Wimpy Kid becomes fastest seller of 2014

Jeff Kinney's The Long Haul (Puffin) has retained its spot on the UK Official Top 50 for the second straight week by posting the best weekly sale of 2014, and in the process becoming the fastest selling book of the year.

Kinney's ninth outing in his Wimpy Kid series shifted 60,845 copies last week through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market and has sold 120,446 units since published on 5th November. David Walliams' Awful Auntie (HarperCollins)—which was in second place for the second consecutive week, selling 37,372 units—was 2014's previous fast seller, shifting just over 100,000 through the tills in its first two weeks of sale.

The late Lynda Bellingham's There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You (Coronet) continues to set out its stall as the early Christmas season non-fiction smash. Her memoir claimed the Hardback Non-Fiction number one for the fourth straight week on a 25,261 volume sale, and has now sold 140,382 copies since it was released in early October.

YouTube star Alfie Deyes' The Pointless Book (Blink) also extended its run at number one, topping Paperback Non-Fiction for the fourth week in a row and ninth time in 11 weeks, with an 8,846 unit sale.   

However, there was change at the top in fiction. In its first week of release, Stephen King's Revival (Hodder) displaced C J Sansom's Lamentation (Mantle) after the latter's three week run atop Original Fiction. Revival sold 14,210 units—the only adult hardback fiction title to hit five figures in volume last week—and is King's second book to hit the Original Fiction number one this year, after Mr Mercedes (Hodder) accomplished that feat for two consecutive weeks in June.   

In Mass Market Fiction, another three-week run at the top was ended, with David Baldacci's The Target (Pan) replacing his Macmillan stablemate Peter James' Want You Dead (Macmillan) at the summit. The Target sold 18,913 copies, and is Baldacci's third straight book in his Will Robie series to hit the Mass Market Fiction number one.

Overall, the Christmas season has yet to take off as quickly as last year. Sales through BookScan last week were £31.3m, a healthy 9% up on the previous week, but 4% down on the same week in 2013.  That year to year decline is seen most acutely at the top, with many big ticket 2014 Christmas titles yet to take off. In the same week in 2013, BookScan's 46th week, 18 titles sold more than 10,000 copies through BookScan; this past week it was just nine. In week 46 2013, the top 50 generated £4.7m for booksellers; last week it was £3.3m, a 42% drop.