Alex Ferguson beats rivals, smashes sales records

Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson's memoir, My Autobiography (Hodder), has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book on record.

The most successful manager in the history of British football, Ferguson's £25 hardback autobiography sold 115,547 copies in the UK last week—the biggest first-week sale of a non-fiction book since official records began in 1998. Ferguson beats previous record-holder Delia Smith, whose How to Cook: Book Two (BBC) sold 112,000 copies in its first week on sale in December 1999.

Ferguson's My Autobiography has comfortably beaten the performances of previous fast-selling memoirs, including former prime minister Tony Blair, whose A Journey (Hutchinson) sold 92,000 copies in its first week on sale in September 2010; fellow Manchester United hero David Beckham, whose My Side (HarperCollins) enjoyed a 86,000 first-week sale in September 2003; and Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell's A Royal Duty (Michael Joseph), which scored a 77,000 sale in its opening week in October the same year.

In total, £1.4m was spent on copies of Ferguson's memoir last week, accounting for almost five pence in every pound spent on a book.

My Autobiography comfortably tops this week's Official UK Top 50 ahead of former number one Morrissey's Autobiography (Penguin Classics, 26,248 copies sold) and David Walliams' Demon Dentist (HarperCollins, 25,808 copies sold). David Jason's memoir, My Life (Century), and Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (Cape) complete the top five.

Sales of the latter passed the 100,000 mark last week and is publisher Vintage's first book to spend three consecutive weeks atop The Bookseller's Original Fiction chart since Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in January 2004.

Martina Cole’s 20th novel, Revenge (Headline), is the highest new entry in the Original Fiction chart. Her 19th, The Life, sold 147,000 copies in hardback. John Grisham’s Sycamore Row (Hodder & Stoughton), the follow-up to his 1989 début, A Time To Kill, also joins the top five, as does Donna Tartt’s hotly anticipated The Goldfinch (Little, Brown). First week sales of The Goldfinch were up 73% on her previous book, The Little Friend, which went on to sell 91,000 copies in hardback.

The mass-market edition of Peter James’ 13th Roy Grace thriller, Dead Man’s Time (Pan), was the bestselling paperback novel in the UK last week, selling 20,177 copies. It takes top spot in the Mass-Market Fiction chart ahead of fellow Tesco “Recommended Read” Maeve Binchy’s A Week in Winter (Orion). A link-save deal at W H Smith in which shoppers could buy a copy of Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies (Fourth Estate) for £2.99 when bought with the Telegraph sends the Man Booker-winning novel back into the Top 20 Mass-market Fiction chart (in ninth position) and the Official UK Top 50 (in 25th place). Sales rocketed 340% week on week.

In total, £30.7m was spent on printed books in the UK last week. The value of the market was up 5.9% (£1.7m) week on week and up 1.8% (£0.5m) on the same week last year. It was the first week of year on year growth in the market in five months—since the week ending 25th May 2013.