miles (narrator) List: Five Books
142) The Code Breaker – Walter Isaacson List: Audible
143) The Coldest Case – James Patterson, Aaron Tracy, and Ryan Silbert List: Audible
144) The Death of the Heart – List: The Washington Post
145) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev – Dawnie Walton List: Audible
146) The Heart Principle – Helen Hoang List: Audiofile
147) The High 5 Habit – Mel Robbins List: Audible
148) The Housewives – Brian Moylan List: Cosmopolitan
149) The Lost Apothecary – Sarah Penner List: Marie Claire
150) The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood List: Audible
151) The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery – List: The Washington Post
152) The Murder of Robert Wone – AYR Media List: Audible
153) The Murder On The Links – Agatha Christie, Kate McAll [Adapt] List: Audiofile
154) The Orchard – Mike Jones and Mike Cowap List: Audible
155) The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship – List: The Washington Post
156) The Perks Of Loving A Wallflower – Erica Ridley List: Audiofile
157) The Promise – Damon Galgut List: Financial Times
158) The Prophets – Robert Jones, Jr List: Audible
159) The Push – Ashley Audrain List: Marie Claire
160) The Riddle of Emmon Bodfish – Paul Holes, Peter McDonnell, and Josh Sanbur List: Audible
161) The Science of Love – Wind Goodfriend, The Great Courses List: Audible
162) The Secret Of Life – Howard Markel List: Audiofile
163) The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA’s Double Helix – List: The Washington Post
164) The Seed Keeper – List: Booklist 2
165) The Segonian – Dianne Duvall List: Audiofile
166) The Sleeping Beauties – Suzanne O’Sullivan List: Financial Times
167) The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party – List: Booklist
168) The Soulmate Equation – Christina Lauren List: Audible
169) The Stand-In – Lily Chu List: Audible
170) The Storyteller – Dave Grohl List: Audible
171) The Sweetness of Water – Nathan Harris List: Audible
172) The Upper World – Femi Fadugba List: Penguin
173) The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle List: Audiofile
174) The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels – List: Booklist 2
175) This Is Your Mind on Plants – Michael Pollan List: Audible
176) Tokyo Ever After – Emiko Jean List: Audible
177) Tom Stoppard – Hermione Lee List: Audiofile
178) Tony Hillerman – James Morris McGrath List: Audiofile
179) Treacle Walker – Alan Garner List: Financial Times
180) Trejo – Danny Trejo List: Audible
181) Under A White Sky – Elizabeth Kolbert List: Audiofile
182) Unfinished: A Memoir – Priyanka Chopra Jonas List: Marie Claire
183) Unprotected – Billy Porter List: Audible
184) Vagrant Queen 1 – Magdalene Visaggio, Jason Smith List: Audiofile
185) Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty – List: Cosmopolitan
186) We Are Not Free – List: Booklist
187) We Are Not Like Them – Christine Pride and Jo Piazza List: Audible
188) We Are Still Here! – Traci Sorell List: Audiofile
189) We Should All Be Millionaires – Rachel Rodgers List: Audible
190) What Happened to You? – Bruce D Perry and Oprah Winfrey List: Audible
191) What’s Mine and Yours – Naima Coster List: Marie Claire
192) When Stars Are Scattered – List: Booklist
193) When We Make It – Elisabet Velasquez List: Audiofile
194) Yearbook – Seth Rogen List: Audible
195) Yes We Mustard – Ginny Hogan List: Audible
196) You Are What You Risk – Michele Wucker List: Audiofile
197) You Are Your Best Thing – Tarana Burke and Brené Brown List: Audible
198) You Can’t Be Serious – Kal Penn List: Audible
199) You Don’T Belong Here – Elizabeth Becker List: Audiofile
200) Yours Cruelly, Elvira – Cassandra Peterson List: Audible



12 Best Audiobooks Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Five Books The Best Audiobooks: the 2021 Audie Awards
Booklist Top 10 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults: 2021
Booklist 2 Top 10 First Novels on Audio: 2021
Financial Times Best books of 2021: Audio books
Five Books 2 The Best Audiobooks of 2021
The Washington Post Best audiobooks of 2021
Audible The Best of the Year
Slate The Best Audiobooks of 2021
Cosmopolitan The 15 Best Audiobooks of 2021 to Download Now
Audiofile AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of 2021
Marie Claire The 15 Best Audiobooks of 2021
Penguin The best audiobooks of 2021