The sexual exploits of Anastasia and Christian are taking their place alongside the old-fashioned, understated romance of Elizabeth and Darcy.

Publishing sensation Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels have been voted in at No 5 in the Whitcoulls Top 100 - one place behind Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice.

E L James' Fifty Shades trilogy has become the fastest-selling paperback since records began, and the first ebook to sell a million copies.

It details a relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and business tycoon Christian Grey.

Two other recent trilogies made the top five - Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy took out the top spot, with Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games coming in at No 2.

Another old favourite - JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series - was third.

Fittingly for the country that depicts Middle-earth on the big screen, The Lord of the Rings is also the most popular book since voting for the Top 100 list began in 1996.

Whitcoulls book manager Joan McKenzie said this year's list reflected New Zealanders' diverse reading habits.

“Twenty-eight books have made it on to the list for the first time, so it's good to see Kiwis like to mix it up a bit,” she said.

“There are classics that appear on the list year in, year out. But with hundreds of thousands of new books published every year, it's exciting to see some new titles winning over New Zealand readers.”

General fiction was by far the most popular genre in 2012-13, with well over half the books coming from this category.

Whitcoulls' list included a section for readers to vote for their favourite author.

American author Jodi Picoult got the most votes, followed by Harry Potter writer JK Rowling and Lee Child, who writes crime novels centred around hero Jack Reacher.

- © Fairfax NZ News