The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending May 10, 2015

Unit sales of print books fell 3% in the week ended May 10, 2015, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The 2% gain in adult nonfiction sales last week was due, in part, to two new books: David McCullough’s The Wright Brothers landed at #1 on the adult nonfiction list, selling more than 45,000 copies in its first week on sale, followed at #2 by Clinton Cash, by Peter Schweizer, which sold nearly 32,000 copies in its debut week. There were no new big books in juvenile nonfiction in the week, and Johanna Basford’s coloring book, Enchanted Forests, remained at #1, selling more than 26,000 copies. Three Minecraft titles had solid gains in the week, holding the third, fourth, and fifth spots on the juvenile list and selling about 16,000 copies combined. Units in juvenile fiction fell 10%, with this year’s bestsellers failing to attract as many buyers as the top sellers did in the similar week last year. In week 19 of 2014, two John Green books and the Divergent trilogy were the five top sellers, and together they sold almost 200,000 copies, whereas the top five in week 19 of this year combined to sell approximately 92,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

Source: Nielsen BookScan and Publishers Weekly. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel covers approximately 80% of the print book market and continues to grow.