Market jumps 5% in volume and 3% in value as books defy pandemic fatigue

Nielsen has reported an estimated 5% jump in volume and 3% boost in value for 2021 in the UK, with the year the first on record to surpass £1.8bn, and the market's highest volume sales since 2011.

While this marked the second year that Books & Consumer Survey data was used to fill in lockdown gaps, Nielsen were clear that 2021 showed "books are not a pandemic fad", estimating 212.6 million books sold for £1.8bn across the year as a whole. Comparing 2021's available 42 weeks to the same period in 2019, the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories hit 10-year highs, with children's books setting a new all-time record.

The year's bestseller, Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club (Penguin), notched up eight weekly overall number ones in 2021, with sequel The Man Who Died Twice (Viking) scoring a further four. Both David Walliams (with illustrator collaborator Tony Ross) and Pinch of Nom authors Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson racked up eight weekly top spots apiece. 

Fiction's volume and value sales were up 20% compared to 2019, and 26 of the 46 available weeks were up by more than £1m. While Crime & Thriller sold 2.6 million more books and brought in £16m more than two years ago, Graphic Novels: Manga had the biggest percentage increase, more than doubling against 2019. Even without lockdown weeks, graphic novels recorded a lifetime high.

Charlie Mackesy's The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Ebury), 2020's overall bestseller, claimed the Non-Fiction number one. The title sold steadily throughout the year, never once dropping out of the weekly Top 50. Published in 2019, the illustrated title has now had three straight years in the annual top 10. 

Non-Fiction categories Mind, Body & Spirit and Personal Development hit record highs, with Leisure & Lifestyle's 2021 sales second only to the year of the adult colouring book in 2015. 

Walliams and Ross' Megamonster (HarperCollins) was the Children's number one of the year, with J K Rowling's The Christmas Pig (Little, Brown) joining Gangsta Granny Strikes Again! in the top three. Kids' book sales were around £50m ahead of 2019, for the available 42 weeks of the year. Five categories, including Picture Books and Children's General Non-Fiction, not only scored all-time highs but also notched up a higher value in 2021's non-lockdown weeks alone than any full year. Adam Silvera's They Both Die at the End (Simon & Schuster) became the first Young Adult Fiction title to hit the overall year-end top 20 since 2015.