The Ice Monster snaps up a third week at number one

David Walliams and Tony Ross’ The Ice Monster (HarperCollins) has once again racked up mammoth sales to hold the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a third week running, shifting 80,808 copies last week through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Despite a drop of 15% in volume week on week, the children’s fiction title is still a hefty 14,399 ahead of second-placed Michelle Obama’s Becoming (Viking), though the former First Lady’s memoir inched up 2.6% in volume on its launch week.

The Ice Monster has breezed past the quarter of a million copies sold mark, chalking up a stunning 287,353 copies in under three weeks. It is currently selling faster than 2017’s Bad Dad, which has sold 764,937 units in total, by just 0.5% in volume—or 1,364 copies.

George R R Martin’s companion title Fire and Blood (HarperCollins) was the highest new entry in sixth place, dethroning Lee Child’s Past Tense (Bantam) from the Original Fiction number one. It sold 30,959 copies in its first week on sale, Martin’s record weekly volume–beating even fifth A Song of Ice and Fire title A Dance with Dragons’ first week back in July 2011. It's almost as if the fans are hungry for the next title in the series. 

LBC host James O'Brien's How to Be Right (W H Allen) boomeranged back into the Top 50, rising in volume by 251% week on week, to sell just under 10,000 copies—9,739. The relentless Brexit news may have been affecting UK bookbuyers' shopping habits, with Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris' Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups title The Story of Brexit (Michael Joseph) also entering the Top 50 for the first time.

Ant Middleton’s First Man In (HarperCollins), which reigned in the Hardback Non-Fiction number for five weeks over summer, leapt back into the overall top 20, increasing 153% in volume over the last two weeks. The former Marine’s Channel 4 show "Extreme Everest" may have helped drive sales, or perhaps the dads who didn’t get it for Father’s Day—it sold over 16,000 copies the week before—will find it under the tree on 25th December.

Dr Gareth Moore’s The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book (Trapeze) became the first of the 2018 quiz books to hit the Top 50, jumping 188% in volume week on week. It also leapt to second in the Paperback Non-Ficton chart—could it get enough of a boost next week to defeat eight-month number one Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt (Picador)? 

Craig Smith and Katz Cowley’s The Wonky Donkey (Scholastic) continued to increase in volume, holding the Pre-School number one for a fourth week, but the momentum was with Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (HarperCollins Children's) As the film adaptation hit cinemas, the film tie-in title jumped 77% week on week to chart in the Top 50 for the first time.