Sales of English version of Prince Harry's Spare hit 'extraordinary' 1.4 million on first day
The English language edition of Spare sold more than 1.4 million copies on its first day of release, its publisher has said.
The Duke of Sussex’s memoir has now gone back to press in the US, after an initial print run of two million copies.
It had already become the fastest selling non-fiction book ever, with Penguin Random House saying only JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series had done better.
The first full day of sales on Tuesday saw more than 1,430,000 units, including print, e-book and audiobook editions, sold in the US, Canada and the UK, the publisher said.
The book has grabbed headlines across the world and sparked fierce debate over the role and relationships of Prince Harry and the Royal Family.
Some of its most dramatic revelations include claims that Prince William physically attacked his brother, and called Meghan difficult and rude.
Prince Harry also revealed that he killed 25 members of the Taliban while serving in Afghanistan, and details around losing his virginity and taking drugs.
A prolonged round of media interviews, as well as early coverage caused by it being accidentally leaked ahead of publication in Spain, may have served to increase interest in the book.
Several bookshops in the UK opened at midnight on Tuesday to serve customers anxious to get their hands on a copy, but there were very few reports of people taking up this offer.
However, this does not appear to have been a marker of sales, and industry experts have predicted it will be one of the best-selling pre-order titles of the past decade.
Announcing the sales figures, Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of the Random House Group, said: “While many books by public figures can be fairly categorised as ‘celebrity memoir,’ Spare is not that.
“Vulnerable and heartfelt, brave and intimate, Spare is the story of someone we may have thought we already knew, but now we can truly come to understand Prince Harry through his own words.
“Looking at these extraordinary first day sales, readers clearly agree, Spare is a book that demands to be read, and it is a book we are proud to publish.”
