Dan Brown‘s The Lost Symbol reaches new heights in Australia & New Zealand
25th September 2009

Nielsen BookScan has released sales figures for the long awaited and much publicised fifth Dan Brown novel: The Lost Symbol published by Random House.
An amazing 127,378 copies of The Lost Symbol were sold in Australia, and 19,795 copies in New Zealand through each country’s BookScan Panel* following release on Tuesday 15 September, up to and including Saturday September 19th 2009 - 5 days.
As a comparison, 573,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (published July 2007) were sold in Australia on its first day of release; it was the last title in the series of seven.
Since December 2002 the sales of The Lost Symbol are the highest single week’s sales after the last 3 Harry Potter releases in Australia.

Looking at previous Dan Brown titles, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress, a total of 2.6m copies was sold in Australia since first release, including film editions and boxed sets.
Film adaptations of the previous two Robert Langdon novels, starring Tom Hanks, were
blockbusters following the books' success. Data from Nielsen EDI shows that across Australia
and New Zealand, The Da Vinci Code (2006) grossed A$31.5m, making it the 39th highest-grossing film of all time in these countries. 2009's Angels and Demons grossed A$20.5m, placing it just outside the Top 100 films of all time.

A film adaptation of The Lost Symbol is expected to be announced shortly.

About Nielsen BookScan
BookScan is the book trade’s independent continuous retail sales monitoring service providing the most authoritative and reliable source of books sales information in Australia and New Zealand. BookScan provides weekly book sales figures to the media (best seller charts), publishers, bookshops and other industry observers.
BookScan provides accurate consumer sales information on all titles selling in Australia and New Zealand through retail channels. BookScan does not measure sales to institutions such as libraries, schools, etc.
BookScan countries of coverage are UK, Ireland, US, Australia, South Africa, Italy, New Zealand, Denmark and Spain. For more information, please visit: www.nielsenbookscan.com.au or http://www.nielsenbookscan.co.nz/