Joe Wicks tops Amazon trends report

Joe Wicks was the bestselling author in print on Amazon's UK website last year, according to the internet giant’s 2016 Trends Report.

The internet diet and fitness guru known as the "Body Coach", is behind Amazon’s bestselling book of 2016, Lean In 15, and its third biggest seller, Lean in 15: The Sustain Plan. Both are published by Pan Macmillan's non-fiction imprint Bluebird.

Amazon said: “2016 has been the year of the Body Coach. His third book, Lean in 15: The Sustain Plan was published in November and out-sold his second book in the comparative time period, so it looks as though Joe Wicks will continue to feature in bestselling lists for some time.”

The second biggest selling title of the year was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne and J K Rowling, the script book of the Harry Potter play, published by Little, Brown. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was also the most pre-ordered book of the year, according to Amazon.

Fourth in the list is Paula Hawkins' thriller The Girl on the Train (Transworld), followed by another diet book, The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley (Short Books). JoJo Moyes has two books in the top 10, Me Before You in sixth place and After You in ninth (Michael Joseph), as does David Walliams (The Midnight Gang and The World’s Worst Children, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, in 7th and 10th).

In the list of bestselling e-books, the biggest seller was Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris (HQ), followed by Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train and The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndze (Bookouture).

According to Amazon, 2016 was the year of psychological thrillers, with the majority of the top 10 bestselling books falling into that category.

Amazon also revealed in its trends report that it has invested £4.6bn in the UK since 2010, hiring more than 3,500 members of staff. This year it will “continue” with investment plans, including opening three new fulfilment centres and a new head office in London, it said.