You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
TV chef Jamie Oliver has scored his third book trade Christmas number one in a row, and his fifth of the 21st century. Sales of his latest cookbook, Jamie's 15-minute Meals (Michael Joseph), totalled 117,911 copies in the UK last week, in the final chart to be recorded ahead of Christmas Day - more than twice as many copies as the next bestselling book of the week, Guinness World Records 2013 (Guinness).
Jamie Oliver said he was "truly humbled that the public have really responded to this book in such a big way." He said: "To write a book about everyday food that was both healthy and quick and delicious was a real challenge but one that I enjoyed. It was the hardest book I've had to write in 14 years and I absolutely put my heart and soul into it. Thanks so much to everyone who has bought it. Happy Christmas and happy cooking."
Penguin UK CEO Tom Weldon commented: “It is a great achievement to make it to Christmas number one, let alone to do it three years in a row. One of the keys to Jamie's success is that he tries to do something special with every one of his books. We are incredibly proud to be his publisher.”
Jamie's 15-minute Meals matches the achievement of both Jamie's Great Britain last year, and Jamie's 30-minute Meals in 2010, as well as Jamie's Italy in 2004 and Happy Days with the Naked Chef in 2001. No other writer has achieved as many Christmas number ones since official records began in 1998. Dan Brown (with The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol) and Delia Smith (with two instalments in her How to Cook series) have both achieved the feat twice, while fact compendium Guinness World Records was the Christmas Day chart-topper in both 2000 and 2001.
Guinness World Records 2013 sold 55,494 copies in the week ending 15th December and takes second position in the Official UK Top 50 ahead of Miranda Hart's Is it Just Me? (Hodder, 52,500 sales). BBC Sports Personality of the Year Bradley Wiggins' memoir, My Time (Yellow Jersey), and Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid novel, The Third Wheel (Puffin), complete the top five.
The bestselling novel of the week was J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit (Harper), sales of which have been boosted by the first of its three-part big-screen adaptation hitting UK cinemas. The official film-tie in edition of the novel secures sixth position in this week's Official UK top 50 with a sale of 36,179 copies. However, across all print editions, including hardbacks, pocket and latin editions, the novel sold 55,000 copies at UK booksellers last week - up 50% week on week and up 1,525% on the same week last year.
According to BookScan data, £63.2m was spent on printed books in the UK last week, up 15.7% (£8.6m) on the previous week, but down 6.8% (£4.6m) on the same week last year.
Since its release in September, Jamie's 15-minute Meals has sold 586,355 copies in the UK. It sits in eighth position in a list of the bestselling books of the year thus far - a chart that is dominated by the trilogies of E L James and Suzanne Collins. In total, the top 10 bestsellers of 2012 have sold a combined 14.7m copies at UK booksellers to date - accounting for approximately 8% of all book sales in volume terms.
Jamie Oliver has now been worth a grand total of £134.3m since his first cookbook, The Naked Chef, hit shelves in April 1999. Jamie's 30-minute Meals remains his most popular cookbook to date, with volume sales of 1.8m to date, or £24.3m in value terms.
Top 10 Bestsellers of 2012 to date:
1) E L James' Fifty Shades of Grey (Arrow) 4,464,800
2) E L James' Fifty Shades Darker (Arrow) 3,162,200
3) E L James' Fifty Shades Freed (Arrow) 2,900,000
4) Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (Scholastic) 834,500
5) Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire (Scholastic) 668,000
6) Sylvia Day's Bared to You (Penguin) 619,800
7) Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay (Scholastic) 612,700
8) Jamie Oliver's Jamie's 15-minute Meals (Michael Joseph) 586,400
9) The Hairy Bikers' The Hairy Dieters (Weidenfeld) 406,200
10) Guinness World Records 2013 (Guinness) 402,100
Christmas Number Ones of the 21st Century:
2011: Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Great Britain (Penguin)
2010: Jamie Oliver's Jamie's 30-minute Meals (Penguin)
2009: Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Transworld)
2008: J K Rowling's The Tale of Beedle the Bard (Bloomsbury)
2007: Russell Brand's My Booky Wook (Hodder)
2006: Mick O'Hare's Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? (Profile)
2005: Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy (Penguin)
2004: Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (Transworld)
2003: Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves (Profile)
2002: Guinness World Records (Guinness)
2001: Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef (Penguin)
2000: Guinness World Records (Guinness)