Potter—Everywhere but Here

We have been fielding many phone calls and e-mails wondering why the latest Harry Potter is not leading PW's weekly bestseller charts. No worries—it will be the #1 bestseller on our monthly children's bestseller list (July 21 issue). When we began that list back in 1988, we decided not to include children's and young adult titles on the weekly adult charts. It usually doesn't matter, but occasionally, for a few weeks, we look out of sync. There is no doubt that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has set the kinds of sales records that only J.K. Rowling's sixth installment has a chance of beating. Never in the history of book publishing has a book sold so many copies in so short a time. In the first two days, Amazon.com's sold more than 1,250,000 copies—and then sold about another 127,000 copies the following week. Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks sold more than 1,860,000 copies in the first two days and more than 966,000 the following week. Independents enjoyed hefty three- and four-digit unit sales. In fact, on almost every report, from chains and independents, sales of the Phoenix far exceeded the combined total of the top adult 25 fiction hardcovers.

With reporting by Dick Donahue