According to Nielsen BookScan, J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy sold 157,000 copies in its first week of publication. The numbers include preorders and were easily enough to make the book the #1 bestseller for the week ending September 30--Fifty Shades of Grey was #2 with 61,000 copies and No Easy Day was #3 with 52,000 copies sold.

The Casual Vacancy's debut is the third largest of 2012, behind No Easy Day (254,000) and Fifty Shades Darker (171,000). It should be noted that Rowling's book was released on September 27, meaning that its first sales week was only for four days compared to six days for most titles that are usually published on a Tuesday.

Little, Brown did not disclose e-book numbers, but Michael Pietsch stated: "The Casual Vacancy is exceeding our expectations in its first days in stores."