Publication Agency Announces Top 200 Trending Books for June... 'Project Hail Mary' Takes First Place in First Half of Year

June Top Seller: "My First Real Estate Textbook"
First Half Bestseller: "Project Hail Mary"
June Book Sales Reach 126.2 Billion Won, Up 4.2% Year-on-Year

The Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea announced the "Top 200 Noteworthy Books of June 2026," aggregated through the Integrated Publishing Distribution Computer Network, on July 15.

The rankings were compiled based on sales data from Kyobo Book Centre, Yes24, Aladdin, Youngpoong Books, and 435 local bookstores across the country.

The top-selling book in June was "My First Real Estate Textbook" by author Song Heegu. This was followed by "Knowledge Briefing for Dignified Conversations," "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse, "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, and "Nietzsche's Transcendent." Literary works such as "I Said Goodbye," "Grapefruit Apricot Club," "Contradiction," and "Aquarium" also ranked high on the list.

The Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea also released the overall sales rankings for the first half of this year. The bestseller for the first half was Andy Weir's "Project Hail Mary," whose sales increased again after the film adaptation was released, followed by "Grapefruit Apricot Club," "Goethe Said Everything," "Contradiction," and "I Said Goodbye." Eight out of the top 10 bestsellers for the first half were literary works, showing strong performance in the literary category.

Total book sales in June amounted to 126.2 billion won, a decrease of 7.1% compared to the previous month but a 4.2% increase from the same month last year. In the first half of the year, total books sold reached 53.07 million copies, up 0.6% year-on-year, while sales revenue was 906.3 billion won, representing a 3.3% increase over the same period last year.

An official from the Integrated Publishing Distribution Computer Network stated, "June is typically the month with the lowest sales of the year due to seasonal factors, but considering the year-on-year increase in sales, we can expect an improvement in the market situation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.