With sales down in all categories, unit sales of print books fell 9.3% last week compared to the week ended May 29, 2021 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.
Adult nonfiction continued to struggle, with unit sales down 12.7%. The #1 title in the category was Atomic Habits by James Clear, which sold nearly 19,000 copies. Last year at this time, Acoustic Guitar Primer by Bert Casey was the category’s top title, selling about 25,000 copies. The bestselling new release in the segment last week was Elena Aguilar’s The PD Book, which sold just over 7,000 copies.
Adult fiction sales had a rare down week with sales falling 1.4%. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was the top title in the category, selling more than 40,000 copies. Last year, Legacy by Nora Roberts was #1, selling about 33,000 copies. Last week, Roberts’ Nightwork was the top-selling new release, selling almost 27,000 copies. The War of Two Queens by Jennifer Armentrout sold almost 14,000 copies in its first week on sale, landing at #10 on the category list.
Children's fiction sales dropped 10.6% in the week. Both last week and in 2021 Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss was #1 in the segment, selling approximately 50,000 copies in both weeks. Erin Napier’s The Lantern House was the bestselling new release in the category, selling nearly 12,000 copies.
For the year to date, total unit sales were down 6.5% from the same period in 2021.
