Well, here we are again, and in what feels like the blink of an eye. If you needed further proof that the festive season is truly upon us, today is Spotify Wrapped day. Yes, it’s officially too late to strategically start listening to different music to skew your algorithm; everyone is about to know that you’ve been playing the Swag album on repeat since July. Also added to the mix this year is Audiobooks Wrapped, so now everyone can know what you’ve been listening to there, too.
Unsurprisingly, for a year that has necessitated an escape from the complexities of daily life, fantasy has emerged as the standout book genre. This year, readers—or rather, listeners—have been immersing themselves in fantastical lands full of adventure, magic, and endless possibilities, with multiple entries from Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas, alongside enduring classics like Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
But it’s another literary genre, also in the top 10, that feels especially fitting for this time of year: autobiographies and memoirs, which were the fifth most popular audiobook genre. Given that this season is rife with reflection and a collective desire for inspiration as we hurtle towards yet another new year, biographies and memoirs really come into their own. Each year, celebrities and authors alike race to release their life story with the same zeal as a musician aiming for the Christmas No. 1. And with the holiday break granting many of us a much-needed slower pace, it’s a prime opportunity to dive into the experiences of people whose lives are markedly different from our own.
I have to admit, I’m fairly old school in my literary interests; I like the heft and texture of holding a book in my hands, as well as the smug reminder it gives me that I am eschewing a screen. But there are a few instances in which I’m happy to break with convention and listen instead of read—and that’s when it comes to memoirs, especially when they’re narrated by their author. Listening feels like peeling back the curtain on someone’s inner world, like eavesdropping on your parents’ conversation when they think you’re in bed. There’s something pleasingly intimate about listening to an autobiography on audiobook; you are, after all, quite literally hearing the story straight from the horse’s mouth.
So, whose lives were we collectively most interested in in 2025? Scroll on to discover the autobiographies and memoirs that captivated Spotify listeners this year.
Spotify Wrapped: The Top 10 Autobiographies and Memoirs in the UK
It’s somewhat fitting for a book that opens with a kid winning a competition to go on to hit the No. 1 top spot. The Trading Game races through Gary Stevenson’s life—from winning a competition run by a bank (aptly named The Trading Game), making him the youngest trader in the city, and dealing in nearly a trillion dollars a day—like someone live-wired an economics book. Stevenson narrates his ascent from precocious math kid to financial wunderkind with unnerving honesty. The result is a memoir that feels less like a victory lap and more like an allegory of wealth and ambition through the eyes of an overpaid 20-something. Listeners say it’s sharp, sweaty, and surprisingly funny. Irvine Welsh describes it as “The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass.”
Coming in at number 2 is And Away…, which listeners say feels like being invited into Bob Mortimer’s brain for an afternoon. Mortimer takes readers from a Middlesbrough childhood marked by mischief, loss, and the occasional small disaster (burning down the family home, forming a punk band called Dog Dirt) through a career as a solicitor and a fateful pub encounter with a young Vic Reeves that changed the course of his life and career. The story pivots dramatically in 2015, when a heart condition forces him to confront mortality and pause the life he thought he knew. Naturally, it’s full of humour, gentle self-mockery, and heartfelt insight. What’s more, it’s narrated by Mortimer himself.
"The 'Prince of Darkness' might’ve left this world earlier this year, but his legacy lives on—and in more formats than just music. Narrated by the Black Sabbath frontman himself and Rupert Farley, I Am Ozzy barrels through the experiences of a man who has lived so many lifetimes. Unflinching, messy, occasionally hilarious, and always self-aware, there’s no moralising here and, pleasingly, no attempt to polish the rough edges. Fittingly, the best summary comes from the man himself: “A lot of it ain't gonna be pretty. I've done some bad things in my time. But I ain't the devil. I'm just John Osbourne: a working-class kid from Aston, who quit his job in the factory and went looking for a good time.”
Audiobook listeners liken Kitchen Confidential to eavesdropping on a friend who is equal parts a genius and a menace. Anthony Bourdain tears through his life in kitchens, back streets, and airplanes with signature candour, unapologetic in his truth-telling: drugs, disasters, and haute cuisine. There’s also an introduction courtesy of Irvine Welsh, which frames it all like a cheeky footnote to chaos.
The viral family vlog and YouTube channel 8 Passengers showcased the daily lives of six children in a picture-perfect family—that is, until it was revealed that beneath the idyllic image lay a world of control, abuse, and manipulation. In The House of My Mother, Shari Franke, the eldest daughter, exposes for the first time how her mother’s online persona concealed a tyrannical parenting style and a cult-like influence that shaped years of suffering. Shocking, unflinching, and deeply compelling, her story is also featured in a new Disney+ docuseries.
Duncan Ferguson’s BIG DUNC kicks off like a punch-drunk barker of a memoir: unpolished, explosive, a litte bit absurd, and incredibly captivating, according to Goodreads. There’s no pretense here, just a six-foot-four force of nature regaling listeners with tales of jail, gangs, glory, and gut-wrenching loyalty to Everton. Ferguson’s voice is equal parts self-aware and unrepentant. Stuck for gifts this Christmas? Here’s a solid contender for the football fan in your field of vision.
I’m Glad My Mom Died is a memoir that lurches between gut-wrenching pain and sharp, absurd humour with the deftness of a tightrope walker who’s used to balancing trauma and comedy. Jennette McCurdy lays bare the weird, suffocating machinery of child stardom: her overbearing mother, the relentless dieting, the invasive fame, with a voice that is both funny and astute. A New York Times bestseller, with no less than three million copies sold worldwide, this memoir so easily could’ve been a maudlin tale of suffering, but instead, you’ll find yourself laughing, cringing, and cheering (and yes, maybe slightly raging) all at once, grateful that McCurdy has finally claimed her own life (and her own hair-washing routine).
In I Love You, Byeee, Adam Buxton navigates the chaos of celebrity encounters, near-death drug escapades, and the absurdities of family life with the same wit and sincerity that fans of his podcast, of which there are many, will well know. Listeners call it messy, charming, and full of digressions that somehow make sense.
Big Beacon is pure Alan Partridge (and narrated by him, too): earnest, but also self-aggrandising, and, of course, very funny. The dual narrative—Partridge’s rise in TV juxtaposed with his obsession with restoring a lighthouse—creates an offbeat comedic symmetry. Jon Ronson sums it up as such: “Not only has Alan Partridge created an entirely new storytelling structure, it’s very funny indeed”.
It’ll come as no surprise, given the subject matter, that I Am A Hitman by the ominous Anonymous is not narrated by its author. Instead, Ben Onwukue takes listeners on a feverish journey of late-night moral reckoning with a kind pulp noir mix. Listeners recall moving through the underworld with a weary sense of detachment that’s quietly chilling. “This is the story of my life as a hitman...”
