Jamie's Great Britain sells nearly 60,000 copies in single week, topping Christmas book chart for a second year running - Alison Flood - guardian.co.uk,
Jamie Oliver, king of Christmas books. Photograph: Tony Buckingham/ UNP
Don't want to know what that book-shaped present is under the tree? Then you might want to stop reading here, because most of the nation looks set to be unwrapping the latest cookery bible from Jamie Oliver this Christmas after the formerly naked chef landed his fourth festive number one with Jamie's Great Britain.
The collection of recipes celebrating "the essence of British food, done properly", sold 59,156 copies in the seven days until 20 December, making it this year's Christmas No 1 and giving Oliver his now traditional yuletide spot on top of the UK's book charts. The celebrity chef also took the slot last year with Jamie's 30-Minute Meals, a title that spent 32 weeks at number one, as well as in 2001 with Happy Days with the Naked Chef and in 2005 with Jamie's Italy.
But Oliver's offering wasn't enough to sate the nation's appetite for food this Christmas: Jamie's Great Britain was one of three cookery titles in the Christmas top 10, book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan has revealed, along with fellow television chefs Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy in fourth and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Every Day in eighth.
Quirky hit Where's the Meerkat? beat a horde of other meerkat titles to take third spot, selling 39,376 copies to come in behind Guinness World Records (55,392), while despite a plethora of offerings – from names including James Corden, Lee Evans and Rob Brydon – just one biography made the top 10: that of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, which came in sixth place, selling 34,779 copies in the Christmas week. The celebrity memoir fad was described earlier this month as "fading fast" by bookseller Foyles, with sales down 60% on 2010.
This year's Christmas top 10 was rounded out by an eclectic mix of just one novel (Kathryn Stockett's The Help, given new life by the recent film adaptation), one children's title (Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever) and two television tie-ins: Frozen Planet and The World of Downton Abbey.
"Being No 1 two years on the run is an incredible achievement," said Jon Howells of Waterstone's on Oliver's securing of the top spot. "Jamie has had a lot of competition this year, but ultimately he's a tough act to beat. Of course, this week's sales are likely to be higher than last week's, so it will be interesting to see which title dominates. It may be some time before we know which title really sold the most over Christmas."
The collection of recipes celebrating "the essence of British food, done properly", sold 59,156 copies in the seven days until 20 December, making it this year's Christmas No 1 and giving Oliver his now traditional yuletide spot on top of the UK's book charts. The celebrity chef also took the slot last year with Jamie's 30-Minute Meals, a title that spent 32 weeks at number one, as well as in 2001 with Happy Days with the Naked Chef and in 2005 with Jamie's Italy.
But Oliver's offering wasn't enough to sate the nation's appetite for food this Christmas: Jamie's Great Britain was one of three cookery titles in the Christmas top 10, book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan has revealed, along with fellow television chefs Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy in fourth and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Every Day in eighth.
Quirky hit Where's the Meerkat? beat a horde of other meerkat titles to take third spot, selling 39,376 copies to come in behind Guinness World Records (55,392), while despite a plethora of offerings – from names including James Corden, Lee Evans and Rob Brydon – just one biography made the top 10: that of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, which came in sixth place, selling 34,779 copies in the Christmas week. The celebrity memoir fad was described earlier this month as "fading fast" by bookseller Foyles, with sales down 60% on 2010.
This year's Christmas top 10 was rounded out by an eclectic mix of just one novel (Kathryn Stockett's The Help, given new life by the recent film adaptation), one children's title (Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever) and two television tie-ins: Frozen Planet and The World of Downton Abbey.
"Being No 1 two years on the run is an incredible achievement," said Jon Howells of Waterstone's on Oliver's securing of the top spot. "Jamie has had a lot of competition this year, but ultimately he's a tough act to beat. Of course, this week's sales are likely to be higher than last week's, so it will be interesting to see which title dominates. It may be some time before we know which title really sold the most over Christmas."
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