The Sunday Times Bestseller List is the oldest and most influential book sales chart in the UK, and the one that every author wants to be on. The listings are based on data collected each Saturday for the following Sunday by Nielsen BookScan (which has been collecting digital data since 1998) and the chart is the most accurate and comprehensive estimation of book sales in the country.
This week’s bestsellers
● The V&A’s Gabrielle Chanel exhibition is sold out, so little wonder fashion fans with Fomo are buying the accompanying book.
● The Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls’s 2009 novel One Day has been breaking viewers’ hearts. The book returns to the bestsellers for the first time in more than a decade.
General hardbacks
1 Charles III by Robert Hardman (Macmillan £22)
The royal biographer’s portrait of King Charles III and his first year on the throne (3,105)
2 Gabrielle Chanel by Oriole Cullen and Connie Karol Burks (V&A £40)
Exploring some of Chanel’s notable designs from her 60 years in fashion (2,845)
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3 Wild Hope by Donna Ashworth (Black & White £12.99)
Poems and writings to help to find hope, peace and inspiration in dark days (2,035)
4 WHAT by John Cooper Clarke (Picador £16.99)
A new collection of poems from the poet laureate of punk’s acerbic pen (2,000)
5 Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith (M Joseph £16.99)
Clinical psychologist’s advice for navigating life’s ups and downs (1,920)
6 The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett (Ebury Edge £20)
The entrepreneur and podcaster reveals his principles for business and life (1,590)
7 Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken (Cornerstone £22)
Investigating the science and economics of highly processed food (1,425)
Read our review of Ultra-Processed People
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8 Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart (Jonathan Cape £22)
The challenges and absurdities of political life are revealed by the former MP (1,510)
Read our review of Politics on the Edge
9 How They Broke Britain by James O’Brien (WH Allen £20)
The presenter on the downfall of Britain and who is to blame (1,345)
10 Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry (Headline £25)
The Friends star on fame, fortune and addiction (1,320)
General paperbacks
1 Food for Life by Tim Spector (Vintage £12.99)
The epidemiologist reveals insights based on the latest science of eating well (6,340)
2 Atomic Habits by James Clear (Random House £17.99)
The minuscule changes that can grow into life-altering outcomes (4,895)
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3 Damaged by Cathy Glass (HarperCollins £8.99)
The story of a violent and aggressive girl failed by the social care system (4,865)
4 The Wager by David Grann (Simon & Schuster £10.99)
The story of HMS Wager, wrecked in 1741, and the mutiny that followed (3,200)
Read our review of The Wager
5 Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson (Vermilion £10.99)
How understanding personality types can improve human interaction (2,350)
6 Steeple Chasing by Peter Ross (Headline £10.99)
A celebration of Britain’s churches for their beauty and stories (2,320)
7 SAS: Great Escapes Two by Damien Lewis (Quercus £9.99)
More untold stories of daring escapes made by members of the wartime SAS (2,285)
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8 4 Weeks to Better Sleep by Michael Mosley (Short £14.99)
The science of sleep explored and the secret to a good night’s rest (2,265)
9 Strong Female Character by Fern Brady (Brazen £10.99)
The stand-up comedian’s memoir on growing up with undiagnosed autism (2,070)
10 Masters of the Air by Donald L Miller (Ebury £8.99)
The story of the American Eighth Air Force and its fight against the Nazis (2,020)
Fiction hardbacks
1 House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas (Bloomsbury £22)
Stranded in a strange new world, Bryce Quinlan strives to return home to Midgard (4,485)
2 Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde (Hodder £20)
Eddie Russett and Jane Grey seek the truth of their colour vision-segregated world (2,820)
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3 The Fury by Alex Michaelides (M Joseph £18.99)
An Easter weekend getaway on a former film star’s private Greek island turns deadly (2,665)
4 Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (Piatkus £22)
Violet Sorrengail’s second year at Basgiath War College; sequel to Fourth Wing (2,250)
5 Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Piatkus £20)
A young woman is among many candidates to become an elite dragon rider (2,225)
6 The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (Viking £22)
The Thursday Murder Club probe the murder of an old friend in the antiques trade (2,035)
7 Crosshairs by James Patterson and James O Born (Century £20)
Detective Michael Bennett’s new partner fits the profile of a terrifying killer (1,865)
8 Dead Heat by Jessie Keane (Hodder £16.99)
After a husband confesses to an affair, the “other woman” winds up dead (1,575)
9 The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (Quercus £22)
The trail of a dead author leads investigators to a sinister writers’ retreat (1,555)
10 The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young (Quercus £18.99)
A woman risks it all to end her family’s curse (1,375)
Fiction paperbacks
1 The Lucky Penny by Dilly Court (HarperCollins £8.99)
The story of a young woman rescued from a life of poverty on London’s streets (12,100)
2 Past Lying by Val McDermid (Sphere £9.99)
An author’s manuscript bears similarities to an unsolved missing person’s case (11,315)
3 I Will Find You by Harlan Coben (Penguin £9.99)
An innocent father jailed for his son’s murder receives news he may still be alive (7,280)
4 The Cloisters by Katy Hays (Penguin £8.99)
An intern finds a mysterious deck of tarot cards at a gothic museum (6,960)
5 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Vintage £9.99)
The story of two friends brought together by a shared love of video games (6,750)
6 Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo (Vintage £9.99)
Harry Hole is enticed back to Oslo to hunt a killer targeting young women (6,430)
7 The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Little, Brown £9.99)
Hired as a live-in maid, an ex-con finds her employers difficult to work for (6,395)
8 Bride by Ali Hazelwood (Sphere £9.99)
A Vampyre bride and an Alpha werewolf agree to a dangerous alliance (6,345)
9 One Day by David Nicholls (Hodder £9.99)
The story of two close friends, told on the same day over a 20-year period (5,930)
10 Taste of Blood by Lynda La Plante (Bonnier £9.99)
Jane Tennison investigates a complicated domestic assault case (5,480)
Children’s
1 If Only I Had Told Her by Laura Nowlin (Sourcebooks Fire £8.99)
A companion novel to If He Had Been With Me, revisiting its events from new perspectives (6,270)
2 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöde by Jeff Kinney (Puffin £7.99)
Greg helps his brother’s band become rock legends (5,395)
3 Bunny vs Monkey: Bunny Bonanza by Jamie Smart (David Fickling £12.99)
Monkey and the gang look for Bunny after he mysteriously disappears (4,360)
4 Powerless by Lauren Roberts (Simon & Schuster £9.99)
Paedyn Gray is thrown into trials to showcase elite powers she doesn’t have (3,925)
5 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer by Jeff Kinney (Puffin £14.99)
Greg and his friends try to save their school from closure (3,205)
The lists are prepared by and the data is supplied by (and copyrighted to) Nielsen BookScan, and are taken from the TCM for the week ending 10/02/24. Figures shown are sales for the seven-day period.
To order a copy of any of our bestsellers go to timesbookshop.co.uk/bestsellers
Explore The Times and The Sunday Times best books of 2023 with our complete guide
