Non-fiction: Spare prevails over Anthony once again
Prince Harry’s Spare (Bantam) has cruised into a third week in the Official UK Top 50 number one spot, selling 37,144 copies. With the memoir already closing in on 600,000 copies sold in total, 2023’s January charts look very different to the previous three years, which were dominated by the newest Pinch of Nom cookbooks. Though volume slid a marginal 0.03% last month against January 2022, value was up 4.8%, with Spare’s £14.15 a.s.p providing a healthy boost.
Though Pinch of Nom: Enjoy (Bluebird) sold fewer than half of its predecessor Comfort Food’s January 2022 volume last month, “New Year, new you” definitely didn’t disappear completely, with Nathan Anthony’s Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book (Ebury) selling just under 100,000 copies in four weeks on the shelves. Last week, the Instagram lockdown cook notched up his third week in the runner-up spot, after selling 19,414 copies.
Dr Claire Bailey and Kathryn Bruton’s The Fast 800 Recipe Book (Short) also sold consistently across January, charting fourth in the year-to-date chart, below Pinch of Nom: Enjoy. James Clear’s 2018-published Atomic Habits (Random House), a stalwart in the “New Year, new you” charts since the lockdown years, scored ninth place.
But last week, it did seem that New Year’s Day and hastily-made resolutions were far in the rear-view mirror for many book-buyers, with those more innocent times, when no one would have associated Elizabeth Arden eight-hour cream with Prince Harry, long gone. Though self-help titles and healthy cookbooks still filed dutifully into the Hardback Non-fiction chart, Trade Non-fiction sales dipped 9.6% in volume week on week and 8% year on year.
Cathy Glass’ Unwanted (HarperCollins) reigned again in the Paperback Non-fiction number one. The paperback chart counted several “New Year, new you” titles at the top, including the aforementioned The Fast 800 Keto Recipe Book and Atomic Habits, plus Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus (Bloomsbury) and one of the Top 50’s two air-fryer cookbooks (Robinson). The cost-of-living crisis may have informed “New Year, new you” purchases, with energy-saving appliance cookbooks high in the charts. Robert T Kiyosaki’s personal finance guide Rich Dad Poor Dad (Plata) hit the Paperback Non-fiction chart and James Hoffman’s How to Make the Best Coffee at Home (Mitchell Beazley) débuted in 15th in Hardback Non-fiction. We appear to be only an avocado-toast-at-home guide away from Millennials suddenly being able to afford a house.
