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David Walliams' Demon Dentist (HarperCollins) has retained pole position in the official UK book charts.
The multi-talented writer, comedian and actor's new children's novel sold 39,530 copies in the UK last week, more than twice as many copies as nearest rival Jamie Oliver's Save with Jamie (Michael Joseph, 16,276 copies sold).
Demon Dentist's lead at number one in the Official UK Top 50 doubled week on week—its breathing space increasing from a gap of 7,659 copies the previous week to 16,276 copies last week.
It was a strong week for the printed book trade, with the value of the market increasing by almost £3m week on week. Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market data reveals £30.7m was spent on printed books in the seven-day period ending 5th October—up 10.4% (£2.9m) on the previous week.
A slight decline in sales of novels week on week was more than made up for by increases in both the non-fiction and children's sectors. Sales of hardback children's books through BookScan's TCM Top 5,000 chart jumped 23% in value terms, helped by the popularity of Demon Dentist and numerous annuals —total sales of which doubled.
Sales of hardback non-fiction books through the TCM Top 5,000, meanwhile, increased by 10% week on week. Fifty-seven different hardback non-fiction titles generated revenue of more than £10,000, with five taking more than £100,000 through the tills: Save with Jamie, Guinness World Records (Guinness), Nigel Slater's Eat (Fourth Estate), Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food (Absolute) and Bill Bryson's One Summer: America 1927 (Doubleday).
Cathy Kelly's The Honey Queen (Harper) was the bestselling novel for adult audiences in the seven-day period ending 5th October, selling 16,077 copies. It takes third position in the Official UK Top 50 ahead of Guinness World Records, Ken Follett's Winter of the World (Pan) and Andy McNab's Red Notice (Corgi).
Sales of Follett's and McNab's bestsellers benefitted from a spot in Tesco's £2.95 "book of the week" promotion last week. The two novels sold 13,888 copies and 13,413 copies respectively across all UK booksellers last week, with both titles selling at more than 50% off their r.r.p.s on average.