The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending January 22, 2017

Unit sales of print books rose 4% in the week ended Jan. 22, 2017, compared to the similar week in 2016, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Unit sales of adult nonfiction increased 4% over the week ended Jan. 24, 2016, while the three other major categories had 3% increases. The adult nonfiction bestseller list had a new #1: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly topped the chart with more than 24,000 copies sold. In second place was Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission by Brett Baier and Catherine Whitney, which sold more than 19,000 copies. The 3% gain in adult fiction sales was led by Never Never, the new book from James Patterson and Candice Fix, which sold more than 27,000 copies in its first week. The Apartment by Danielle Steel, a mass market paperback, landed in the fourth spot on the list, selling almost 18,000 copies in its first week. Two editions of W. Bruce Cameron’s A Dog’s Purpose were in the top five bestsellers in the category: the trade paperback was #2 with almost 23,000 copies sold, and the mass market edition was at #5 with about 15,000 copies sold. Veronica Roth’s newest book, Carve the Mark, gave a boost to the juvenile fiction segment, selling just under 20,000 copies in its first week, making it #1 in the category. In second place was Jeff Kinney’s Double Down, which sold more than 18,000 copies. The 3% unit increase in juvenile nonfiction was helped by a good week of sales for Shetterly’s Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition, which sold about 5,400 copies, moving it up to third place on the category list.

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.