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

Unit sales of print books fell 3% in the week ended June 5, 2016, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. It was one of the few weeks this year when unit sales failed to top sales in the comparable week in 2015. The juvenile fiction and juvenile nonfiction segments each had a 5% drop compared to the week ended June 7, 2015. The adult coloring book craze began to take hold around this time last year and many of the titles found their way into the juvenile nonfiction category, resulting in unfavorable year-over-year comparisons now. In the week ended June 7, 2015, Johanna Basford’s adult coloring books ran one-two and sold a total of about 23,000 copies. The two top sellers in the comparable week in 2016, First 100 Words by Roger Priddy and Seuss-isms! by Dr. Seuss, sold a total of approximately 14,000 copies. Moreover, unit sales of the top 100 bestsellers in 2016 fell 18% last week compared to the year-ago period. A significant drop in sales of the top 100 juvenile fiction bestsellers (down 19% compared to 2015) was a major factor in declining unit sales in that segment. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss was the #1 seller in the segment in the week ended June 5, 2016, selling more than 32,000 copies. Unit sales of adult fiction fell 2% in the week. The three editions of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes once again held the top three spots on the segment bestsellers list, selling a total of more than 102,000 copies. Adult nonfiction was the only major category to post a sales gain in the week, with units up 0.5%. Bill O’Reilly’s Legends & Lies: The Patriots by David Fisher was the clear #1 seller in the category in the week, selling more than 26,000 units.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format