How many LibraryThing users have copies of each Shakespeare play:
Hamlet 8675
Romeo and Juliet 5851
A Midsummer Night’s Dream 4599
Othello 4060
King Lear 4031
The Tempest 3394
Julius Caesar 2798
The Merchant of Venice 2689
Twelfth Night 2453
Much Ado About Nothing 2412
Sonnets 2238
The Taming of the Shrew 2033
As You Like It 1759
Richard III 1452
Henry V 1415
Antony and Cleopatra 1395
Henry IV, Part I 1308
Measure for Measure 1130
The Winter’s Tale 1001
Richard II 970
The Comedy of Errors 756
Henry IV, Part II 571
Coriolanus 565
Love’s Labour’s Lost 550
Titus Andronicus 541
Troilus and Cressida 533
All’s Well That Ends Well 464
The Merry Wives of Windsor 417
The Two Gentlemen Of Verona 362
Cymbeline 343
Pericles 325
Henry VIII 284
King John 280
Timon of Athens 277
The first part of King Henry the Sixth 205
The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth 182
The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth 153
The jump between the first and second plays on the list (Hamlet to Macbeth) is both absolutely and proportionately the biggest gap. The next biggest proportionate jump is at the bottom of the list, separating the three parts of Henry VI from Timon of Athens. The two other big gaps are i) just below the midpoint, between Richard II on 970 and Henry IV, Part II on 571, with The Comedy of Errors stuck between them on 756; and ii) between the top three (Hamlet/Macbeth/Romeo and Juliet) and the rest (starting with A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Just thought you would like to know.
One thought on “Shakespeare’s plays, ranked by popularity”