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Fifty Shades of Grey has surpassed Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time to become the bestselling British novel for adult audiences since official sales records began. Sales of the record-breaking novel totalled 664,478 copies last week, bringing its total sales to 2,309,900 copies since publication in April.
It has become only the 20th book to sell more than two million copies in the UK according to Nielsen BookScan data, rocketing into 14th place in a list of the bestselling books since its official sales records began in 1998 - one ahead of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Corgi), and just behind Stephenie Meyer's Twilight (Atom).
Sales of E L James's entire trilogy surged 47% week on week last week, to 1,442,395 copies sold - almost twice as high as the sales of the next bestselling 1,000 paperback novels combined (770,000).
In total, £6.4m was spent on copies of the erotic trilogy in the seven days to 7th July—roughly £638 every minute. With digital sales included, that figure is likely to have approached the £1,000-a-minute mark.
Book one, Fifty Shades of Grey, accounted for 46% of its total print sales last week, with book two, Fifty Shades Darker, enjoying a 54% week-on-week uplift, to 407,927 copies sold. The final book in the trilogy received a 61% hike, to 369,477 copies sold.
In total, £30.9m was spent on printed books at UK booksellers in the seven days to 7th July — up 11% (£3.1m) week on week and up 14% (£3.9m) on the same week last year. It is the strongest week of sales in the month of July since 2007 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury) hit the shelves in hardback. James accounted for 21% of all printed book sales last week and approximately 50p in every £1 spent on a novel.
Print sales of the Fifty Shades trilogy now stand at 4,853,000 copies in the UK - £21,631,500 in value terms.
If one was to stack each of those books into a single pile, one on top of the other, it would tower 102.5 miles into the sky — 533 times the height of The Shard skyscraper in London, the tallest building in Europe.
Bestselling Books Since Records Began:
1. The Da Vinci Code: 5,240,000
2. The Official Highway Code: 4,860,000
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 4,530,000
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: 4,350,000
5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: 4,270,000
6. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince: 4,230,000
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 3,630,000
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 3,520,000
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 3,410,000
10. Angels and Demons: 3,230,000
11. The Very Hungry Caterpillar: 2,700,000
12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 2,320,000
13. Twilight: 2,320,000
14. Fifty Shades of Grey: 2,310,000
15. The Lost Symbol: 2,170,000
16. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: 2,160,000
17. New Moon: 2,150,000
18. Deception Point: 2,060,000
19. Eclipse: 2,020,000
20. The Lovely Bones: 2,010,000