Tag: audiobook landing page

Six Captivating Audiobooks Amplify Asian and Pacific Islander Artists

May 20, 2025

Throughout the month of May, Spotify is celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by amplifying the many artists, creators, and authors who share the richness of their heritage through music, podcasts, and audiobooks.

For authors in particular, we’re showcasing the diverse range of voices, themes, and experiences with a dedicated audiobook shelf in our Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month hub. The hub features a curated collection of titles where you can find works from some of the literary world’s biggest names. 

We tapped our editors to share six top picks to get you started.

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

By Asako Yuzuki

Narrated by Hanako Footman

Inspired by true events, Asako Yuzuki’s bestseller explores misogyny, romance, and the transgressive pleasure of food through the story of a female gourmet cook/serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case. 

Gifted & Talented

By Olivie Blake

Narrated by Eunice Wong

Olivie Blake, bestselling author of The Atlas Six, tells the story of three siblings reckoning with long-festering rivalries and dangerous abilities. When their CEO father dies, any one of the telepathically and electrokinetically gifted siblings could inherit the Wrenfare throne.

Pachinko

By Min Jin Lee

Narrated by Sandra Oh, Min Jin Lee

In Pachinko, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan. In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger. When she discovers she is pregnant—and that her lover is married—she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

By Cathy Park Hong

Narrated by Cathy Park Hong 

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong blends memoir, cultural criticism and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. As the daughter of Korean immigrants, the author grew up steeped in shame, suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that so-called “minor feelings” occur when American optimism contradicts one’s own reality. 

Shanghailanders: A Novel

By Juli Min

Narrated by Mei Mei Macleod 

Juli Min’s debut novel follows a cosmopolitan Shanghai household backward in time—from 2040 and through the present and recent past—exploring their secrets, their losses, and the ways a family makes and remakes itself across the years. 

The Emperor of Gladness

By Ocean Vuong

Narrated by James Aaron Oh

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. 

For much more content celebrating API artists—including playlists, podcasts, artist spotlights, and more—visit our special Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month hub on Spotify.

The Year in Audiobooks and How We’re Celebrating Spotify for Authors With a Special Wrapped Experience

December 4, 2024

From building a richer, more dynamic experience for listeners to expanding the data and promotional tools for authors and publishers, we’ve continued to keep “reading” top of mind on Spotify this year. And now, as we reflect back on 2024, it’s time to see what resonated with our listeners and how Wrapped for Authors has provided authors and publishers valuable insights into their work.

What listeners loved

It’s been a year since we launched Audiobooks in Premium, and both new releases and back-catalog titles from buzzworthy authors gained audiences across every genre on Spotify. If you’re looking for new audiobooks to add to your queue, discover the top global and U.S. audiobooks of 2024 here.

This year, we’ve also seen the boom of page-to-screen novels reflected in audiobook listening on Spotify. Colleen Hoover’s romance novel It Ends with Us and Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West are examples of acclaimed books that found their way to the big screen, and listens skyrocketed. James Clavell’s historical novel Shōgun saw a resurgence in popularity this year as its television adaptation kicked off in February. Other popular television shows based on books are George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood and Julia Quinn’s Romancing Mister Bridgerton. 

Check out the Wrapped Audiobooks hub on platform for more listening inspiration with playlists for Breakout Authors, Best Narration, and more. 

Wrapped for Authors

This year marks our first-ever Spotify Wrapped for Authors experience, giving eligible publishers and authors the opportunity to reflect on their achievements from 2024 through personalized data stories. Authors will receive insights about who their listeners are and how their audiobooks resonated with fans around the world, from the most popular time of day for consumption of their titles to the percentage of their audiences who started listening to an audiobook because of one of the author’s other titles. 

For the Record talked with Rebecca McGuire, Manager for Audiobook Partnerships and Licensing at Spotify, to learn more about this year’s inaugural Wrapped for Authors.

What can authors expect to find in their Wrapped for Authors experience? 

When we take a step back, there’s a lot to celebrate with audiobooks in 2024! We carried that spirit into the Wrapped for Authors experience; it’s a fun way to recognize authors, their work, and their fans. For the first time, publishers and authors can get access to their own personalized, one-of-a-kind data stories that give them a sense of how their audiobooks resonated with listeners around the world this year.   

How does Wrapped help authors connect more deeply with their fans? 

Spotify is very committed to helping authors build deeper connections—that commitment comes through in all of the tools and experiences we offer to our partners. For example, we launched Countdown Pages for audiobooks this year, which allows fans to presave upcoming audiobooks and count down to their release, which we know helps build hype and leads to more week-one streams. Wrapped for Authors is an extension of that work, providing the perfect opportunity for authors to learn more about and thank the fans who have listened and come along on their journeys! 

What are some of the biggest Spotify audiobook highlights from the past year?

There is so much to celebrate. First, we’ve expanded audiobooks to more markets so more listeners around the world can benefit from our Audiobooks in Premium offer. We’ve launched powerful new tools for authors and publishers, including the recent addition of Spotify for Authors, our platform for them to gain marketing tools and insights on Spotify. And, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve doubled down on bringing authors and publishers closer to their fans. I had the privilege of attending our recent fan event in New York City with Coco Mellors of Blue Sisters, and it was very rewarding to see the magic between an author and her most devoted readers and listeners. Now I look forward to seeing how our partners across the industry enjoy their Wrapped for Authors experience. 

What was the most memorable audiobook you listened to in 2024? 

It was undoubtedly Dolly Alderton’s Good Material. I listened to it when it was first released in January, and I am still thinking about Jen and Andy and their hilariously tragic relationship woes that were masterfully brought to life by narrators Arthur Darvill and Vanessa Kirby. To me, the sign of a great audiobook is when you can’t imagine reading it in any other format. I literally laughed out loud while listening to this audiobook, and I am now a firm believer that Dolly’s snappy and hilarious dialogue simply must always be listened to! 

And while there were certainly too many great audiobooks published in 2024 to count, I also love that back-catalog titles are finding great success on Spotify, creating pathways for authors to gain new audiences and giving listeners the ability to enjoy books of all kinds, right where they already are. 

If you’re on the hunt for your next great audiobook listen, check out our first-ever Global Top Audiobooks in Premium of the Year list, led by 2024’s buzziest author, Sarah J. Mass, and her A Court of Thorns and Roses series (a series that I have personally listened to about 12 times). There are some great picks on there! 

Explore your personalized 2024 Wrapped and learn more about this year’s campaign and experience on our 2024 Wrapped hub. Eligible authors can work directly with their publishers or Spotify reps to get access to their Wrapped for Authors experience.