Freida’s carload: McFadden dominates charts as The Housemaid dusts off a second consecutive number one
British bookbuyers’ resolutions for 2026 seem to revolve around murder and mayhem at the start of publishing’s “New Year, New You” season with another dominant performance by Freida McFadden.
The psychological thriller writer has made it two UK Official number ones in as many weeks of the new year, with The Housemaid (Little, Brown) shifting 15,102 copies through NielsenIQ BookScan’s Total Consumer Market (TCM). The novel, originally published in the UK in 2023, retained the crown in the same week the Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried-starring film adaptation topped the UK box office, though its TCM take last week represents a 27.9% drop against the previous seven days.
McFadden has an additional nine titles in the Top 50, four of which are in Top 10 and she accounts for half of the entries in the Mass-Market Fiction (MMF) Top 20. Powered by McFadden’s week, 29 spots in the Top 50 are from the Fiction sector at a time of year when Non-Fiction often occupies the majority of slots.
Hollywood helped another title with Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet (Headline) re-entering the Top 50 in 13th while the film tie-in debuted at 33rd. Combined, the two editions shifted just over 8,000 copies which would have been good enough for second place on this Top 50. With the Chloé Zhao-helmed adaptation doing well at awards season – including two Golden Globes on Sunday (11th January) – booksellers should expect much more to come for O’Farrell’s novel.
There are six new entries to the MMF chart, including the Cornerstone-published tie-in to yet another Harlan Coben Netflix offering and the highest-ranked newbie, Lisa Ridzén’s When the Cranes Fly South (Penguin Transworld, translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies) which shifted 4,558 copies, helped by its Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month nod.
A light release week in Original Fiction (OF) had no newly-published titles in the Top 20. But there is a new number one, as Rebecca Ross’ Wild Reverence sold 5,336 copies to end a string of six consecutive pole positions by Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune (Viking). Ross’ Divine Rivals prequel was originally published in September last year, shifting just over 10,000 copies through the TCM; its bump in 2026 has been driven by a new exclusive edition.
There are 13 Non-Fiction titles in the Top 50, led by Mel and Sawyer Robbins’ unstoppable The Let Them Theory (Hay House). The personal development tome jumped five spots in the TCM to third, and with sales of just over 6,000 units, wrested the Hardback Non-Fiction (HBNF) pole position from Charlie Mackesy’s Always Remember (Ebury Press). It is the sixth time the Robbinses have hit the HBNF summit since their book was launched in December 2024.
Continues...
Read More
The top HBNF debut is actor, playwright and social media poetry sensation Lucas Jones’ first collection, I Still Believe in Miracles (Ebury Press). Jones, who has more than one million followers across his online platforms, chalked up 4,672 units, and thus had the biggest first week for a male poet since Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters (Faber) in 1998.
Old reliables populate the Paperback Non-Fiction (PBNF) chart, with James Clear’s Atomic Habits (Random House Business) circling back for his 22nd trip to the summit on a 5,132-unit sale, up 13% over the previous period. Clear’s December 2025-published Atomic Habits Workbook (Cornerstone) added a further 2,279 units to his cause. In one of the habitual PBNF January occurrences, The Official Highway Code returned to Top 20 in 14th place.
A reshuffling of the decks in Children’s charts as 17 of the Top 20 are returnees. Cozy Corner (Penguin) from Coco Wyo returned to the top for a sixth non-consecutive week, but its first time since August 2025. Four of the top eight kids’ titles last week came from the art collective’s Cozy range, selling a combined 14,271 copies.
While a strong week for McFadden, it was not for the rest of the business end of the charts. The Housemaid was the only title in the TCM to sell more than five-figures in volume terms, and Top 50 collectively shifted just over 215,000 copies, a drop of 17.9% versus the first week of January.
And a pretty tough week for the market at large, not helped by the storms that hit large parts of the country. The just under 2.98 million units sold across the TCM is 13% down on the previous week, and a 3.6% drop on the same period in 2025. The nearly £29m rung through the tills represents a similar week-on-week value slump (-13.7%) but a marginal (0.5%) gain against 2025.
