Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run races to top of book charts

Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography Born to Run has sprinted to the top of the UK’s book charts in its first week on sale, overtaking titles including The Girl on the Train and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to make an early bid for the Christmas No 1 spot.

Praised for being “as rich in anecdote and detail as in anguish and doubt” by the Guardian and as a story “delivered with quiet dignity” by the Observer, Born to Run was released on 27 September. Covering everything from Springsteen’s childhood in New Jersey to the rise of the E Street Band and his own personal struggles, the hardback book had sold 37,518 copies by the weekend, putting it top of the UK’s official top 50 bestselling books.

According to publisher Simon & Schuster, which paid a reported $10m (£7.8m) for the book, Springsteen has spent the past seven years writing the memoir. When it was released last week, fans queued for hours to meet him and receive a signed copy.

“It’s been easily our bestselling book at Waterstones since publication and we fully expect sales to push on strongly as we head into Christmas gifting, for which it’s perfect. I expect Born to Run to steam ahead to be a challenger for a No 1 Christmas hit,” said Waterstones nonfiction buyer Richard Humphreys. “Bruce Springsteen is arguably the best in rock history at creating a sense of intimacy with his fans and he has certainly done this with the release of his long-awaited memoirs.”

At Springsteen’s UK publisher Simon & Schuster, managing director of the adult publishing division Suzanne Baboneau said the “extraordinary” first-week sales of Born to Run were “testimony to the fact that Bruce Springsteen is just as remarkable an author as he is songwriter, musician and performer”.

According to the Bookseller, Born to Run is the first celebrity autobiography to take the No 1 spot since former football manager Alex Ferguson did so with his memoir in October 2013. Referring to “testing new times for celebrity autobiographies”, the magazine said that “the last musician’s memoir to go to No 1 – using the term ‘musician’ loosely – was Cheryl Cole’s My Story in autumn 2012”.