Hi, Kensi! Thanks for the response. Some of the reasons that “Crawdads” attained such popularity are

• appealed to a mass demographic
• There was a unifying effect of living in quiet isolation confronted by loneliness
• A multi-dimensional plot: murder, romance, coming-of-age, nature writing encompassing universal experiences of will-to-survive, ostracism, compassion, and love.
• Backing of INDEPENDENT bookstores
• Word of mouth buzz and the self-fulfilling prophecy: “The book's visibility drove sales. The more it sold, the more visible it became.”

This article is where I found much of this: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/books/where-the-crawdads-sing-delia-owens.html

Thanks for reading and responding. Your comment gave me an idea about a future post on the factors that might drive a book to popularity and mass sales. Have a great day.