The year of the evergreens: These non-fiction books were the most popular in 2025

Oliver Fischer

14.1.2026

Translation: machine translated

2025 was a year of evergreens for non-fiction books. Nine of the 20 best-selling non-fiction books in 2025 were already on the list in the previous year.

I think it would be an exaggeration to say that 2025 was a good year for books. And by that I don't mean the quality of the books published, but the sales figures in Switzerland. At least it was slightly better than the year before, as the total volume of books sold grew by 1 per cent compared to 2024.

In addition to fiction and children's and young adult books, the popular non-fiction segment was also among the winners. While Swiss authors dominate the top 10 in fiction, it is works from Germany that top the non-fiction rankings. But Swiss books are also well represented. These include Barbara Bleisch's «Mitten im Leben», a book that was already one of the best-selling non-fiction books last year.

In general, the top 20 books of the year include many evergreens that were already bestsellers last year or even longer. For example, Elke Heidenreich's «Altern», David Goggin's «Can't hurt me», Yuval Noah Harari's «Nexus» or Nick Trenton's «Stop Overthinking».

1. Giulia Endres 🇩🇪

Guidebooks

CHF24.70

Organisch

German, Giulia Enders, 2025

5

2. Stefanie Stahl 🇩🇪

Guidebooks

CHF18.70

Das Kind in dir muss Heimat finden

German, Stefanie steel, 2015

61

3. Christof Gertsch, Mikael Krogerus 🇨🇭, 🇫🇮

4. Elke Heidenreich 🇩🇪

Fiction

CHF21.70

Altern

German, Elke Heidenreich, 2024

15

5. Barbara Bleisch 🇨🇭

Non-fiction

CHF25.70

Mitte des Lebens

German, Barbara Lead, 2024

6

6. Eckhardt von Hirschhausen 🇩🇪

Audiobooks

CHF16.–

Der Pinguin, der fliegen lernte

Corner species of Hirschhausen, German

2

7. Kiarash Hossainpour, Philip Hopf 🇩🇪

Guidebooks

CHF24.70

Next Level Jeden Tag einen Schritt

German, Kiarash Hossainpour, Philip Hopf, 2024

18

8. Mikael Krogerus, Roman Tschäppeler 🇫🇮, 🇨🇭

Guidebooks

CHF19.70

Faustregeln

German, Mikael Krogerus, Roman Chäppeler, 2024

6

9th Verena König 🇩🇪

Guidebooks

CHF19.70

Trauma und Beziehungen

German, Verena King, Verena Mayer-Kolbinger, 2024

6

10. Walter Thurnheer 🇨🇭

Non-fiction

CHF44.70

Wie der Bundesrat die Schweiz regiert und weshalb es trotzdem funktioniert

German, Walter Thurnherr, 2025

1

11. Robert Greene 🇺🇲

Non-fiction

CHF21.70

Power - Die 48 Gesetze der Macht

German, Robert Greene, 2013

52

12th Verena Steiner 🇨🇭

13th David Goggins 🇺🇲

Guidebooks

CHF22.90

Can't Hurt Me

English, David Goggins, 2018

15

14th Giulia Endres 🇩🇪

Reference books

CHF19.70

Darm mit Charme

German, Giulia Enders, 2017

17

15th Nick Trenton 🇺🇲

Non-fiction

CHF20.60

Stop Overthinking

German, Martin Bayer, Nick Trenton, 2023

8

16th Anne Applebaum 🇺🇲

Non-fiction

CHF26.70

Die Achse der Autokraten

German, Anne Applebaum, 2024

8

17. Rolf Dobelli 🇨🇭

Non-fiction

CHF21.70

Piper Die Not-To-Do-Liste

German, Rolf Dobelli, 2024

1

18. Melanie Pignitter 🇦🇹

Guidebooks

CHF19.70

Wiedersehen mit mir selbst zwischen Pizza und Aperol

German, Melanie Pignitter, 2025

1

19th Tahsim Durgun 🇩🇪

Children's books

CHF17.70

Mama, bitte lern Deutsch

German, Tahsim Durgun, 2025

2

20. Yuval Noah Harari 🇮🇱

Non-fiction

CHF28.70

Nexus

German, Andreas Wirthensohn, Juergen Neubauer, Yuval Noah Harari, 2024

3

Oliver Fischer

Teamleader Editorial

Oliver.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.ch

Globetrotter, hiker, wok world champion (not in the ice channel), word acrobat and photo enthusiast.

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