Stout Guinness bumps Zoella from charts top spot

Guinness World Records 2015 (GWR) has recorded its biggest weekly sale since being published in September, ending the two-week run at the top of the charts by vlogger Zoe "Zoella" Sugg's Girl Online (Puffin).

GWR 2015 surged 12% week-on-week to shift 52,370 units through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market, vaulting from third to first on the UK Official Top 50. That marked the 36th time a Guinness annual has topped the chart, the first time since early December 2011. The £434,422 GWR 2015 chalked up last week–almost £75,000 more than the next-highest earner—means the entire Guinness annuals franchise has been worth just over £70m to booksellers since BookScan records began.

After a record-breaking start, Girl Online plummeted 24% week on week to 42,684 copies sold and second place overall. Although that is a decline, it is still an impressive bit of business for the YouTube star and her team at Penguin, a total that would have earned the book an overall UK number one in 39 of the 50 weeks thus far in 2014.

Two other recent number ones also shifted more than 40,000 copies last week: David Walliams' Awful Auntie (HarperCollins Children's Books) sold 41,339 units, moving up from fourth to third, exchanging places with Jeff Kinney's The Long Haul (Puffin, 40,695).

Christmas crackers

Several big holiday titles are beginning to move, with some solid to very impressive week on week sales jumps, including Lynda Bellingham's There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You (Coronet, +4% to 32,712 units), Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Comfort Food (Michael Joseph, +39% to 27,992) and Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes (Absolute, +11% to 21,476).

Guy Martin's My Autobiography (Virgin), originally published in May, continues with its remarkable festive period second life. The hipster motorcyclist's memoir had a massive 38% rise week on week to 28,255 copies sold, good enough for sixth place overall, the book's highest-ever ranking.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield—most famous for his YouTube video of singing David Bowie's "Major Tom" aboard the International Space Station (ISS)—hit the top 10 with his book of photos of the earth taken from the ISS. Buoyed by Hadfield's UK media blitz, You Are Here (Macmillan) sold 26,758 copies in its first week, good enough for tenth overall and the bestselling débutant of the week.

Egmont's latest in its official Minecraft line, Blockopedia, had an excellent week, moving up two places to 12th overall, selling 21,476 copies. With a relatively hefty RRP of £30—the other titles in the series are priced at £7.99—the book was the second bestseller of the week by value, earning just over £360,000.

The strength of Sansom

There may be some intense interdivisional rivalry at Pan Macmillan over the Original Fiction chart. C J Sansom's Lamentation (Mantle, 14,246 copies) held onto the top spot for the seventh time in eight weeks, edging out Pan Mac stable mate Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist (Picador, 13,300). The Miniaturist, like Guy Martin's memoir, is getting a second surge during the Christmas period after being published earlier in the year, with Burton's novel boosted by its appearance on a number of books of the year lists.

The Miniaturist actually earned almost as much as Lamentation through the tills (£142,000 versus £144,000), despite selling almost 1,000 fewer copies and having a far lower RRP. Lamentation was discounted by 51% off its £20 RRP for an average selling price of £10.15, while The Miniaturist’s a.s.p. was £10.70, an 18% discount.

In Paperback Non-Fiction, Alfie Deyes' The Pointless Book (Blink) recorded its 13th number one in the last 15 weeks, selling 12,743 copies and edging past the £1m mark through BookScan. James Patterson's chalked up his second straight week at number one in Mass Market Fiction with Unlucky 13 (Arrow) selling 27,123 copies.  

The print market overall has continued the trend of the past few weeks of rising week on week but a  decline versus the same period in 2013. Last week £56.6m was sold through the tills, which is 7.8% up on the previous week, but 7.6% down on 2013 (£61.6m).