The read Shoes: Jojo Moyes surges to claim ninth number one

Jojo Moyes’ Someone Else’s Shoes (Penguin) nearly doubled its sales in its second week of paperback release to jump two spots and claim her ninth Official UK Top 50 number one. With just under 22,000 copies sold through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, Moyes notched her first pole position in four years, displacing David Nicholls’ You Are Here (Hodder) which slips to fifth, though Nicholls’ novel still retained the Original Fiction number one. Someone Else’s Shoes had previously earned three non-consecutive Original Fiction top spots when it was launched in hardback last February.

Moyes held off a fine challenge from Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People (Penguin Cornerstone)—the Watertones Non-Fiction Book of the Month—which moved 17,518 units in its paperback launch week to hit second overall and easily claim the Paperback Non-Fiction (PBNF) top spot by almost 11,000 copies. Ultra-Processed People was one of the non-fiction hits of 2023, shifting nearly 151,000 units for £2.1m through the TCM and is up for the Non-Fiction: Lifestyle & Illustrated gong at next week’s (13th May) British Book Awards.

Nathan Anthony recorded his fourth week on the trot as the Hardback Non-Fiction (HBNF) number one with Bored of Lunch Healthy Air Fryer: 30 Minute Meals (Ebury, 6,624 copies). With ...30 Minute Meals and January’s Bored of Lunch Healthy Eating Slow Cooker: Even Easier Anthony has occupied the HBNF summit for half of 2024’s 18 weeks. Although, as has been the case of late, it has been lonely at the top for Anthony with HBNF having a fallow period. No other title in that chart hit the Top 50, with the second besteller—Liz Earle’s A Better Second Half (Yellow Kite)—in 72nd place. 

While Moyes easily cruised into the Mass Market Fiction (MMF) pole position, there was a flurry of activity underneath. BookTok-beloved Ana Huang’s latest billionaire romance, King of Sloth, débuted in second in MMF and third overall on nearly 15,000 copies. This represents a nice series launch-week upward trajectory for Huang’s publisher Piatkus: King of Wrath sold 2,317 copies in its first seven days in November 2022; King of Pride 5,718 in May 2023; and King of Greed 9,065 in October last year.     

The 2023 Booker "Irish Pauls" had another face-off last week. Shortlisted Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting (Penguin) débuted in paperback with a strong 8,885 units, helped by a Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month nod. Winner Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (Oneworld) shifted 3,408 copies through the TCM in its first official week of paperback release (though 912 copies were recorded in the previous seven-day period), bagging number one on the Small Publishers chart.

Another week, another subscription box-powered hit. June C L Tan’s urban fantasy Darker by Four (Hodderscape) was the Fairyloot May Young Adult title, driving it to a 10,633 unit-sale to easily top the Children’s chart. The sub-box model continues to be transformational, particularly for early career authors: Darker by Four was originally pubished on 2nd April and had sold 128 copies in the month leading up to last week’s Fairyloot bonanza. Tan’s début, Jade Fire Gold (Hodderscape) has shifted just over 1,700 units through BookScan since its 2021 launch.    

A solid week overall for the market overall with British booksellers ringing up £28.8m through the TCM, a 1% jump on the previous seven days and and 6.9% up on the early May bank holiday period in 2023.