Stieg Larsson trilogy dominates 2010

The Bookseller - 04.01.11   - Graeme Neill

Stieg Larsson looks on course to be the biggest selling author of last year, according to pre-Christmas sales data from Nielsen BookScan. The figures, for the 50 weeks ending 11th December, leave out the crucial final trading weeks before Christmas.

However, during the course of the 50 weeks, Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Quercus) sold 1.16m copies. Second was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, with 995,845 copies sold. Third was The Girl Who Played with Fire, selling 957,063 books.

The retailers' pick of the autumn titles, Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals (Michael Joseph), placed fourth with sales of 874,546. Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Transworld) was fifth (672,950) copies sold.

Despite falling sales in 2010, Stephenie Meyer continued to sell strongly and dominated the bottom half of the top 10. Eclipse sold 511,093 copies, Twilight 483,266 copies, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner 474,796 books and New Moon 471,199 (all Atom). Rounding off the top 10 was perennial Christmas bestseller Guinness World Records. Its 2011 title sold 421,372.

Nielsen sales since records began in 1998 show a top 10 dominated by JK Rowling. The Harry Potter author has seven books in the top 10, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Bloomsbury) her biggest selling title with 3.8m sales and second overall. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was the bestselling book between 1998 and 11th December 2010, with 4.5m copies sold. Brown's Angels and Demons placed fourth, selling 3.1m. Stephenie Meyer's Twilight (Atom) completed the top 10, placed ninth with sales of 2.1m.

Nielsen Sales Data