Publishers Weekly has unveiled the annual report, Global 50: The Ranking of the Publishing Industry 2022.
The RELX Group remained the world’s largest book publisher in 2021. Total sales for the STM and legal giant fell in 2021 about 3% from 2020 levels, though RELX held onto a substantial lead over second-place publisher Thomson Reuters, notes Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
Click below to listen to the latest episode of the Velocity of Content podcast.
“The top six publishers in 2020 all held their positions in 2021, and while there was some shifting among the top 10 players, no company dropped out of the group,” Albanese tells me.
“The ten largest publishers generated sales of roughly $35 billion in 2021 and accounted for 53% of all sales of the 50 companies included on this year’s ranking,” he says.
“While total sales for publishers in PW’s annual ranking has grown consistently over the years, that’s been fueled by acquisitions of both major competitors and smaller companies.”