Unit sales of print books fell 1.6% last week compared to the week ended November 21, 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The decline was expected, given that in the prior week, Barack Obama’s A Promised Land sold almost 835,000 copies following its November 17 release. A Promised Land led sales last week as well, selling almost 410,000 copies, but overall, sales in the adult nonfiction category fell 11.1% last week.
The decline in adult nonfiction was softened somewhat by a 2.2% unit sales increase in adult fiction, with three new releases contributing to the increase. Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline was #1 in the category, selling 99,000 copies. Next was Deadly Cross by James Patterson, which sold more than 42,000 copies, followed by The Awakening by Nora Roberts, which sold just over 27,000 copies.
Print units increased 17.4% last week in the young adult segment. Holly Black’s How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories sold nearly 16,000 copies in its first week, landing it in second place on the category bestseller list. Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun remained #1, selling more than 26,000 copies.
Juvenile fiction unit sales increased 9.1% last week as a number of Disney Press titles moved up the charts: Disney 5-Minute Christmas Stories sold about 42,000 copies; 5-Minute Frozen sold 33,000 copies; Disney Princess Stories 5-Minute Princess Stories sold 30,000 copies; and Disney 5-Minute Snuggle Stories sold 29,000 copies.
