'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAUACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABeAAEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABhAAAgEDAwUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDAAQGBRIiERMxQVEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYRAAEFAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAgMRITH/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/ALrNF0XHkNnDpUUwWWVXkmcyvKAdnN5NzfD5qBM+NA8sctGb2e446mlKOCKMsBo2e6UkdI4PLcocwL//2Q=='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Prince Harry's new memoir, Spare, has made some record-breaking sales by selling over 1.4 million copies in the English language in all formats across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
The news was announced by publisher Penguin Random House on January 11, 2023, a day after the Duke of Sussex's bombshell book was released. This statistic is the highest number of sales records for a non-fiction book ever seen by the publishing house.
Prince Harry's tell-all memoir has created a buzz in itself for months. Five days before its official release date, excerpts from Spare were accidentally released in Spain and media that revealed explosive details about the Royal Family and Harry's struggle with them.
This was followed by high-profile interviews, which heightened the audience's expectations. Shannon DeVito, the director of books at Barnes & Noble, told The New York Times:
“We sold books in every location — and we sold a lot of them. Some people came in right before work, some people came in on their lunch break, some people came in after. But the velocity of sales throughout the day was gigantic.”
Prince Harry's Spare has become one of the best-selling hardcovers in recent times
In the United Kingdom, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows set a record for fiction books in 2007 when it sold 1.84 million books in the first week of its release. As of the right moment, Spare is the only book, aside from Harry Potter, that has sold more copies on its first day.
While speaking with the BBC, Transworld Penguin Random House's managing director, Larry Finlay, expressed his amusement at Spare's record-breaking sales. Finlay said:
"We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations. As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry (Potter)."
According to Finlay, the publishing company has already placed an order for an extra 200,000 copies of the book.
The sale of Prince Harry's Spare has put the book among the best hardcover-selling books in recent times, leaving behind Barack and Michelle Obama's biggest hits.
The former American president's book, A Promised Land, made a sale of 887,000 copies across different formats (hardback, audiobook, and ebook downloads) in Canada and the US on its first day of release. Penguin Random House also revealed that Michelle Obama's Becoming sold 725,000 units in both countries on its first day.
The New York Times reports that only publishers have records of their sales data across varied formats and they only release the numbers if it is favorable. NPD BookScan, an independent company that measures print sales, will release its findings for the first week of Spare sales on January 19.
Prince Harry's new book explores the rifts between the Duke and his family, his mental health struggles, and his grief post his mother's death. It also talks about how lonely he felt until he met his now-wife, Meghan Markle.
