Pullman dusts off second week in the charts top spot

Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage (PRH/David Fickling) has pulled off a second week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 45,015 copies for £546,248. Jamie Oliver’s 5 Ingredients (Michael Joseph) leapfrogged Dan Brown’s Origin (Bantam) to re-claim the runner-up spot, though it dropped below 30,000 copies sold for the first time. At well over 400,000 copies sold and rustling up a 10th week as Hardback Non-Fiction number one, 5 Ingredients may now be untouchable in the race for bestselling book of the year. If it wasn’t for David Walliams…

Peter James’ Need You Dead (Pan) increased by 20% in volume to come within 185 copies of challenging Origin for third place, and both fiction titles held their category number one spots for a second and fourth week respectively.

For a third week running all five category top spots were taken by male authors, with Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens (Vintage) racking up a 15th week as Paperback Non-Fiction number one. Even the Independent Booksellers number one has been a boys’ club lately, with La Belle Sauvage holding the top spot for a second week. The overall number one hasn’t been taken by a female author since mid-August (Victoria Hislop’s Cartes Postales from Greece).

Jojo Moyes’ Paris for One and Other Stories (Penguin) leapt to second in the Mass Market Fiction chart, with Katie Flynn’s A Christmas Candle (Arrow) , Santa Montefiore’s The Swallow and the Hummingbird and Heidi Swain’s Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair (both S&S) joining her in the top five.

John Grisham’s The Rooster Bar (Hodder & Stoughton) was the only new entry in the Original Fiction top 10, selling 9,262 copies in its first week.

David Jason’s Only Fools and Stories (Century) leapt five places in the Hardback Non-Fiction chart, jumping 74% in volume week on week. His Century stablemate Tim Peake also soared in volume, with Ask an Astronaut: My Guide to Life in Space increasing by 31% to 8,456 copies sold.

The Children’s chart had a solid half-term, with only a single new entry: YouTube family The Sacconejolys’ picture book The Sacconejolys and the Great Cat Nap (Egmont) in 19th place. The top five from the week before simply shuffled around, with La Belle Sauvage and Liz Pichon’s Epic Adventure (Kind Of) (Scholastic) holding on to first and second place. The latest Tom Gates title has now been in second place for four straight weeks, despite three different Children’s number ones in that time.