Patterson and Steel score the most number one hits

The Bookseller - 13.09.10  - Philip Stone

James Patterson is the biggest "bride" of the UK book world. According an analysis of Nielsen BookScan charts since records began in 1998, the American author has penned the most chart-toppers, ahead of Danielle Steel in second place, Patricia Cornwell in third and Terry Pratchett in fourth. However, authors such as Mark Billingham, Jack Higgins and Jackie Collins are the trade's biggest "bridesmaids", having spent weeks in the charts but never at number one.

A grand total of 34 books penned by Patterson (or Patterson plus one of his numerous co-authors) has reached the summit of one of the four Sunday Times’ Top 10 bestseller lists (hardback fiction and non-fiction, and paperback fiction and non-fiction), compiled for the newspaper by The Bookseller. His books have spent a combined 10 years in those bestseller lists since 1998, meaning that more than 80% of the time he has a book in the top 10.

The second most prolific author in number one terms, Danielle Steel, (left),has seen 19 of her books reach top spot, while all her books (number twos and threes etc included) have spent eight years and three months in the bestseller lists. Patricia Cornwell, Terry Pratchett and Josephine Cox have all seen a dozen of their books reach pole position. Katie Price has perhaps the best strike rate: all eight of her adult-readership titles have gone to number one.

Meanwhile, although Dan Brown and Dave Pelzer have only penned three books each that have reached the summit of the bestseller lists, their books have spent more than seven years in the chart, combined.

Conversely, The Bookseller’s analysis reveals that the biggest bridesmaids of the UK book industry are Mark Billingham, (right), Jack Higgins and Jackie Collins. Since the beginning of 1998, those unlucky authors’ titles have spent more than a year in the Top 10 bestseller lists, but not one has reached pole position.
More at The Bookseller.