IN BRIEF Top 10 Ireland


Children’s favourites David Walliams and Jeff Kinney are in close contention in the past year’s top 10 for the Emerald Isle


Text Kiera O’Brien 3


Bestseller Lists Ireland Top 10


1


Kinney nets number one


Top


of the charts


Jeff Kinney notched up three titles in the top 10 of Ireland’s Children’s category, with the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid instalment, Big Shot, cruising all the way into the number one spot. The title sold 32,324 copies in Ireland in total, despite its release late in the year—it hit bookshop shelves in the country in October.


Bestselling Pilkey climbs high


outing for Dog Man


Dav Pilkey’s Mothering Heights, the 10th title in the Dog Man series, scored third place in the Irish children’s chart, selling 32,324 copies across 2021. The 2017-published series opener, Dog Man, clawed into 15th in Ireland’s chart and The Adventures of Dog Man 2: Unleashed was clearly barking up the right tree, hitting 20th place. Pilkey’s Dog Man series sold nearly half a million copies in the UK through BookScan in 2021 alone, with the author on more than four million books sold in the UK, for £26.4m, in total. In Pilkey’s native US, titles in the Dog Man series have shifted in excess of 1.1 million copies to date.


5


Gangsta Granny steals the show


David Walliams and Tony Ross’ Gangsta Granny Strikes Again! was the second of three of their titles to chart in the Irish top 10, matching their great nemesis Jeff Kinney in terms of top-10 chart places claimed. The sequel to the duo’s biggest blockbuster to date, Gangsta Granny, the November-published Gangsta Granny Strikes Again! sold 19,371 copies in 2021.


6


Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at


the End featured in the Irish, Austalian and UK children’s top 10 lists for 2021, with its rise in popularity attributed to its promotion on social media platform TikTok.


8


Spin-off achieves spooky success


Kinney’s spin-off series, Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, featuring Greg’s more personable best friend Rowley Jefferson, joined its compatriots in the Irish and Australian kids’ top 10. Perhaps savvy Easons booksellers were running a two-for-one deal on Kinney titles—Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories sold just 444 copies fewer than Wimpy Kid title The Deep End.


y


aturing es


he op


12 22nd March 2022 9


TikTok boosts McManus’ YA


Karen McManus’ One of Us is Lying joined fellow Young Adult Fiction and beloved of TikTok title They Both Die at the End in Ireland’s top 10. McManus’ novel, which it is claimed launched the YA noir trend, bounced back into the Irish charts last year, but with its Netflix adaptation recently dropping on the streaming service, its sales could grow even further in 2022.


10th


2


King plays his cards right


While Jeff Kinney, David Walliams and Dav Pilkey still hold sway in the Ireland chart, David King and Rhiannon Archand’s A Hug for You swiped the picture book pole. King’s son Adam found national fame after appearing on “The Late Late Toy Show” and brought along his “virtual hug”, a heart-shaped piece of card that offered a Covid-secure way to show affection. Adam’s hand-drawn cards raised €250,000 for children’s charities.


4 Mammoth sales for duo


The UK’s bestselling children’s book of 2021, David Walliams and Tony Ross’ Megamonster, took fourth place in the Irish kids’ charts, shifting 19,440 copies.


7 Seventh heaven for Kinney


Jeff Kinney’s 2020 Wimpy Kid title The Deep End notched up seventh place with a full calendar year on the shelves, selling 14,765 copies.


10


Walliams and Ross’ Code Name Bananas


peeled into Ireland’s bestseller chart, selling 11,926 copies across 2021. After hitting the kids’ top three for its year of publication, it spent a second year in the category top 10.


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