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NEWS : Bestsellers



Bestsellers 26 Aug
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Stephenie Meyer
Neal Stephenson
Terry Brooks
John Scalzi

Bestsellers 19 Aug
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Brunonia Barry



2008 Monitor Listings Archive



KEY

The table shows the current rank of each book and the change since last week, where:

= same as last week

+/- change since last week

+ back on list

++ new on list

x no longer on list (number of x's: weeks off list)


All lists rank hardcovers and paperbacks separately, except for the USA Today list, which is a single list combining fiction and nonfiction in all formats. Dates shown are posted dates, except those in parentheses, which are dates compiled. New York Times posts its list one week in advance of print publication.

Note that some sources do not compile paperback bestsellers, and some exclude YA books (like the Harry Potter series) from their hardcover and paperback fiction lists.

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Locus Bestsellers, compiled from sales at specialty stores:
August
 
 

SFFH Books on General Bestseller Lists
posted 2 September 2008

Sean Williams' Star Wars novel The Force Unleashed (Ballantine Del Rey) debuts spectacularly this week, ranking #1 on both the New York Times and Publishers Weekly fiction hardcover lists, #4 at Washington Post, #15 on the combined USA Today list.

In fact, a check of Locus Online's database shows that Williams' book is the only Star Wars novel to place #1 on the New York Times fiction hardcover list in the past five years (as far back as our current database goes); the next closest is Matthew Stover's Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith novelization in April 2005, which peaked at #3.

Also notable this week: titles by Stephenie Meyer occupy the top 4 slots on USA Today's combined list, with hardcovers Breaking Dawn and Eclipse in 1st and 4th place, paperbacks Twilight and New Moon in 2nd and 3rd.

Meanwhile, Christopher Paolini's long-awaited Brisingr (Knopf), due September 20th, rises to #1 today on Amazon UK's list; it's #2 on the Amazon Canada list, and #4 on Amazon.com's.

Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT
09.07
WP
08.31
SFC
08.31
USAT
08.24
PW
09.01
Amz
(09.02)
UK:
Amz UK
(09.02)
Canada:
Amz.ca
(09.02)
Items on list -x- number of lists surveyed   30x5 10x4 30x3 150 15x5 100 100 100
Hardcovers
Barry, The Lace Reader 08.19.08 / 3 10 = xx   84 +2 10 +1 79 -1    
Brooks, The Gypsy Morph 08.26.08 / 2           92 -46 58 ++  
Colfer, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox 07.01.08 / 10     xxx.. 50 -15   44 + 17 -8 27 +
Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 10.23.07 / 33 x   7 -4 xxx..   83 +   xxx..
Kenyon, Acheron 07.29.08 / 6 6 -3 x   28 -11 6 -4 xx 125 -57 x
Meyer, Breaking Dawn 02.12.08 / 30     2 = 1 =   2 -1   3 -1
Meyer, Eclipse 08.14.07 / 56     x 4 +1 xxx.. 6 -2   xxx..
Meyer, The Host 02.12.08 / 27 5 +1 7 +1 xxx 18 +2 3 +2 61 +22 xxx.. 40 -22
Meyer, New Moon 08.14.07 / 56       xxx.. xxx.. 16 +9   xxx..
Meyer, Twilight 08.14.07 / 21           20 +12   xxx..
Paolini, Brisingr 01.22.08 / 33           4 +4 1 +4 2 +6
Patterson/Ledwidge, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X 08.05.08 / 5 2 -1 x   58 -20       xxx
Pratchett, Nation (UK) 08.05.08 / 5             14 +20  
Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 02.06.07 / 83     xxx.. xxx.. xxx.. 49 +38    
Rowling, The Tales of Beedle the Bard 08.05.08 / 5           12 =    
Rowling, The Tales of Beedle the Bard (UK) 08.05.08 / 5             5 -3 14 -5
Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence 05.27.08 / 15 x   10 + xxx..   xxx..   xxx..
Scott, The Magician 07.08.08 / 9 7 +1     xxx..        
Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret 05.08.07 / 62 8 -1     xxx.. xxx.. xxx..    
Stephenson, Anathem 07.22.08 / 3           41 +19 86 ++ 63 -39
Traviss, Star Wars: The Clone Wars 08.12.08 / 4 27 -8     x xx      
Williams, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 09.02.08 / 1 1 ++ 4 ++   15 ++ 1 ++      
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT
09.07
WP
08.31
SFC
08.31
USAT
08.24
PW
09.01
Amz
(09.02)
UK:
Amz UK
(09.02)
Canada:
Amz.ca
(09.02)
Paperbacks [tpb=trade]
Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 07.20.03 / 91       94 +23   xxx..   xxx..
Briggs, Cry Wolf 07.29.08 / 6 9 -1 xxx   48 -14 7 = xxx   x
Brooks, The Elves of Cintra 08.12.08 / 4 21 -5              
Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman's Union [tpb] 05.13.08 / 17 23 -4 xxx.. 7 = xxx.. xxx.. xxx..   xxx..
Drake, Nightwalker 08.12.08 / 4 26 +5     125 -9        
McCarthy, The Road [tpb] 04.10.07 / 74 7 -1 xxx.. xxx.. 34 +16 7 +7 71 -1 xxx.. x
Meyer, New Moon [tpb] 06.17.08 / 12     x 3 =   8 +1    
Meyer, Twilight [tpb] 08.14.07 / 56     8 -4 2 = xxx.. 3 = xxx.. xxx..
Moore/Gibbons, Watchmen [tpb] 07.22.08 / 7   5 -1 9 ++ 14 -1   10 +3 27 -3 8 -5
Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife [tpb] 05.24.04 / 130 xxx.. xxx.. xxx.. xxx.. xxx.. xxx..   47 -11
Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife (UK) [tpb] 01.04.05 / 146             75 -27  
Nix, The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 6: Superior Saturday (UK) [tpb] 06.10.08 / 13             112 -30  
Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four 07.20.03 / 95       99 +23   xxx..   xxx..
Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 07.22.08 / 7             80 +30  
Salvatore, The Orc King: Transitions, Book One 07.15.08 / 6 34 -12     xxx.. xxx..      
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT
09.07
WP
08.31
SFC
08.31
USAT
08.24
PW
09.01
Amz
(09.02)
UK:
Amz UK
(09.02)
Canada:
Amz.ca
(09.02)
This cell color indicates rankings on children's bestsellers lists This cell color indicates rankings of books based on pre-publication sales [Italics and brackets, and/or this cell color, indicate stale data -- rankings from one or more weeks before -- and do not contribute to the cumulative weeks on any list totals]
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