Walliams' Megamonster thunders into the top spot

David Walliams and Tony Ross' Megamonster (HarperCollins) has made its debut in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 52,919 copies in its first three days on sale. This is not only the biggest volume for any single title since Nielsen BookScan began reporting figures again in mid-March, post-Lockdown 3.0, but also the first children's book to hit the top spot in that time—though Jonny Duddle's World Book Day title Gigantosaurus: Dino Spot (Templar) charted top in late February.

Walliams' summertime World's Worst... series saw its first-week sales peak in June 2019, with The World's Worst Teachers selling 86,001 copies in its launch week. The 2020 sequel, The World's Worst Parents, also scored 74,334 copies sold upon its own release in early July last summer. Standalone Megamonster is the first Walliams release since November 2020's Code Name Bananas, making it the longest gap between the author's number ones since 2014's Awful Auntie and 2015's Grandpa's Great Escape were published a year apart.

Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood (Sphere) was the second-highest new entry in third place, but couldn't defeat Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) for the Mass Market Fiction number one spot—the cosy crime title breezed into the category chart top spot for a non-consecutive sixth week.

Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson's Pinch of Nom: Everyday Light (Bluebird) boomeranged back into the Hardback Non-Fiction top spot for the first time in nearly 18 months, after a Prime Day deal on Amazon helped it improve 625% in volume week on week.

The print market remained consistent on its June figures so far, with volume rising 1.6% and value rising 1.4% week on week. However, the same week last year was the first time bookshops had been open since the start of Lockdown 1.0 and sales soared. Comparatively, 2021's week 25 was down 8.5% in volume and 11% in value on the books bonanza that was June 2020.

In the Amazon Charts, Lisa Jewell's The Family Upstairs (Cornerstone) topped the Most-Sold: Fiction chart.