Midnight Library gives Haig and Canongate first overall charts top spot

Matt Haig's The Midnight Library (Canongate) has checked itself straight into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot. This is the author's first week atop the overall chart, and his first Mass Market Fiction chart number one, after The Midnight Library's hardback also became Haig's first title to top the Original Fiction top 20 in August. It is also the first overall top spot for publisher Canongate.

Nielsen BookScan was unable to report volume or value data for the week while UK lockdown restrictions have shuttered bookshops.

Becky Excell's How to Make Anything Gluten Free (Quadrille) was the second highest new entry in third place. However, Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson's former number one Pinch of Nom Quick & Easy (Bluebird) bounced back into the Hardback Non-Fiction number one. For the first time in 2021, neither Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) and Charlie Mackesy's The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (Ebury) charted in the top three, though both still hit the top six. Interestingly, the Pinch of Nom bloggers, Osman, Mackesy, Haig and the previous week's number one author Marian Keyes all have strong social media followings, seemingly crucial while bookshops are closed during lockdown.

Sarah J Maas' The Court of Silver Flames (Bloomsbury) was the highest new entry in the Original Fiction chart in second, though The Thursday Murder Club held steady in the top spot. Sarah Pearse's The Sanatorium (Bantam) and Melanie Blake's Ruthless Women (Head of Zeus) also debuted in the top four.

Ann Cleeves' The Darkest Evening (Pan) hit the Mass Market Fiction top 20 in third place, as Mark Billingham's Cry Baby (Sphere) toddled into seventh and Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt (Tinder) debuted in eighth place.

Cathy Glass' A Life Lost (HarperCollins) charted top of Paperback Non-Fiction in its first week on sale, as Hardback Non-Fiction saw Bill Gates' How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (Allen Lane) and Nicky Campbell's One of the Family (Hodder & Stoughton) debut in the top 10.

Liz Pichon's latest Tom Gates title Ten Tremendous Tales (Scholastic) zipped straight into the Children's number one in its first week on sale, with Dr Ranj Singh's How to Grow Up and Feel Amazing! (Wren & Rook) charted second.