The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A mysterious millionaire throws lavish parties in pursuit of a lost love in Jazz Age New York. A short, luminous novel about ambition and illusion. Read the full description
Best for: Anyone wanting a short, beautiful classic
The Great Gatsby is #54 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 63 out of 100.
The Great Gatsby: 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, The Great Gatsby’s reading interest has run from #22 to #50 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
The Great Gatsby was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 590 times in the past 12 months, peaking in January 2026 with 68 (38% above its monthly average of 49). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were down 28% on the three months before. 73% of the adds were “want to read”, 8% “currently reading” and 19% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 1,336,528 times in the past 12 months, peaking in November 2025 with 211,209 views. The latest three months were down 25% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article The Great Gatsby.
Awards and honours listed on Wikidata: Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction.
What the data says about The Great Gatsby
- Steady demand. Monthly shelf adds for The Great Gatsby stayed within a narrow band around 49, which is what a book with a constant stream of new readers looks like.
- Busiest and quietest months. January 2026 was its busiest month (68 adds), about 2.1 times its quietest, June 2026 (33).
- A book people finish. Only 73% 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 0.08).
- Against its genre. It had 36% fewer shelf adds than the average Classics book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.6% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #61 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 1925 (101 years ago), it is older than 94% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
The Great Gatsby 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 | #54 | 63 |
Is The Great Gatsby rising or falling?
Holding steady Its weekly, monthly and yearly ranks are close together, so interest is steady rather than spiking.
On Open Library, The Great Gatsby ranks #47 this week, #51 this month, and #77 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 The Great Gatsby made the Top 100
The Great Gatsby made the list mainly on momentum (+28.3 points) and being read right now (+15.4 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.9). 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 The Great Gatsby
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 The Great Gatsby open right now than 32% 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 #9 of the 11 Classics books on this month’s list.
About The Great Gatsby
A mysterious millionaire throws lavish parties in pursuit of a lost love in Jazz Age New York. A short, luminous novel about ambition and illusion.
Why it’s here: At under two hundred pages, it is a perfect first classic.
Best for: Anyone wanting a short, beautiful classic
At a glance
- First published
- 1925-04-10
- Genre
- Classics
- Also described as
- tragedy, Great American Novel
- Length
- about 185 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 16 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 1,180 on Open Library
- Setting
- New York City
- Characters listed
- Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
- Awards and honours
- Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- The American dream
- Wealth and class
- Longing for the past
What reading it is like
Lyrical, compact and atmospheric, narrated by an observer.
At about 185 pages it is a medium-length read: roughly 4 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Short and often taught in schools. Set on Long Island in 1922.
The premise
Nick Carraway watches his mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby, throw lavish parties in pursuit of a lost love in 1920s Long Island. The novel is short and lyrical.
What you’ll get
- Beautiful, compact prose
- Themes of ambition and illusion
- A sharp portrait of the Jazz Age
You might skip it if you want fast, plot-driven fiction.
Pairs well with: Pride and Prejudice · The Picture of Dorian Gray
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #53 and #55
Questions about The Great Gatsby
What rank is The Great Gatsby on the Top 100 books?
The Great Gatsby is #54 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 63 out of 100.
Is The Great Gatsby rising or falling?
Holding steady. Its weekly, monthly and yearly ranks are close together, so interest is steady rather than spiking. On Open Library, The Great Gatsby ranks #47 this week, #51 this month, and #77 over the past year.
Why is The Great Gatsby on the Top 100?
The Great Gatsby made the list mainly on momentum (+28.3 points) and being read right now (+15.4 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.9).
How many people are reading The Great Gatsby right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 204 readers currently reading The Great Gatsby, 2,631 who want to read it and 524 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 The Great Gatsby had over the past year?
590 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak January 2026, 68); latest three months down 28% on the prior three; 1,336,528 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (down 25% over the latest three months). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is The Great Gatsby best for?
Anyone wanting a short, beautiful classic.
Ask a question about The Great Gatsby
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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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