Animal Farm
by George Orwell
Top 25
Farm animals overthrow their owner and build a society that slowly betrays its own ideals. A short fable about power that is sharper than its length suggests. Read the full description
Best for: Students and anyone curious about politics
Animal Farm is #14 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 79 out of 100.
Animal Farm: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, Animal Farm’s reading interest has run from #6 to #34 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
Animal Farm was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 983 times in the past 12 months, peaking in January 2026 with 114 (39% above its monthly average of 82). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were down 3% on the three months before. 72% of the adds were “want to read”, 9% “currently reading” and 19% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 1,459,525 times in the past 12 months, peaking in December 2025 with 219,059 views. The latest three months were down 47% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article Animal Farm.
Awards and honours listed on Wikidata: Modern Library 100 Best Novels, Prometheus Award - Hall of Fame, NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Retro Hugo Award for Best Novella.
What the data says about Animal Farm
- Steady demand. Monthly shelf adds for Animal Farm stayed within a narrow band around 82, which is what a book with a constant stream of new readers looks like.
- Busiest and quietest months. January 2026 was its busiest month (114 adds), about 2.5 times its quietest, December 2025 (46).
- A book people finish. Only 72% of its shelf adds are “want to read”, against 86% across the Top 100, so more of its activity comes from readers logging books they have read or are reading.
- Attention and shelf adds move independently. Its Wikipedia views and its shelf adds did not rise and fall together over these 12 months (correlation -0.36).
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.9% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #32 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 1945 (81 years ago), it is older than 85% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
Animal Farm on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #14 | 79 |
Is Animal Farm rising or falling?
Holding steady Its weekly, monthly and yearly ranks are close together, so interest is steady rather than spiking.
On Open Library, Animal Farm ranks #19 this week, #19 this month, and #35 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why Animal Farm made the Top 100
Animal Farm made the list mainly on momentum (+31.9 points) and being read right now (+19.6 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.6). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for Animal Farm
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have Animal Farm open right now than 59% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Classics books
It is #3 of the 11 Classics books on this month’s list.
About Animal Farm
Farm animals overthrow their owner and build a society that slowly betrays its own ideals. A short fable about power that is sharper than its length suggests.
Why it’s here: It is the shortest way to read a great political classic in an evening.
Best for: Students and anyone curious about politics
At a glance
- First published
- 1945-08-17
- Genre
- Classics
- Also described as
- roman à clef, satirical fiction, fable
- Length
- about 128 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 31 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 653 on Open Library
- Setting
- England, Manor Farm
- Awards and honours
- Modern Library 100 Best Novels, Prometheus Award - Hall of Fame, NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Retro Hugo Award for Best Novella
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- How revolutions get corrupted
- Propaganda
- Power
What reading it is like
A short, deceptively simple fable that reads in an afternoon.
At about 128 pages it is a short read: roughly 3 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
A satire of the Soviet Union, published in 1945. It is short and often taught in schools.
The premise
Farm animals overthrow their careless owner and set up a society where all are equal, until the pigs start to rule. Orwell's fable is a compact story about how revolutions can go wrong.
What you’ll get
- A short, easy read
- A clear lesson about power
- Good for discussion
You might skip it if you want realistic characters over allegory.
More by George Orwell on the Top 100: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Pairs well with: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #13 and #15
Questions about Animal Farm
What rank is Animal Farm on the Top 100 books?
Animal Farm is #14 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 79 out of 100.
Is Animal Farm rising or falling?
Holding steady. Its weekly, monthly and yearly ranks are close together, so interest is steady rather than spiking. On Open Library, Animal Farm ranks #19 this week, #19 this month, and #35 over the past year.
Why is Animal Farm on the Top 100?
Animal Farm made the list mainly on momentum (+31.9 points) and being read right now (+19.6 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.6).
How many people are reading Animal Farm right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 350 readers currently reading Animal Farm, 3,871 who want to read it and 1,125 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has Animal Farm had over the past year?
983 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak January 2026, 114); latest three months down 3% on the prior three; 1,459,525 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (down 47% over the latest three months). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is Animal Farm best for?
Students and anyone curious about politics.
Ask a question about Animal Farm
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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