Unit sales of print books had one of their best weeks of the year last week, but it still wasn’t quite enough to top sales from a year ago. Unit sales fell 4.1% last week, one of the smallest declines this fall.
The adult and young adult fiction segments had sales increases over the week ended December 11, 2021. Adult fiction sales increased 4.8%, driven by a number of Colleen Hoover titles. It Starts with Us was #1 in the category, selling more than 82,000 copies, followed by It Ends with Us, which sold nearly 59,000 copies. Three other Hoover titles were among the top 10 sellers in the category. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was in fourth place on the list, selling almost 38,000 copies—the most weekly units the novel has sold since it release in April, as it benefits from a surge in publicity driven by Apple TV+ announcing that it will be adapted as a series.
Young adult fiction sales increased 1.8%. Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was #1, selling over 13,000 copies. A new release, Scott Cawthon’s Somniphobia, was in third spot on the list, selling just over 11,000 copies.
Adult nonfiction sales had the largest decline in the week, falling 8.3%. Last year, Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman, was #1, selling about 176,000 copies in its first week. Last week, Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry was #1 in the category, selling nearly 91,000 copies. A new release, How to Meet Your Self by Nicole Lepera, sold nearly 37,000 copies, landing it in fourth place on the list.
Juvenile fiction sales fell 3.6% despite solid sales for books by Jeff Kinney and Dav Pilkey. Kinney’s Diper Överlöde just edged out Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations for the top spot in the category by a count by 450 copies, selling a total of 72,648 units.
