Non-Fiction: Guinness settles at top as Mackesy returns

Guinness World Records 2023 (GWR) has scored a second week in the Official UK Top 50 number one spot, selling 35,955 copies, a rise of 10,000 units on the week before. In total sales to date, the new edition is lagging behind last year’s, with a 15% decline in volume. But last week’s sales were marginally above Guinness World Records 2022 for the same week in 2021. 

Charlie Mackesy cantered victoriously back to the chart, having only just left in early September. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: The Animated Story (Ebury) was the Top 50’s highest new entry in sixth place, galloping into second place in Hardback Non-fiction, below Guinness World Records 2023. Mackesy’s original title, published in 2019, sold strongly that autumn, especially following its Waterstones Book of the Year win. But it truly took off during the lockdowns of 2020, as book buyers reached for something soothing and comfort-ing in the turmoil of rising Covid numbers, sourdough starters and Zoom quizzes. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse became that year’s bestselling book and has gone on to sell 1.5 million copies outside of lockdown alone.