Christmas Bestseller Battle: Guinness, Oliver, Mackesy & More!

Guinness World Records faces tough competition for the Christmas bestseller title. Oliver, Mackesy, and Osman are strong contenders. Sales data and trends analyzed for top spots.

It has been 12 weeks since the publication of this year’s edition of the Guinness World Records– truth begin of any bookseller’s Xmas– in the last week of August. It was an inauspicious beginning for among the main challengers for the 2025 Xmas Primary: the latest version sold 3,105 duplicates in those very first seven days, more than 40,000 systems behind that week’s top title, RF Kuang’s Katabasis.

Guinness World Records Sales Performance

It ought to not be assumed, however, that the Christmas Leading will be a hardback– there have actually been three circumstances considering that 1998 where a paperback has reached lead in the trade’s optimal sales week, the most recent can be found in 2023 with the huge success of GT Karber’s Murdle.

Upon publication, Eat Yourself Healthy and balanced was Oliver’s fastest-selling book ever, yet things have actually trailed off a little since then– in the week ended 15th November, it marketed just 4,056 systems using the TCM. In the comparable period back in 2017, 5 Active ingredients was marketing 6 times that amount.

Jamie Oliver’s Book Sales Analysis

But Oliver has actually been undergoing something of a purple patch in 2025. There was his winter months launch Easy Air Fryer, which scored two number ones in February, while his autumn getaway, Eat Yourself Healthy and balanced, has shifted 192,004 copies considering that it was released in September– a robust 118.7% more than 2024’s Just Jamie sold in the equivalent period.

In 2019, David Walliams and illustrator Tony Ross’ The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins Children’s) offered 87,900 duplicates to pip Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Steed to Christmas Top by 5,445 devices. Fast-forward 6 years and Walliams’ star has actually wound down, most likely judgment him out of contention.

David Walliams and Charlie Mackesy Competition

Points look assuring for Mackesy. In the most recent information for this evaluation (to 15th November), his most recent, Always Remember, hit 2nd in the general Authorities UK Top 50 and six weeks after its launch was defeated just by Dav Pilkey’s newly-published Pet Man: Big Jim Thinks. Not just that, Always Bear in mind’s sales are up compared with the previous week and simply 740 systems behind its pre-decessor’s efficiency at the exact same point in its life cycle.

Both quantities of The 1% Club Quiz Publication rest on top two locations of the Book Non-Fiction graph at the time of composing. In 2024, the very first edition experienced a sharp rising from 3,994 copies in its 2nd week for sale in mid-November as much as nearly 10 times that quantity by Christmas week.In its 2nd week this year, the 2nd quantity has more than increased its previous year’s performance– and if it continues at this rate, it will certainly accomplish more than 87,000 duplicates in the important week, a number that would have provided it Christmas Number One in any kind of one of the previous 4 years.

The 1% Club Quiz Book Success

When it concerns Christmas Number Ones, Guinness is second just to Jamie Oliver, that takes the all-time crown with a total of 6– though it has actually been eight years considering that his last crowning with the 81,596 duplicates relocated by 2017’s 5 Active ingredients.

Yet points look guaranteeing for Mackesy. In one of the most recent data for this evaluation (to 15th November), his latest, Always Keep in mind, strike second in the general Official UK Top 50 and six weeks after its launch was beaten only by Dav Pilkey’s newly-published Dog Guy: Big Jim Thinks. Not only that, Always Bear in mind’s sales are up compared to the previous week and just 740 systems behind its pre-decessor’s performance at the exact same factor in its life cycle.

The yearly compendium of records has actually nabbed the lead via NielsenIQ BookScan’s Overall Consumer Market (TCM) in the last full week before Christmas a near-record five times because records started in 1998– most lately last year when it defeated Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders by 1,900 copies.

Richard Osman’s Book Sales Review

On the other hand, Osman’s The Difficult Lot of money, the fifth in the Thursday Murder Club series has offered 321,262 duplicates– which not only makes it the bestselling title of the past three months however places it in advance of 2024’s We Fix Murders by 11.3%. It seems likely that Osman and the sleuths from Cooper’s Chase will outsell Guinness this year, however will this suffice to claim the Christmas crown?