The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending February 21, 2016

Unit sales of print books rose 10% in the week ended Feb. 21, 2016, over the similar week in 2015, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The increase was due to a 16% gain in sales through the retail and club channel, which offset an 11% decline in sales in the mass merchandiser channel. Both the adult and juvenile nonfiction categories had unit gains of 19% over the week ended Feb. 22, 2015. Adult nonfiction sales were helped by two books released last week: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold landed in third place on the adult nonfiction bestsellers list, selling more than 13,000 copies, while Kate Hudson’s Pretty Happy came in at #5 on the list, with just under 13,000 copies sold. There were no big debuts hitting the top of the chart in juvenile nonfiction. The book with the biggest sales increase over the previous week was Animals by Jennifer Quasha, which sold more than 6,000 copies, up 68% from the week ended Feb. 14, 2016. Animals was in the fourth spot on the juvenile nonfiction bestsellers list, where First 100 Words by Roger Priddy remained #1, selling more than 11,000 copies. Six Dr. Seuss books landed in the top 10 spots on the juvenile fiction bestsellers list, helping to lift unit sales 6% over the similar week last year. Green Eggs and Ham and Dr. Seuss’s ABC ran one-two, both selling more than 15,000 copies. Unit sales of adult fiction slipped slightly in the week. Two well-established bestselling authors had new books land in the third and fourth places on the adult fiction list: Alert by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge was third, selling more than 13,000 copies; and Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer was fourth, selling more than 11,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format