Unit sales of print books fell 0.9% in the first quarter ended March 29, 2025 from last year at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. Total unit sales were 168.3 million, down from 169.7 million in the first quarter of 2024.
Last year’s first quarter was given a boost by an early Easter, which this year doesn’t take place until April 20. Still, the pattern was a familiar one, with adult fiction sales up over 2024 while all other segments, with the exception of young adult nonfiction, saw declines.
The 3.5% increase in adult fiction was led by the January release of Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, the deluxe edition of which sold more than 1.5 million copies and the standard edition sold nearly 350,000 copies. Two other Yarros titles, Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, sold a combined total of approximately 587,000 copies, giving Yarros four books on BookScan’s top 10 list. Freida McFadden had two titles on the overall top 10 list, The Crash and The Housemaid, which sold a combined total of about 584,000 copies.
The other big first quarter release, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, sold more than 936,000 copies in the quarter but that was not enough to keep young adult fiction sales from slipping 0.5%. Adult nonfiction sales fell 1.7% despite the success of The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, which sold more than 962,000 copies in the quarter. James Clear’s Atomic Habits finished the quarter in the 10th spot, selling over 253,000 copies.
Sales of more than 936,000 copies of Dav Pilkey’s Big Jim Begins (Dog Man #13), was not enough to offset the lack of Easter sales, and children's fiction sales dipped 3.7%. Children's nonfiction sales fell 3% in the quarter.
The classification quirk that puts adult coloring books in the young adult nonfiction category was a major factor in lifting sales by 8.4% in the segment. Five adult coloring books were among the category’s top 10 bestsellers including five by adult color book queen Johanna Basford—though the sales volume is not even close to what is was in the genre’s heyday.
Q1 Unit Sales of Print Books By Category
(in thousands)
| Category | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Fiction | 42,976 | 44,494 | 3.5% |
| Adult Nonfiction | 64,335 | 63,219 | -1.7% |
| Juvenile Fiction | 38,707 | 37,260 | -3.7% |
| Juvenile Nonfiction | 12,931 | 12,545 | -3.0% |
| Young Adult Fiction | 6,938 | 6,904 | -0.5% |
| Young Adult Nonfiction | 889 | 964 | 8.4% |
| Total | 169,770 | 168,294 | -0.9% |
The Top 10 Bestselling Books of 2025 (So Far)
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Sales (YTD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Onyx Storm (deluxe edition) | Rebecca Yarros | Red Tower | 1,510,014 |
| 2 | The Let Them Theory | Mel Robbins | Hay House | 962,291 |
| 3 | Sunrise on the Reaping | Suzanne Collins | Scholastic | 936,612 |
| 4 | Big Jim Begins (Dog Man #13) | Dav Pilkey | Graphix | 352,514 |
| 5 | Onyx Storm (standard edition) | Rebecca Yarros | Red Tower | 349,341 |
| 6 | Fourth Wing | Rebecca Yarros | Red Tower | 298,741 |
| 7 | The Crash | Freida McFadden | Poisoned Pen | 294,737 |
| 8 | The Housemaid | Freida McFadden | Grand Central | 289,528 |
| 9 | Iron Flame | Rebecca Yarros | Red Tower | 289,284 |
| 10 | Atomic Habits | James Clear | Avery | 253,341 |
Source: Circana BookScan
