Which LitRPG Series Keep Their Readers?

Reader-retention rankings built from Audible rating counts, series by series

Data snapshot: August 12, 2026

Every long series loses readers as it goes. Book 1 gets sampled by everyone; each sequel is bought only by people who liked the one before. That funnel is invisible on any single book page, but it shows up clearly in the rating counts: we pulled Audible's rating data for every book in 81 popular LitRPG and progression fantasy series (598 audiobooks) and measured how much of its audience each series actually keeps.

One pattern shows up almost everywhere: average ratings rise over a series (75 of 81 series rate higher in their back half than at book 1) while audiences shrink. The readers who quit stop rating; the fans who remain rate high. Hell Difficulty Tutorial is the clearest case: book 1 has 1,396 ratings at a 3.92 average, while book 5 has 499 ratings at 4.92. A late-series star average is a loyalty signal, not a quality guarantee for new readers. Retention numbers tell you what the star ratings can't.

series ranked

68%

median share of book-1 listeners who continue to book 2

75 of 81

series rate higher late in the series than at book 1

The leaderboard

Click any column header to sort. SPI (Staying Power Index) is the average percentage of listeners a series keeps from one book to the next, so it compares long and short series fairly. Hover the bars to see each book's rating count.

#	Series	SPI ▼	Books	Book 1 ratings	Book 1→2	First→last	Rating drift
1	Cradle my reviewWill Wight	93.7	12	12,670	74%	49%	+0.35
2	A Soldier's Life my reviewAlways RollsAOne	93.4	5	1,831	81%	76%	+0.14
3	The Primal Hunter my reviewZogarth	92.7	13	13,480	77%	40%	+0.27
4	1% Lifesteal my reviewRobert Blaise	90.7	3	3,678	68%	82%	+0.25
5	Beneath the Dragoneye MoonsSelkie Myth	89.3	16	867	63%	18%	+0.26
6	The Traveler's Gate Trilogy my reviewWill Wight	89.3	3	8,196	76%	80%	+0.12
7	Titan my reviewSeth Ring	89.3	5	3,033	84%	51%	+0.03
8	He Who Fights with Monsters my reviewShirtaloon	89.1	12	47,751	70%	28%	+0.09
9	The Good Guys my reviewEric Ugland	89.0	16	5,729	74%	17%	+0.12
10	The Bad Guys my reviewEric Ugland	88.9	11	3,593	80%	31%	+0.01
11	Defiance of the FallTheFirstDefier	88.6	16	11,236	87%	16%	+0.03
12	System UniverseSunriseCV	88.3	8	3,362	69%	42%	+0.13
13	The Wandering Inn my reviewpirateaba	87.6	17	14,304	57%	12%	+0.35
14	Dungeon Crawler Carl my reviewMatt Dinniman	87.5	7	66,223	57%	45%	+0.07
15	Divine ApostasyA. F. Kay	87.3	12	2,831	82%	22%	+0.19
16	Victor of Tucson my reviewPlum Parrot	87.2	9	1,536	65%	33%	+0.29
17	The Tower my reviewSeth Ring	87.0	8	1,599	79%	38%	+0.17
18	Chaos SeedsAleron Kong	86.7	8	34,077	83%	37%	+0.07
19	Ultimate Level 1 my reviewShawn Wilson	86.6	10	1,735	69%	27%	-0.05
20	Return of the Runebound ProfessorActus	86.4	6	1,140	65%	48%	+0.15
21	Cyber Dreams my reviewPlum Parrot	86.0	6	1,094	64%	47%	+0.12
22	Super PoweredsDrew Hayes	85.3	5	14,910	85%	53%	+0.18
23	The Legend of Randidly GhosthoundNoret Flood	84.1	12	3,589	70%	15%	+0.18
24	Bog Standard Isekai my reviewMiles English	84.0	4	1,358	80%	59%	+0.10
25	Quest Academy my reviewBrian J. Nordon	83.6	4	1,859	65%	58%	+0.21
26	New Era OnlineShemer Kuznits	83.2	6	12,582	76%	40%	+0.15
27	All the Skills my reviewHonour Rae	83.0	5	3,690	78%	47%	-0.01
28	Master Hunter K my reviewFrom Hell	82.7	3	1,910	70%	68%	+0.13
29	Tree of AeonsSpaizZzer	82.5	7	471	68%	32%	+0.44
30	The Exlian Syndrome my reviewSeth Ring	81.8	4	939	69%	55%	+0.07
31	Battle Mage FarmerSeth Ring	81.6	9	3,554	84%	20%	+0.06
32	Dawn of the VoidPhil Tucker	81.4	3	586	64%	66%	+0.19
33	Death: Genesis my reviewNicholas Searcy	81.3	10	900	48%	16%	+0.17
34	Book of the DeadRinoZ	80.8	4	1,015	90%	53%	+0.17
35	Solo Leveling my reviewChugong	80.7	8	4,530	67%	22%	+0.18
36	Stray Cat StrutRavensDagger	80.7	7	834	69%	28%	+0.11
37	SalvosV.A. Lewis	80.1	13	1,095	62%	7%	+0.08
38	The Divine DungeonDakota Krout	79.9	5	16,978	70%	41%	+0.08
39	The Grand GameTom Elliot	79.9	8	1,400	62%	21%	+0.14
40	Street CultivationSarah Lin	79.6	3	1,057	73%	63%	+0.19
41	The Completionist ChroniclesDakota Krout	78.8	13	14,135	83%	6%	+0.02
42	Mother of Learning my reviewnobody103	78.6	4	3,737	66%	49%	+0.24
43	Reborn as a Demonic TreeXKarnation	78.6	6	1,925	64%	30%	+0.13
44	Infinite RealmIvan Kal	78.4	6	2,113	67%	30%	-0.02
45	A Thousand LiTao Wong	77.8	12	3,416	70%	6%	+0.10
46	Dragonblood Assassin my reviewJaime Castle	77.6	4	1,018	62%	47%	+0.22
47	Azarinth Healer my reviewRhaegar	77.3	6	5,034	50%	28%	+0.21
48	Hell Difficulty Tutorial my reviewCerim	77.3	5	1,396	46%	36%	+0.96
49	Noobtown my reviewRyan Rimmel	77.1	7	6,937	85%	21%	+0.04
50	Level Up my reviewDan Sugralinov	75.8	3	1,827	65%	57%	+0.19
51	Mage Tank my reviewCornman	72.7	3	2,261	53%	53%	+0.16
52	Ends of MagicAlexander Olson	72.1	5	537	54%	27%	+0.47
53	Dungeon Life my reviewKhenal	71.9	4	1,711	57%	37%	+0.19
54	Rune SeekerJ.M. Clarke	71.6	6	1,093	57%	19%	+0.36
55	Beware of Chicken my reviewCasualfarmer	71.5	5	8,964	44%	26%	+0.02
56	Speedrunning the Multiverseadastra339	71.0	4	403	60%	36%	+0.32
57	The Last HorizonWill Wight	70.8	4	2,782	65%	36%	+0.20
58	Beastborne my reviewJames T. Callum	70.3	7	3,226	58%	12%	+0.10
59	Outcast In Another World my reviewKamikazePotato	70.2	7	2,648	61%	12%	+0.18
60	Alpha World my reviewDaniel Schinhofen	68.4	9	3,800	76%	5%	+0.29
61	The Hedge Wizard my reviewAlex Maher	68.4	4	1,503	51%	32%	+0.30
62	The Ripple SystemKyle Kirrin	67.3	6	8,409	82%	14%	+0.12
63	Portal to Nova RomaJ.R. Mathews	66.6	3	2,262	64%	44%	+0.07
64	Awaken OnlineTravis Bagwell	64.1	7	12,061	77%	7%	+0.09
65	Mage ErrantJohn Bierce	63.2	5	3,146	47%	16%	+0.07
66	The Dungeon Slayer my reviewKonrad Ryan	62.9	6	1,155	68%	10%	-0.25
67	The Wraith's HauntHugo Huesca	60.5	5	7,254	66%	13%	+0.32
68	BobiverseDennis E. Taylor	60.1	5	108,926	68%	13%	+0.09
69	Heretical Fishing my reviewHaylock Jobson	59.4	4	6,009	52%	21%	-0.10
70	Reborn: ApocalypseL. M. Kerr	58.8	4	3,041	80%	20%	+0.07
71	Immortal Great SoulsPhil Tucker	58.2	3	3,575	37%	34%	+0.16
72	All Trades my reviewShane Walker	55.6	4	1,086	32%	17%	+0.12
73	Jake's Magical Market my reviewJ.R. Mathews	55.3	3	8,391	38%	31%	-0.07
74	Ascend OnlineLuke Chmilenko	48.9	5	15,831	65%	6%	+0.01

