Readers’ poll vs critics’ list Readers

Comparing the Guardian’s reader-voted top 100 (June 2026) with the critics’ ranking this site is built on.

Everything on this page draws on the readers’ poll — a separate, reader-voted list from the critics’ ranking that powers the rest of the site. The two share only 41 of 100 titles, so they’re treated as two different instruments, not one list re-ordered. Sections elsewhere marked Readers come from this same poll.

—on both lists

—critics only

—readers only

—Kendall tau-b

What’s on each list alone

Critics only

Readers only

Biggest disagreements Readers

The 41 shared books, ranked by how far they move between lists. Positive = readers rank it higher than critics. Teal = readers favour it, red = critics favour it. = marks a readers’ tie.

Tier agreement

Of each list’s top tier, how many appear in the other list’s same tier (and anywhere in its 100).

Author-level view Readers

Authorship bridges more than titles do — e.g. both lists love Hemingway and McCarthy but pick different novels. Authors on both lists, by combined standing.

Download

readers_top100.tsv

The readers’ poll: rank, tie flag, title, author. Ties share a rank (e.g. 12 books tied at 80).
compare_41.tsv

The 41 books on both lists, with critics’ rank, readers’ rank, and the delta.
author_compare.tsv

Author-level join: best rank on each list and the titles each list picked.

Readers’ poll from the Guardian’s reader-voted interactive list (June 2026). Critics’ ranking from the Guardian’s critics’ interactive list (May 2026).