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The Thursday Murder Club makes a killing at the top
Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) has booked a slot at the top of the UK Official Top 50 chart through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market, selling 44,096 copies in its first three days on sale in paperback. The cosy crime title has, in hardback, already become the fastest-selling crime debut since records began, racking up 29 weeks in the Original Fiction top spot and scoring the 2020 Christmas number one.
At 44,096 copies sold, The Thursday Murder Club is the biggest-selling number one title since Nielsen BookScan once again began reporting figures in March, after lockdown restrictions prevented it from doing so for the first few months of the year. This makes it the bestselling number one since its own hardback edition was in the top spot over Christmas. No paperback fiction title has sold more in its first week since E L James' The Mister (Arrow), in April 2019.
The hardback fell from the Original Fiction top spot for the first time since March, after racking up a 29-week non-consecutive run in pole position — a record, tied with Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train (Doubleday). Peter James' Left You Dead (Macmillan) swiped the category chart top spot, for the author's 14th week.
Hold Still (National Portrait Gallery), the National Portrait Gallery's collection of photographic portraits depicting the events of 2020, bounced into the overall top three and hit the Hardback Non-Fiction number one — the second consecutive Covid-19-related number one in the chart, following Kate Garraway's The Power of Hope (Bantam). Max Hastings' Operation Pedestal (William Collins) and Jay Blades' Making It (Bluebird) both debuted in the top four.
Former "Love Island" contestant Dr Alex George's Live Well Every Day (Aster) made its debut atop the Paperback Non-Fiction chart, with Kate Silverton's parenting guide There's No Such Thing As 'Naughty' (Piatkus) rising to second place.
Billie Eilish's Billie Eilish (Wren & Rook) took the crown in its first week on sale, debuting in the overall Children's top spot with 6,004 copies sold in its launch week.
The print market notched up another healthy week, with 3.6 million books sold for £30.5m. This was the highest volume for week 19 since 2009, and the highest value since records began.
In the Amazon charts, meanwhile, Osman's crime debut also returned to the Most-Sold: Fiction top spot.
