Unit sales of print books fell 2.6% last week compared to the week ended January 23, 2021 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales have fallen every week this year, though the 2.6% decline is the smallest so far. Through January 22, sales are down 6.8% compared to the same period a year ago.
Once again sales of adult fiction and nonfiction went in opposite directions. Fiction sales rose 16.7% in the week, led, once again, by Colleen Hoover. Last week, in addition to her BookTok-driven backlist sales, Hoover scored with a new book, Reminders of Him, which was the #1 selling title overall last week, selling about 64,000 copies. Four Hoover backlist titles were also in the top 10 bestsellers on the adult fiction bestseller list, selling a total of more than 91,000 copies. Lisa Gardner cracked the top 10 with the release of One Step Too Far, which sold nearly 12,000 copies.
Adult nonfiction sales dropped 9.3% last week. The #1 title in the category, Atomic Habits by James Clear, sold nearly 38,000 copies, topping the 31,000 copies A Promised Land by Barack Obama sold a year ago. Valerie Bertinelli’s Enough Already was in second place on last week’s adult nonfiction list, selling about 25,000 copies in its first week on sale.
Juvenile fiction and nonfiction sales fell 2.4% and 9.4%, respectively last week. The young adult fiction category had a 9.7% sales increase and nonfiction sales rose 12.6%.
