The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending March 12, 2017

Unit sales of print books were 5% higher in the week ended Mar. 12, 2017, than in the comparable week in 2016, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The adult fiction segment had the strongest performance, with units up 10% from the week ended Mar. 13, 2016. The increase in adult fiction was driven by three new releases landing among the top 10 category bestsellers, including two novels that took the first two spots: Danielle Steel’s latest hardcover, Dangerous Games, was #1, selling more than 27,000 copies, while the mass market paperback of The Obsession by Nora Roberts was in second place, selling more than 22,000 copies. Print units were up 6% in the adult nonfiction category, helped by good performances by two books in their second weeks: Unshakeable by Tony Robbins rose to the top spot on the category bestseller list, selling nearly 40,000 copies. And The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild jumped to #3 on the category list, selling slightly more than 28,000 copies. Unit sales in the juvenile fiction segment increased 2% from 2016, despite a general decline in sales of Dr. Seuss books from the prior week. Four Seuss titles took the first four spots on the category bestseller list, selling a total of about 90,000 copies. Juvenile nonfiction unit sales in the week were 3% higher than in 2016, with little movement at the top of the category bestseller list. In terms of formats, mass market paperback had a rare increase in sales, with units up 2% in the week over 2016. Despite the gain, mass market unit sales were down 7% in the first 10 weeks of 2017 from the same period last year.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format