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World Book Day's Supertato smashes into the top spot
Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet’s World Book Day title Supertato: Books are Rubbish (Simon & Schuster Children's) has racked up a 671% increase in sales week on week, selling 26,884 copies in the week leading up to 5th March. Fellow £1 titles Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man (Scholastic), Bing’s Splashy Story (HarperCollins) and Greg James and Chris Smith's Kid Normal and the Loudest Library (Bloomsbury Children's) surged upwards in sales to join it in the top four.
In total, 10 World Book Day titles charted in the overall top 13. Supertato: Books are Rubbish is the first new Children’s number one in 14 weeks, after David Walliams and Tony Ross’ The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins) reigned from November. And there’s still a week to go to feel the full sales impact of World Book Day—with last year’s Diary of Greg Heffley’s Best Friend (Puffin) selling 72,782 copies for the week of the 2019 event. Could Supertato: Books are Rubbish or one of its fellow titles prevent Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light from sweeping straight into the top spot?
Ann Cleeves’ The Long Call (Pan) bounced upwards 12% in volume against its launch week, at 15,397 copies sold. It achieved the author’s best ever single week sales, outstripping 2019’s Wild Fire by 83 copies, and held the Mass Market Fiction number one for a second week.
Marian Keyes’ Grown Ups (Michael Joseph) boomeranged back into the Original Fiction number one, after Ben Aaronovitch’s False Value (Gollancz) pounded its way to the top spot a week ago.
Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (Ebury) racked up its sixth Hardback Non-Fiction number one in total, as Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five (Black Swan) held the Paperback Non-Fiction top spot.
The print market's value sunk to its lowest for the year to date, though volume posted its second-highest figures since early January. Average selling price is so far refusing to budge below £8, holding firm at £8.06, but World Book Day next week might see that change.
