Author Kim Young-ha's essay "Once in a Lifetime" topped the bestseller list upon its release.
According to the bestseller rankings announced by Kyobo Book Centre on April 11, "Once in a Lifetime" pushed down "Dual Brain," which had held the top spot for two consecutive weeks, to claim first place.
"Once in a Lifetime" is an essay released six years after Kim Young-ha's "Reasons for Travel." The author depicts his family history and the ordinary flow of daily life with a calm writing style.
Female buyers accounted for 70.3%, significantly outpacing males (29.7%). In particular, one in four readers who purchased the book was a woman in her 40s (26.6%), showing strong support.
In the upper rankings, literary works such as novels dominated other genres.
Yang Kyu-ja's novel "Contradiction" ranked third, while Han Kang's novel "The Boy Comes" took fourth place, and the collection of works awarded the 16th Young Writer Award also entered the rankings at sixth.
Additionally, Han Kang's "I Don't Say Goodbye" (8th), John Williams' "Stoner" (9th), and Chung Dae-geon's "Rapids" (10th) all made it into the top ten, totaling six novels.
The new book "The People Will Ultimately Make It" by Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the Democratic Party who declared his candidacy for the presidential election, recorded first place in both Kyobo Book Centre and YES24's real-time online bestseller rankings within just one day of its pre-sale on the 10th. The book will be published on the 15th, and currently, only pre-orders are being accepted.
According to YES24, among the purchasing age groups, those in their 40s made up the highest proportion at 38.3%, followed by those in their 50s at 35.6%. Of these, women in their 40s and 50s recorded the highest purchasing rates at 26.0% each, followed by men in their 40s (12.3%).
The book contains content from the declaration of a state of emergency on December 3 last year to the approval of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment motion and the Constitutional Court's ruling on his dismissal.