THIS WEEK
The Lead Story Half-year review
Market dip down to a lack of Spare change
Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare may have led to a record week for the market— but remove this royal contribution, and 2024 is not lagging too far behind
Zoe Knowles A
The average weekly TCM value for the past two half-years is almost identical
t the halfway point of the year, Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market value rests at £767.7m aſter more than 84 million books exchanged hands—a 1% drop on the same 26-week period last year. At first glance, the £8.8m dip is worrisome. However, the gap is easily explained by £9.8m worth of Spare change. Prince Harry’s revealing memoir Spare became available on 10th January last year. In its first week, more than 467,000 sales were recorded at a value of £6.6m. That same week, value peaked for the first half of 2023 at £38.2m, meaning that Spare accounted for 17% of the weekly total. It was a record week for the market, besting the previous half-year’s top result (£35.5m) as well as the highest result for this year so far (£34m) by a few million pounds. In total, Spare sold more than 690,000 copies during the first 26 weeks of 2023 and its value reached £9.8m. If we remove Prince Harry’s huge contribution, however, the half-yearly results for 2024 appear more on par with 2023.
This is also true when we compare results at a more granular level on a week-to-week basis. Over the course of the past 26 weeks, there were only three instances where year-on-year performance was materially
RICHARD OSMAN’S THE LASTDEVILTODIE IS 2024’S TOP TITLE,HAVING SOLD MORE THAN 200,000 COPIES IN SEVEN WEEKS
06 12th July 2024
different, striking double digits in January (thanks to 2023’s royally good start) and twice again in March, owing to a shiſt in the timings of World Book Day (WBD) and Nathan Anthony’s publishing schedule. In fact, the average weekly TCM value for both half-year periods is almost identical. Their difference amounts to less than £400,000. Without Spare, it’s possible to speculate that this half-year would have actually outperformed the last. The current top 50 bestselling titles feature many of this year’s Official UK Top 50 number ones. Anthony’s Bored of Lunch Healthy Slow Cooker: Even Easier, which was the first number one of the new year, landed in third place. The Northern Irish social media sensation held pole position for two weeks in January and another two weeks in April when Bored of Lunch Healthy Air Fryer: 30 Minute Meals, which
©Conor O’Leary
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
