Data story · ratings by genre
Which genre has the highest-rated audiobooks? Romantasy, at 4.08★
Romantasy readers rate their books 4.08★ on average, 0.20 points above thriller at the bottom of the table. Here is how every genre scores, and what share of each shelf clears 4★.
Averaging listener ratings across every genre shelf in our dataset, romantasy comes out on top at 4.08★ and thriller sits last at 3.88★. The spread is modest (0.20 points), so the sharper signal is the share of each shelf rated 4★ or higher:
The share that clears 4★
For a baseline: across every rated book in the dataset regardless of genre, the average is 3.94★ and 52% clear 4★. Genres above those numbers are genuinely out-rating the field, not just riding a generous scale.
The full table
| Genre | Rated books | Avg rating | Rated 4★+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romantasy | 275 | 4.08★ | 61% |
| Young Adult | 587 | 4.07★ | 62% |
| Fantasy | 2,108 | 4.05★ | 63% |
| Historical Fiction | 456 | 4.03★ | 60% |
| Business | 320 | 3.99★ | 55% |
| Horror | 608 | 3.97★ | 51% |
| Mystery | 1,221 | 3.95★ | 51% |
| Self-Help | 141 | 3.93★ | 47% |
| Science Fiction | 1,520 | 3.90★ | 46% |
| Romance | 3,615 | 3.90★ | 49% |
| Thriller | 1,136 | 3.88★ | 44% |
Romantasy is rated highest: test it
61% of the romantasy shelf rates 4★ or better, so the odds are with you.
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Start listening freeMethodology.Genre pools use full genre membership (a book cross-tagged romance + fantasy counts in both); ratings are Open Library listener ratings; books without a rating are excluded. Dataset: 8,560 audiobooks measured by The Books Insider as of 2026-09-30. Listening hours are the store-listed duration where we hold an author-verified edition (1,642 books), otherwise estimated from page counts (pages × 275 words ÷ 9,300 words/hour, ±10%, labeled as estimates); full method on the About page. Explore the full dataset on ouraudiobook statistics page.About & methodology →