Print Unit Sales Still Solid in Late October
Strong gains in all categories led to a 13% increase in unit sales of print books in the week ended Oct. 24, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The double-digit increase came despite only a few new books making a splash. Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights was the #1 title in the week, selling about 78,000 copies and boosting sales in the adult nonfiction category 6.2% over the week ended Oct. 26, 2019. Another new nonfiction release, America Under Assault, Vol. 3 by Tom Fitton, sold about 40,000 copies, putting it in fourth place on the overall bestseller list. The juvenile and YA categories all had gains of at least 20% in the week, led by a combination of older frontlist and backlist books. The 20.8% increase in juvenile fiction was led by sales of Dav Pilkey’s Grime and Punishment (Dog Man #9), which sold approximately 45,000 copies in the week and more than 743,000 copies since its release on September 1.