A Journey reaches US top 10

17.09.10 - Tom Tivnan - The Bookseller


Tony Blair's American charm offensive has yielded results, with his memoir becoming the seventh bestselling book on the Non-Fiction BookScan US charts last week.

A Journey, published in the US by Random House imprint Knopf on 1st September, sold 10,668 copies in the week ending 12th September. It has shifted 17,258 copies in two weeks through Nielsen, which in America covers about 75% of all retail book sales. The New York Times has the book as third on its hardcover non-fiction list.

Blair's US tour has seen him appear on influential television programmes such as "The View", the chatshow whose hosts include Whoopi Goldberg and pioneering news presenter Barbara Walters, and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". He was also presented with the Liberty Medal, an annual award for "those striving to bring liberty to people around the world", by former president Bill Clinton.

Yet it was another British import which has topped the US charts. Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow's argument that God was unnecessary in the creation of the universe, The Grand Design (Bantam) sold 30,699 copies. It toppled Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin US) off the number one spot—though Gilbert has positions two and three with different versions of the title, which together sold 38,771 copies last week.

The top 10 non-fiction bestsellers:

1. The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking (Bantam)
2. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin US)
3. Eat, Pray Love (tie-in edition) by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin US)
4. The Power by Rhonda Byrne (Atria)
5. Crimes Against Liberty by David Limbaugh (Regnery)
6. Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern (It Books)
7. A Journey by Tony Blair (Knopf)
8. True Prep by Lisa Birnbach (Knopf)
9. The Official SAT Study Guide (College Board)
10. Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)