Unit Sales Have First Weekly Holiday Increase in 2017

Unit sales of print books rose 3% in the week ended December 17, 2017, over the comparable period in 2016, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Last week was the first week that print unit sales were up over the comparable week in 2016 since the holiday selling season began during Thanksgiving week.

The retail and club channel, which includes all bookstores plus Amazon, had a 5% increase in sales over the week ended December 18, 201, and with two weeks left to go in 2017, sales through that channel were up 3%. The mass merchandiser channel, however, continued to trend downward compared to last year. Last week, unit sales to mass merchandisers were down 9% compared to the similar week in 2016, and for the year to date, sales fell 8%.

The top-selling title last week continued to be the latest edition in Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series, The Getaway, which sold over 124,000 copies. In second place was Wonder by R.J. Palacio, which sold more than 71,000 copies.

The highest-ranking adult title on the bestsellers list was John Grisham’s The Rooster Bar, which sold almost 68,000 copies in the week, followed by Origin by Dan Brown, which sold more than 64,000 copies. In fifth place was Rupi Kaur’s The Sun and Her Flowers, which sold almost 52,000 copies in the week.
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