5th September 2025


Charts


Straight-A student: Kuang’s Katabasis launches into first place


The Babel novelist delves back into the world of academia with her latest chart-topping title


W Week ending 30th August 2025


ith more than 40,000 copies sold in its first five days on sale, Katabasis


– the latest novel from RF Kuang – has hit first place on the Official UK Top 50 at the first time of asking, according to the latest data from NielsenIQ BookData’s Total Consumer Market (TCM). It is the first time that Kuang has


reached the pinnacle of the charts and only the second time she has claimed pole position in the Original Fiction (OF) Top 20 after Yellowface – published as Rebecca F Kuang by The Borough Press –


achieved the same result in May 2023. Total sales for Katabasis


have massively out-performed Kuang’s previous titles, with its first-week count coming to 43,621 copies, it has sold nearly four times as many as Yellowface achieved on publication and it is by far Kuang’s biggest single week perfor- mance, outstripping the hardback edition of Babel, which previously held the record with 20,668 copies when it was published in September 2022. Katabasis leads the way in a week


that fires the starting pistol for the key autumn trading period – it is


surely still too early to say the ‘C’ word – with 10 new releases in the OF chart alone, and the top six made up entirely of new releases. Adam Kay’s debut crime novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, takes second place, with 13,936 copies sold in its first week – thanks, in part, to a nationwide tour – one of just four books to sell more than 10,000 copies this week. Sable Sorensen’s Dire Bound


takes third place with 9,404 copies – though not one of FairyLoot’s monthly picks, the subscription box service has been offering an exclusive special edition of this book for pre-order, alongside a different exclusive edition with Waterstones. The only non-adult fiction title


to sell more than 10,000 copies this week is AF Steadman’s Skandar and the Spirit War – the much- anticipated fifth title in the Skandar series has sold 18,137 copies in its first week, giving it second place in the TCM and first place in the


Kuang's academia-themed title bags a top grade, shooting to first place during its first five days on sale


The Official 1  Katabasis RF Kuang 2 Data


Unless otherwise stated, information supplied by and copyright of NielsenIQ BookData (niq.com/bookdata). Information is provided “as is”. Neither Nielsen nor The Bookseller accept liability for any loss, damage or expense arising from reliance on this data. Any title discounted by more than 74.5% is ineligible for inclusion.


32


Key No move New entry Climbing Re-entry Falling


HarperVoyager, 9780008501860 Simon & Schuster, 9781398524743 Orion, 9781398704404


UNI TS 43,621


2  Skandar and the Spirit War AF Steadman 3  A Particularly Nasty Case Adam Kay Poisoned Pen Press, 9781464228605 Wayward TxF, 9781911751205 Hodder, 9781444715460 18,137 13,936 4  The Surrogate Mother Freida McFadden 5  Dire Bound Sable Sorensen 6  You Are Here David Nicholls 7  We Solve Murders Richard Osman Penguin, 9780241997482 8  Picture Imperfect Jacqueline Wilson Bantam, 9780857507631 9  The Housemaid Freida McFadden Little, Brown, 9781408728512 Penguin, 9780241988268 11,499 9,404 8,648 7,506 7,261 7,210 10  The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman 6,868 11  Do Not Disturb Freida McFadden Poisoned Pen Press, 9781464228582 12  The New Neighbours Claire Douglas Penguin, 9781405957656 Bloomsbury, 9781526605399 Arrow, 9780099559559


UNI TS 6,824


6,125 13  A Court of Thorns and Roses Sarah J Maas 14  The House We Grew Up in Lisa Jewell 15  The Hotel Avocado Bob Mortimer Gallery, 9781398529656 16  The Safekeep Yael van der Wouden Penguin, 9780241999776 17  Don’t Believe a Word Susan Lewis HarperCollins, 9780008472108 18  The Blue Hour Paula Hawkins Phoenix, 9781399622752 Penguin (Transworld), 9781804995334 19  The Wedding People Alison Espach Penguin, 9781405985840 6,099 6,045 5,980 5,801 5,792 5,737 5,639 20  The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman 5,509


Charts


The Top 50


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