Print book sales finished the last week before Christmas with a rush as sales increased 15.4% over the comparable week in 2020 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The gain put an end to a two-week streak of declining sales.
Units in the adult fiction segment jumped 31.4% last week over 2020, led by John Grisham’s The Judge’s List, which sold just under 50,000 copies. The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom was #2 on the category list, selling nearly 43,000 copies. It was followed by The Wish by Nicholas Sparks, which sold more than 35,000 copies.
Juvenile fiction sales rose 20% and once again had the two overall top sellers for the week. Jeff Kinney’s The Big Shot, the 16th book in his Wimpy Kid series, was #1, selling more than 77,000 copies, followed by Perspectives, the newest volume in Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club, which sold over 74,000 copies.
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera was #1 in the young adult fiction category, selling nearly 19,000 copies. Category unit sales were up 25% in the week.
In adult nonfiction, sales rose 9.6% led by Atlas of the Hear by Brené Brown, which sold some 73,000 units. In second place was Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman, which sold over 41,000 copies.
With one week left to go in 2021, unit sales of print books are up approximately 9% over 2020.
