This is Going to Hurt tops one million print copies sold

Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt (Picador) has surpassed one million copies across all print editions through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. The paperback edition of the junior doctor memoir, released in April 2018, spent its 48th week in the Paperback Non-Fiction number one last week, as its follow-up, Twas the Night Before Christmas, hit the Hardback Non-Fiction chart in second place.

The release of the sequel helped to boost the This is Going to Hurt paperback by 30% in volume week on week to 8,389 copies sold, bringing its total sales to 890,644 units. Its hardback has sold 111,084 copies since its publication in September 2017.

The junior doctor memoir has notched up the longest run in the Paperback Non-Fiction number one for any single title. Kay now also looks to be zeroing in on the longest run in the category chart top spot for a single author, recently surpassing the total number ones of Bill Bryson (at 44) and Jeremy Clarkson (47). However, Kay's Bluebird stablemate Joe Wicks has a fairly long lead in the competition—after five books in the format, his total Paperback Non-Fiction poles reaches 68.

While the figures aren't available, This is Going to Hurt has also performed unusually strongly in e-book format for a non-fiction title, racking up the longest run of number ones in The Bookseller's Weekly E-Book Ranking. At 20 weeks, it inched past former joint-recordholders Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train (Transworld) and Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins), tied on 19 number ones, in August.