With one week left to go in the year, Dan Brown, William Young, John Grisham, and Stephenie Meyer are poised to claim the top spots for 2009 in publishing's major formats, according to point-of-sale data gathered by Nielsen BookScan. Brown's Lost Symbol is ahead of Going Rogue in adult hardcover, while Young's The Shack, a big bestseller in 2008, remained hugely popular in trade paperback last year. Grisham's The Associate was the #1 mass market paperback bestseller in 2009, and the title finished fifth in hardcover. Meyer joined Jeff Kinney in sweeping all 10 spots in the children's book segment. Her Eclipse took two spots on the children's list with the trade paperback edition placing seventh. The strong showing of Meyer and Kinney resulted in Hachette and Abrams placing five titles each on the children's top 10 list.
In adult hardcover, results were much more diverse, with Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster each placing two titles among the top 10. In the case of S&S, its conservative imprint, Threshold Editions, accounted for its two biggest bestsellers. There were five fiction and five nonfiction titles among the top 10.
Random House was the only publisher to land more than one trade paperback among the top 10 sellers in that segment. The format also let two publishers outside of the major trade houses put titles on the top 10 list, with Rodale's Eat This, Not That! in the sixth spot, and Philadelphia-based indie publisher Quirk Books placing the ninth bestseller with its groundbreaking mashup, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Several authors had multiple titles on the mass market list led by Charlaine Harris, who had three books hit the top 10 for Penguin's Ace Books imprint. Hachette, through Grand Central and Vision, also had three mass market titles in the top 10.
Sales are from the December 28, 2008, through December 20, 2009, period and cover about 75% of total book sales.
Last week, Amazon released its own list of 2009 bestsellers. Lost Symbol was the top selling print book and e-book in the year, while the Kindle was the e-tailer's bestseller in the electronics category.
Bestsellers, 2009 Hardcover
| Source: Nielsen Bookscan. Data does not include sales from Wal-Mart, Sam's, BJ's, or libraries. | |
| 1 | The Lost Symbol Dan Brown Doubleday |
| 2 | Going Rogue Sarah Palin HarperCollins |
| 3 | Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Steve Harvey Amistad Press |
| 4 | Liberty and Tyranny Mark Levin Threshold Editions |
| 5 | The Associate John Grisham Doubleday |
| 6 | The Help Kathryn Stockett Putnam |
| 7 | Outliers Malcolm Gladwell Little, Brown |
| 8 | Have a Little Faith Mitch Albom Hyperion |
| 9 | Arguing with Idiots Glenn Beck Threshold Editions |
| 10 | The Host Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown |
Bestsellers, 2009 Trade Paperback
| Source: Nielsen Bookscan. Data does not include sales from Wal-Mart, Sam's, BJ's, or libraries. | |
| 1 | The Shack William P. Young Windblown Media |
| 2 | Glenn Beck's Common Sense Glenn Beck Threshold Editions |
| 3 | The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger Harvest Books |
| 4 | The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows Dial Press |
| 5 | Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson Penguin Books |
| 6 | Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding Rodale |
| 7 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson Vintage |
| 8 | Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout Random House |
| 9 | Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Seth Grahame-Smith Quirk Books |
| 10 | The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein Harper Paperbacks |
Bestsellers, 2009 Mass Market Paperback
| Source: Nielsen Bookscan. Data does not include sales from Wal-Mart, Sam's, BJ's, or libraries. | |
| 1 | The Associate John Grisham Dell |
| 2 | Sail James Patterson Grand Central |
| 3 | From Dead to Worse Charlaine Harris Ace Books |
| 4 | The Whole Truth David Baldacci Grand Central |
| 5 | Cross Country James Patterson Vision |
| 6 | My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult Pocket Books |
| 7 | The Appeal John Grisham Dell |
| 8 | Club Dead Charlaine Harris Ace Books |
| 9 | Dead Until Dark Charlaine Harris Ace Books |
| 10 | Angels & Demons Dan Brown Pocket Books |
Bestsellers, 2009 Children's
| Source: Nielsen Bookscan. Data does not include sales from Wal-Mart, Sam's, BJ's, or libraries. | |
| 1 | New Moon Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown Young Readers |
| 2 | Breaking Dawn Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown Young Readers |
| 3 | Eclipse Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown Young Readers |
| 4 | Twilight Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown Young Readers |
| 5 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw Jeff Kinney Amulet Books |
| 6 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Jeff Kinney Abrams |
| 7 | Eclipse (trade paperback) Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown Young Readers |
| 8 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney Amulet Books |
| 9 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It-Yourself Jeff Kinney Amulet Books |
| 10 | Rodrick Rules Jeff Kinney Amulet Books |
