Worst remains best: second week for Walliams at number one

David Walliams’ The World’s Worst Children 3 (HarperCollins) has held the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a second week, selling 46,930 copies for £336,714 through Nielsen BookScan, for his 38th overall number one in total.

After hitting nearly 78,000 copies sold in its first three days, a record launch week for Walliams’ short story collection trilogy, The World’s Worst Children 3 has now suffered the most dramatic fall, dropping 40% in volume week on week. Its two predecessors both increased in volume in their second week—but importantly, both were released the Thursday before half-term, rather than the week of.

However, the series’ final title was still a hefty 15,830 units ahead of second-placed Marian Keyes’ The Break (Penguin), and a whopping 42,079 copies in front of the next-bestselling children’s title—which, typically, was also by Walliams. The Midnight Gang leapfrogged Liz Pichon’s Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans (Scholastic) to claim second place in the Children’s chart.

The Break was hardly resting on its laurels, though—it jumped 30% in volume on its first three days on sale to 31,100 copies, once again claiming the Mass Market Fiction number one. It was Keyes’ highest weekly volume since The Brightest Star in the Sky in February 2011, and vastly outsold her last two weeks in the overall top spot with 2013’s The Mystery of Mercy Close and 2015’s The Woman Who Stole My Life.

A former British prime minister beat a former US president to third place, with Anthony McCarten’s Churchill biography Darkest Hour shifting 706 copies more than Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s The President is Missing (Century). Darkest Hour, a tie-in title on offer at Sainsbury’s with the purchase of the film’s DVD, also knocked Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt (Picador) from the top of the Paperback Non-Fiction chart, after a seven-week run.

J-Pattz and B-Clint did claim the Original Fiction number one, with The President is Missing becoming the fastest-selling hardback fiction title of the year to date, at 18,961 copies sold. When it comes to US president’s book sales, Barack Obama is by far the frontrunner—Dreams from My Father sold 711,384 copies and follow-up The Audacity of Hope (both Canongate) shifted a further 440,010 upon their UK releases in 2008. But in fiction, the presidential field is wide open—Jimmy Carter’s 2004 novel The Hornet’s Nest (S&S) failed to chart on BookScan UK.

Ant Middleton’s First Man In (HarperCollins) held the Hardback Non-Fiction number one for a second week, making it the first non-cookbook to maintain the chart’s number one position since Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (Particular) in April 2017. After an impressive first week volume, it only declined 577 copies in its second week on sale, to 14,601 copies.

Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (Bloomsbury) soared 201% in volume week on week, following its Women’s Prize for Fiction win, and leapt 328 places up to just outside the top 100.

With Father’s Day on the horizon, Mr Men: My Daddy (Egmont) joined Peppa Pig: My Daddy (Ladybird) in the Pre-School top 20. The Children’s Non-Fiction top 20 saw a climb for Fortnite Battle Royale Hacks (Templar)—the new Pokemon?—and a fair amount of Russian influence with Match! World Cup Diary (Macmillan Children's), Road to the World Cup (John Blake) and 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Fact File (Carlton Kids) all charting.

The print market declined 1.3% in value week on week, but with 3.08 million books sold for £25.7m, achieved two consecutive weeks above the £25m mark for the first time since early April. Year on year, value was up 7%, and marked the first time since 2011 that the second week of June has topped £25m.