The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending April 5, 2016

Unit sales of print books declined 18% in the week ended Apr. 3, 2016, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The decline was mainly due to Easter falling a week earlier in 2016 compared to 2015; with Easter coming on Mar. 27 this year, unit sales in that week rose 23% over the week ended Mar. 29, 2015. The two juvenile segments, which benefitted the most from Easter week, had the largest declines last week. Unit sales of juvenile fiction fell 39%. The top seller in the segment in the week ended Apr. 5, 2015, was Paper Towns by John Green, which sold more than 26,000 copies, and a total of six books sold more copies than the #1 book in the week ended Apr. 3, 2016: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which sold more than 12,600 copies. Juvenile nonfiction sales fell 33% as books related to Easter all but disappeared from the top of the segment bestsellers list. Returning to the #1 spot was Joyous Blooms to Color by Eleri Fowler, which sold more than 13,000 copies. The adult nonfiction category posted an increase in the week, with units up 5% over 2015. The gain was led by a full week of sales of Harry Potter Magical Places & Characters Coloring Book, which sold more than 27,000 copies, making it the top seller in the category. The segment also benefited from the debut of Country Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen by Francine Bryson and Ann Volkwein, which sold more than 13,000 copies, landing it in fourth place on the category list. Unit sales in the adult fiction segment fell 9% in the week, despite a number of newly released mass market paperbacks hitting the list. Lee Child’s mass market of Make Me was the category’s #1 title, selling more 30,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format