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Morrissey's much-anticipated Autobiography (Penguin Classics) has become one of the fastest-selling memoirs since official sales records began.
The £8.99 paperback publication sold 34,918 copies in the UK last week—the biggest first-week sale from a memoir since Kate McCann's Madeleine (Bantam Press) sold 72,500 copies in its opening week in May 2011.
Autobiography's sale is the biggest first-week sale from a musician's memoir since official sales records began in 1998, beating previous record holder Keith Richards' Life (Weidenfeld). The latter sold 28,213 copies in its opening week back in October 2010.
Morrissey débuts at number one in the Official UK Top 50, relegating Helen Fielding's new Bridget Jones novel, Mad About the Boy (Cape, 32,172 copies sold), into second place.
David Walliams' Demon Dentist (HarperCollins) falls one place to third position, while David Jason's memoir, My Life (Century), climbs four places into fourth position. The latter sold 27,210 copies in the UK last week—the second biggest weekly sale from a hardback non-fiction book this year.
New entries into this week's Official UK Top 50 include Kathy Reichs' YA thriller, Code (Arrow), the latest edition of Ripley's Believe it or Not! (Random House), and Man Booker Prize for Fiction winner Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries (Granta).
Sales of The Luminaries soared more than 1,500% week on week following its win. It sold 6,017 copies in the seven-day period ending 19th October—strong enough for 33rd position in this week's Official UK Top 50 and third place in this week's Original Fiction bestseller list. Despite the big boost, its sale was the lowest from a Man Booker winner in the week the winner of the award was announced since 2007 when Anne Enright’s The Gathering (Cape) sold 6,001 copies in its winning week.
In total, £29m was spent on printed books in the UK last week—down 7.2% (£2.2m) week on week due largely to a fall in sales of academic titles.