Several new releases helped to boost unit sales of adult fiction print books by 26.6% last week over the week ended October 10, 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales of young adult fiction rose 26% and, coupled with the jump in adult fiction, the overall increase in fiction sales was enough to offset more nonfiction declines, resulting in an overall 2% increase in print sales last week over the same period in 2020.
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles was the top-selling novel last year week, selling nearly 65,000 copies in its first week on sale. Two new graphic novels also did well. Chainsaw Man, Volume 7 by Tatsuki Fujimoto and Jujustu Kaisen Volume 12 by Gege Akutomi sold about 25,000 and 20,000 copies, respectively, on their first week on sale. Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads sold more than 23,000 copies in its first week, while Danielle Steel’s The Butler sold almost 22,000 copies. The increase in young adult fiction sales was aided by the debut of Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco, which sold over 23,000 copies to make it #1 on the category bestseller list.
The decline in adult nonfiction last week was relatively small, 1.9%. The appearance of six new titles among the category’s top 10 bestsellers helped to blunt last year’s strong debuts of Modern Comfort Food by Ina Gartner and Humans by Brandon Stanton, which sold about 130,000 and 103,000 copies, respectively, in the comparable week last year. Topping last week’s category list was The Storyteller by Dave Grohl, which sold more than 62,000 copies. In the third-through-fifth spots were Stephanie Grisham (I’ll Take Your Questions Now, about 24,000 copies sold), Stanley Tucci (Taste), and David Jeremiah (Where Do We Go from Here?); both Taste and Where Do We Go from Here sold about 23,000 copies.
Unit sales in juvenile fiction slipped 1.5% last week as Halloween titles dominated the category bestseller list. Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle was #1, selling more than 23,000 copies.
