Adult colouring books are bestsellers again. It makes sense in our anxious age

Two of Australia’s top ten bestselling books in 2025 were adult colouring books: Cozy Corner and Cozy Cuties, both by Coco Wyo, an international group of artists, colorists, editors, and marketers. In the same year, Australian artist Cherry Lam sold a very healthy 50,000 copies of her book, Cosy Calm.

“Cozy coloring book” is a trend on BookTok, where users share videos of their favourite finished pages, collections of markers, and luxuriate in colouring as a Saturday morning or Sunday evening activity.

Colouring books were originally designed for adults, hundreds of years ago. Their renewed popularity now is unsurprising: they appeal at times of prolonged uncertainty, cognitive overload and emotional fatigue.

The last time adult colouring books trended was 2020, during the COVID pandemic – after their initial burst of popularity in 2015. Those 2015 bestsellers, like Secret Garden, which sold an estimated 2.2 million copies worldwide in one year, typically contained intricate patterns.

Ten years later, the “cosy” colouring bestsellers are much simpler, even childlike. Even darker books on the colouring bestseller lists – like the parody Cutest Serial Killers – are characterised as “cute”, with simple illustrations.

These books favour simple, bold designs. Titles such as Cozy Corner focus on familiar domestic scenes — reading nooks, kitchens, cafes — while Cozy Cuties leans into playful animals, gardens and gentle, cheerful motifs. It’s all rendered in broad outlines and large shapes that can be coloured with minimal effort. Though visually reminiscent of children’s colouring books, these titles are clearly pitched at adults. The emphasis is on comfort, relaxation and rest, rather than play or instruction.

Today’s “cosy” colouring bestsellers reflect a broader shift toward low pressure, offline activities in response to screen saturation: what occupational scientists Ann Wilcock and Clare Hocking describe as the value of restorative, low-demand forms of “doing”.

Psychological benefits of colouring

While some are concerned by the adult colouring trend, I’m not. In fact, I’ve gifted colouring books to my own parents, who are in their 70s. At first, it was simply to keep them busy – but it gave them more than that. I watched their relaxation, satisfaction in completing pages and quiet pleasure in sharing their finished work. Sometimes, wellbeing is found in small choices.

Colouring supports positive emotion by offering immediate, low-demand pleasure. Research on nervous system regulation (outlined in Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score) shows that rhythmic, repetitive activities can reduce stress and support emotional regulation – even when they are simple and non-verbal.

Research on structured colouring suggests it supports focused attention while reducing cognitive and emotional demand, allowing people to remain meaningfully occupied without sustained effort.

Colouring often functions as a parallel social activity, supporting relationships. It’s something you can do alongside others, allowing people to share time and space without the pressure to perform, supporting connection through quiet togetherness rather than emotional labour.

Meaning-making in colouring is intentional rather than incidental. It reflects self-kindness, a conscious shift away from productivity demands, toward inner attention and care.

Finally, colouring offers a sense of accomplishment. Completing a page provides a contained, visible achievement. It’s a psychologically significant “small win”, at a time when larger goals may feel overwhelming.

Originally for adults

In the 17th century, it became “fashionable” to hand colour the black and white illustrations accompanying Michael Drayton’s 15,000-line poem, Poly-Olbion, according to art historian Anne Louise Avery. And in the 18th century, the 60 flower illustrations in Robert Sayer’s 1760 book The Florist came with detailed descriptions of how to accurately colour them. These books were aimed at aristocrats.

What’s considered the first colouring book for children, Kate Greenaway’s Little Folks Painting Book, was published in 1879.

Some critics, like Janet Albrechtsen in the Australian, have suggested the popularity of colouring books reflects “a post-literate society”, pointing to documented declines in reading.

But as someone who teaches English language, I see the return of colouring books less as a retreat from literacy than a way adults are adapting to cognitive load. Activities that let attention rest often make it easier, not harder, to return to reading and language.

In that sense, colouring sits comfortably alongside reading in sustaining focus and creating meaning in everyday life.

Christine Lining Bulandus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.