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Sophie Kinsella recorded her sixth overall number one last week and in doing has bumped J K Rowling from the top spot after one week, with the latter's Robert Galbraith novel The Cuckoo's Calling (Sphere) falling to third place. Kinsella's Wedding Night (Black Swan) tops the Official Top 50 over her Transworld stablemate Kate Atkinson's Life After Life by the slimmest of margins, 17,110 copies to 17,057.
Atkinson's sales decreased 20% week on week but this is in contrast to the 34% decline for Galbraith. The drop might be an early indicator that most book buyers who wanted to read the novel after "the big reveal" last year did so in hardback (120,632 copies) or e-book.
There were four new entries in the top 10 with Transworld imprint Black Swan chalking up three spots—and 36% of the overall top 10 volume—with Atkinson and Kinsella joined by Rachel Joyce's Perfect at 10th place. Perfect was selected as the first title in Waterstones' March Book Club and shifted 9,751 units. Her previous novel, the Man Booker-longlisted The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Transworld) has sold 334,945 copies in paperback and peaked at number three on the top 50. Harlan Coben's Six Years (Orion) was the second highest new entry in fourth with 12,737 copies, whilst Philippa Gregory's White Princess (Simon & Schuster) débuted at number six with 10,538.
In Original Fiction, Jojo Moyes scores her first number one bestseller. The One Plus One (Penguin) sold 3,216 copies, outpacing The Farm (Simon & Schuster) by Tom Rob Smith, which rises to number two with 2,687 copies, on a 6% week on week sales rise. Last week's number one, Josephine Cox's The Runaway Woman (Harper) fell to ninth amid a flurry of new titles in the top 10 from Moyes, S J Parris, Erica James, Joanna Trollope and Ben Kane.
In a cookery showdown, the Hairy Bikers were rebuffed by the doyenne of baking. Mary Berry Cooks (BBC) débuted at number one in Hardback Non-Fiction, shifting 5,958 units, comfortably outselling Si King and Dave Myers' Asian Adventure (Weidenfeld), which drops to number two after two weeks at number one. Berry's latest bestseller was the 22nd bestselling title in the Top 50 and accompanies the most anticipated new television cookery show this year. Episode one was broadcasted on 3rd March on BBC2 to excellent reviews with five weekly episodes remaining.
A cookery title also sits atop of Paperback Non-Fiction. Jack Monroe, the young mother who received widespread media attention by feeding herself and her young son for £10 a week, hits the top with her collection of 100 budget recipes, A Girl Called Jack (Michael Joseph, 6,855 copies). This ended Eric Lomax's seven-week run at number with The Railway Man (Vintage), which slips to third. Anticipating its Oscars win perhaps, Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave (William Collins) climbs to number two. Two editions remain in the paperback top 20 with combined sales of 10,202 copies.