Apple reveals iBooks bestsellers in UK

Apple’s iBooks store in the UK has released its "Best of 2014" list showing that titles with film tie-ins led to the highest sales on the platform among paid-for titles.

In fiction, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Penguin) sold the most units on the UK iBooks platform in 2014, followed by Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Orion) in second position, while The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Black Swan) sold the seventh highest units all year for Apple. All three titles have had film releases this year.

Meanwhile, Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James, which is due out on film in cinemas next February, was the third highest-selling title of the year for iBooks in the UK, with the second and third instalments in the trilogy, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, coming in at the sixth and eighth positions in the Best of Chart.

J K Rowling’s pseudonymous Robert Galbraith title The Cuckoo’s Calling (Little, Brown) sold the fourth most units, George R R Martin’s A Game of Thrones (HarperCollins) was the fifth most popular title all year, Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay made it onto the list in 10th place, while self-published author Natasha Preston, sold the ninth most units on Apple with her title Broken Silence. She is the only independent author to make it into the paid-for Best of Fiction list for 2014.

Film releases also permeated through the non-fiction top-selling list, with 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (William Collins) and The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort (Hodder) coming in at the first and second positions in the 2014 chart. Autobiographies were also popular, with Lynda Bellingham’s There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You (Coronet), only out in October, already in position seven in the non-fiction chart and The Second Half, Roy Keane & Roddy Doyle (Weidenfield & Nicholson) also out in October, selling the fourth most copies of 2014. Last year’s Christmas number one, Alex Ferguson’s My Autobiography (Hodder) made it into 10th position on the iBooks chart.

Of the free books to be downloaded in high volumes over the course of the year, Harlan Coben’s backlist title The Woods (Orion) took the top spot, with Jill Mansell’s The One You Really Want (Headline), first released in 2008, coming in second. Also to feature in the top 10 free titles list was David Nicholls’ Starter for 10, originally-released in 2004 (Hodder) and Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer (Macmillan). Both authors had new titles released this autumn.

iBooks Store 2014 Top Sellers:

Fiction:
1 - The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
2 - Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
3 - Fifty Shades of Grey, E L James
4 - The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
5 - A Game of Thrones, George R R Martin
6 - Fifty Shades Darker, E L James
7 - The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
8 - Fifty Shades Freed, E L James
9 - Broken Silence, Natasha Preston
10 - Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

Non Fiction:
1 - 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup
2 - The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort
3 - The Chimp Paradox, Prof Steve Peters
4 - The Second Half, Roy Keane & Roddy Doyle
5 - The Secret, Rhonda Byrne
6 - Philomena, Martin Sixsmith
7 - There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You, Lynda Bellingham
8 - Nothing But the Truth, Vicky Pattison
9 - Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman
10 - My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson

Top Free Books:
1 - The Woods, Harlan Coben
2 - The One You Really Want, Jill Mansell
3 - The Geneva Trap, Stella Rimington
4 - Only Time Will Tell, Jeffrey Archer
5 - The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
6 - How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week, Jenny Allan
7 - Starter for 10, David Nicholls
8 - iPad User Guide for iOS7.1, Apple Inc
9 - Assassin’s Apprentice - Robin Hobb
10 - Silence, Natahsa Preston