Coloring Books for Adults Are a Thing

By A Mystery Man Writer

Last updated 18 Jun 2024

Well, at least it's not Fifty Shades of Grey. The two top-selling books on .com right now are Johanna Basford's Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest. Sounds unremarkable enough, right? Could be supernatural-fantasy genre novels or gripping bodice-rippers. But actually, Basford's books are adult coloring books. As in coloring books, for adults. In fact, Basford's coloring books for adults are so popular, they might be the best-selling coloring books for adults ever—according to a report in The Guardian, Basford has sold more than 1.4 million copies of her books to date. Maybe adults have just been desperate, yearning for years for something appropriate tocolor.In the U.K., Richard Merritt's Art Therapy Colouring Book sits in fourth spot on 's best-seller lists, Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom—detailed pictures of animals to color—sits in seventh, and a mindfulness coloring book sits in ninth. Basford's titles are in second and eighth place—that's half of .co.uk's top 10 taken up by coloring books for adults. Have you bought an adult coloring book lately? Tell us what the lure of the genre is! Maybe we should make some fashiony and beauty-y ones for Glamour readers? Personally, I'm partial to color-by-number.
Well, at least it's not Fifty Shades of Grey. The two top-selling books on .com right now are Johanna Basford's Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest. Sounds unremarkable enough, right? Could be supernatural-fantasy genre novels or gripping bodice-rippers. But actually, Basford's books are adult coloring books. As in coloring books, for adults. In fact, Basford's coloring books for adults are so popular, they might be the best-selling coloring books for adults ever—according to a report in The Guardian, Basford has sold more than 1.4 million copies of her books to date. Maybe adults have just been desperate, yearning for years for something appropriate tocolor.In the U.K., Richard Merritt's Art Therapy Colouring Book sits in fourth spot on 's best-seller lists, Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom—detailed pictures of animals to color—sits in seventh, and a mindfulness coloring book sits in ninth. Basford's titles are in second and eighth place—that's half of .co.uk's top 10 taken up by coloring books for adults. Have you bought an adult coloring book lately? Tell us what the lure of the genre is! Maybe we should make some fashiony and beauty-y ones for Glamour readers? Personally, I'm partial to color-by-number.