How to read the numbers

SPI: if a series keeps 90% of its listeners at every step, it scores 90. Computed as the geometric mean of per-book retention from book 1 to the latest mature book.
Book 1→2 is the entry funnel: how many samplers become readers. A series can have a brutal entry funnel and elite loyalty afterward (or the reverse).
First→last is the raw funnel. Long series score lower here by arithmetic alone, which is exactly what SPI corrects for.
Rating drift is the survivorship effect: positive means the remaining audience rates later books higher than the mixed audience rated book 1.

Methodology and caveats

Source: Audible catalog rating counts and averages for every book in each series, snapshot taken August 12, 2026. LitRPG is an audio-first genre, so Audible is the deepest single population available, but these are listeners who rate, not all readers.
What counts: numbered mainline entries only (no side-story novellas), and only books released at least 6 months before the snapshot, so brand-new releases don't masquerade as audience collapse. Series need 3+ qualifying books to be ranked.
Newer books are still accumulating ratings even past the 6-month bar, so retention figures are floors. A series still publishing will look slightly worse than a finished one; it cannot look better than it is.
Excluded for data problems (7 series): re-released or delisted editions split a book's ratings across entries and fake the retention math (The Beginning After the End's re-recorded book 1 is the clearest case). Rather than rank bad data, we left these out:
- Arcane Ascension (Andrew Rowe)
- Chrysalis (RinoZ)
- The Beginning After the End (TurtleMe)
- The Path of Ascension (C. Mantis)
- The Perfect Run (Maxime J. Durand)
- The Weirkey Chronicles (Sarah Lin)
- Vainqueur the Dragon (Maxime J. Durand)
Not yet rankable (too few mature books): A Summoner Awakens, Academy of Outcasts, Discount Dan's Backroom Bargains, Industrial Strength Magic, Stormweaver, The Calamitous Bob, The Vampire Vincent, Unorthodox Farming.