Blob hangs on to number one as Patterson doubles his luck

David Walliams’ Blob (HarperCollins Children's) has held the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a fourth week in a row, the longest run for a World Book Day title since records began. The title, which already has the WBD record for highest single-week sales under its belt, shifted 26,658 copies for £26,647, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market.

James Patterson & Candice Fox’s Never Never (Arrow) leapt 13 places into second place, increasing 67% in volume week on week to 14,948 copies and swiping the Mass Market Fiction number one. At the same time, Patterson's latest Women’s Murder Club title with Maxine Paetro, 16th Seduction (Century), held the Original Fiction number one for a second week, with 4,059 copies sold. It will come as a surprise to no-one that the last author to achieve this feat was in fact Patterson himself—and not even that long ago, in January 2014.

Mary Berry Everyday (BBC) spent a third week as Hardback Non-Fiction number one, but Joe Wicks’ reign atop the Paperback Non-Fiction chart, so far uninterrupted in 2017, was finished by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens (Vintage). In a surprise move, the 2015 history of humankind was boosted 209% in volume week on week, after being featured on Chris Evans’ Radio 2 show. Not only is this the author’s first number one, the title’s overall ranking of ninth is 23 places up from his previous high.

Mother’s Day gift buying is now in full swing. Not only did Bruno Vincent’s Five Forget Mother’s Day (Quercus) and Jason Hazeley & Joel Morris’ How it Works: The Mum (Michael Joseph) climb the chart, but likely Mum fiction such as Sheila O’Flanagan’s The Missing Wife (Headline), Lisa Jewell’s I Found You (Arrow) and Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl (Vintage) entered the Top 50.

Rosie Goodwin’s Mothering Sunday (Zaffre), handily sub-titled “The Perfect Gift for Mother’s Day” tBonnier) rose to third in the Original Fiction chart, which saw the return of Victoria Hislop’s Cartes Postales from Greece (Headline) and Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend (Europa Editions). Only the Paperback Non-Fiction chart seemed to have missed the memo, with an all-male authored top five—unless a lot of very brave book buyers are buying their mums Lean in 15.

Week on week, the market is still coming down off its World Book Day high, declining 6.7% in value and 9.8% in volume. But compared to the same week in 2016, value was 5% up. It looks like 2017 is finally closing the gap on 2016, with its year-to-date value just 0.03% (£99,673) outside the first 11 weeks of 2016.