TV chef Jamie Oliver has achieved the rare feat of topping both the hardback and paperback non-fiction bestseller lists, helping publisher Penguin score number ones across all four of The Bookseller's main bestseller lists—the first time a publisher has achieved the feat since records began.
Oliver's latest hardback cookbook, Jamie's 30-minute Meals (Michael Joseph), was once again the bestselling book in the UK last week, scoring top spot in both the Official UK Top 50 and the Hardback Non-fiction charts with a 49,899 sale. Meanwhile, his fourth Comic Relief recipe book, Jamie's Monster Bake Sale (Penguin), takes top spot in this week's Paperback Non-fiction bestseller list with a 7,777 sale over the seven days to 12th February.
It is the second time Oliver has achieved the double number one feat, and only the third time an author has done so since Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market records began in 2001. The last person to score double non-fiction number ones was the late Jade Goody in April 2009 when the reality TV star's Forever in My Heart (HarperCollins) topped the hardback chart in the same week her Fighting to the End (John Blake) topped the paperback list.
A half price "great offer" spot at W H Smith and a better-than-half-price "book of the week" spot at Waterstone's helped Marian Keyes' The Brightest Star in the Sky sell 40,740 copies in its first full week on sale last week, and it takes top spot in The Bookseller's Top 20 Mass-market Fiction chart. Meanwhile, Lesley Pearse's latest novel, Belle, is the new number one in the Top 20 Original Fiction bestseller list.
It means Penguin has become the first publisher since Nielsen BookScan records began to score number ones in each of the major bestseller lists.
While James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's Private (Arrow) takes third place in the Official UK Top 50, and Emma Donoghue's Room (Picador) falls two places to fourth position, Maggie O'Farrell's Costa Novel Award-winning The Hand That First Held Mine (Headline Review), climbs into fifth place. Sales of the book rocketed 70% week-on-week, to 19,166 copies sold, thanks to a spot in W H Smith's "£2.99 if you buy the Times" link-save promotion.
This week's highest new entry in the Official UK Top 50 is the 2010-published film tie-in edition of Kazuo Ishiguro's Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Never Let Me Go (Faber). The book takes 11th position overall with a 10,988 seven-day sale, while the original mass-market edition also enters in the chart, in 32nd place. Thanks to the nationwide release of the silver-screen adaptation of Ishiguro's novel on Friday last week, combined sales of the two editions totalled 17,337 copies last week, up 121% on the previous week.
Also new into the Official UK Top 50 are Julia Donaldson's Comic Relief tie-in, The Gruffalo Red Nose Day Book (Macmillan), and "Loose Women" star Coleen Nolan's second novel, Denial (Pan). Her first, Envy, has sold 36,000 copies to date.
The Hairy Bikers' second collection of family-favourite recipes, Mums Still Know Best (Weidenfeld), joins the Hardback Non-fiction chart in third position this week (behind Oliver and Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy) as the highest new entry. The first collection (Mums Know Best), has sold an impressive 153,000 copies to date. Other new entries in the Top 20 Hardback Non-fiction list include Colin Thubron's To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto) and Amy Chua's controversial parenting memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Bloomsbury).
Pittacus Lore's I am Number Four (Penguin) rockets into second position in this week's Top 20 Children's Fiction chart, behind Jacqueline Wilson's Lily Alone (Doubleday), while the mass-market edition of the latter's Little Darlings (Yearling) joins the same chart in eighth place.
Numerous love-themed books enjoyed solid sales at bookshop tills last week, including new works such as Sarra Manning's You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (Corgi), Jane Moore's Love is on the Air (Arrow), Allison Pearson's I Think I Love You (Vintage) and Adriana Trigiani's Encore Valentine (Simon & Schuster). However, it was a different story for backlist titles.
In the week leading up to Valentine's Day last year, love-themed books by Giles Andreae (as Purple Ronnie), Edward Monkton, Rob Scotton, Ursula Doyle and Sam McBratney all sold more than 1,000 copies in seven days. The latter's Guess How Much I Love You (Walker) was the only book to achieve the feat in 2011.
In total, £28.9m was spent at UK book retail outlets in the seven days to 12th February, up 3.7% week-on-week but down 3.5% on the same week last year.