The latest developments in the UK book market show that Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping has climbed back to the top of the Official UK Top 50, according to recent data from Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market (TCM). Despite a notable 14.7% drop in sales, the book sold 17,212 copies, allowing it to maintain its position as the leading title for the fourth consecutive week.

Children’s and Young Adult Dominance

In a Top 10 that is largely dominated by works aimed at Children and Young Adults, last week’s leader, Fearless by Lauren Roberts, has slipped to sixth place overall and third within the Children’s Top 20. The title experienced a significant 72.3% decline in sales, totaling 11,936 copies.

Fresh entries in the Young Adult segment feature Tahereh Mafi’s Watch Me, which emerges as the week’s highest new entry, achieving sales of 11,522 copies to secure seventh place. This book marks the commencement of The New Republic, a sequel series to Mafi’s acclaimed Shatter Me. It becomes her third bestselling hardback after This Woven Kingdom and a special edition of Shatter Me released in 2023.

Significant Movement in Sales

Tom Fletcher’s There’s a Bunny in Your Book has made substantial gains, jumping twelve places to fourth in the TCM, following a remarkable 103.3% increase in sales directly preceding the long Easter weekend. In the same category, Fletcher’s co-authored title, The Dinosaur that Pooped Easter, has slipped three positions to ninth, despite a slight 3.7% rise in its sales.

Rounding out the children’s entries in the UK Top 10 is the new coloring book from Coco Wyo, titled Cozy Corner, which climbed 32.5%, selling 11,408 copies. Another title from the same author, Cozy Cuties, also saw an increase, with sales reaching 6,651 copies, higher by 14.7% in the last week of the school holidays.

Adult Fiction Insights

The remainder of the Top 10 features adult fiction, with Peter James’s One of Us is Dead experiencing a sales boost of 48.1%, bringing its total to 13,441 copies, thus securing second place overall and leading in the Mass Market Fiction chart. Meanwhile, Lee and Andrew Child’s In Too Deep has observed a 15.5% decrease in sales, totaling 13,265 copies, placing it just behind James.

Elif Shafak’s There Are Rivers in the Sky and Chris Whitaker’s All the Colours of the Dark are also noteworthy mentions, each benefiting from increased sales thanks to their inclusion in Waterstones’ Book of the Month promotion for April.

Notable Non-Fiction and Original Fiction Stats

In the realm of Non-Fiction, A History of the World in 47 Borders by Jonn Elledge has ended Gary Stevenson’s eleven-week reign at the top of the Non-Fiction paperback chart, despite a slight rise of 0.8% for The Trading Game.

New dynamics emerge in the Non-Fiction Hardback segment, where last week’s top title, Soph’s Plant Kitchen by Sophie Waplington, has plummeted 82.2% in sales, while Douglas Murray’s On Democracies and Death Cults takes over the number one spot with a weekly increase of 5.7% and 4,237 copies sold.

Similarly, in the Original Fiction chart, Shalini Abeysekara’s This Monster of Mine has suffered an extraordinary decline of over 99%, leaving the TCM’s Top 5000. In its place, The Wind Weaver by Julie Johnson claims the top spot, buoyed by an impressive 8,145% surge in sales, totaling 8,905 copies through the FairyLoot subscription box.

Market Overview

Overall, the book market has experienced a positive week, with total TCM sales rising 8.7% to 3.4 million books, and the total value of sales increasing by 4.1% to £30.3 million. Year-on-year, sales volumes are up by 18.1%, while value sales have climbed 13.1%, although it is important to note that the long Easter weekend occurred earlier in 2024.