Bestsellers of 2008

A New Earth is the Canada’s Number One Selling Title of 2008;
Stephenie Meyer Titles are 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th (and 10th… and More)

TORONTO, December 22, 2008 – Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, takes four out of the five top selling books of 2008. Meyer was outsold only by Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.

BookNet Canada SalesData shows that Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, Breaking Dawn, Eclipse, and New Moon followed A New Earth, in that order. The hardcover edition of New Moon was the tenth bestseller of the year, giving Meyer a total of five titles in the top ten. The Host, Stephenie Meyer’s adult novel, was Canada’s second bestselling fiction hardcover.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling was twentieth over all despite being available for just two weeks before this list was compiled.

“Bestseller lists this year were shaped by two themes: a desire for personal and spiritual affirmation, and sexy undead guys and the women who love them. Behind the scenes, what we’re really seeing is the continuing ability of TV media, like Oprah, to drive sales and the power of young adult titles that break out into larger adult audiences,” said BookNet CEO Michael Tamblyn. “A New Earth and The Shack also give us something rare and exciting: Canadian authors finding success in categories outside of literary fiction and non-fiction.”

The five top selling Canadian titles include both a 2009 Canada Reads pick (Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes) and the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner (Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay). The Book of Negroes was also the fifth bestselling paperback fiction of the year.

From January 1, 2008 to the week ending December 14th, 2008, the top-selling books are as follows:

Top 5 Overall, All Categories

1. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Eckhart Tolle (Penguin Group, trade paperback) $15.50
2. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.50
3. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $23.99
4. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $21.99
5. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.50

Top 5 Canadian-Authored, All Categories

1. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Eckhart Tolle (Penguin Group, trade paperback) $15.50
2. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle (New World Library, trade paperback) $14.95
3. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, William P. Young (Windblown Media, trade paperback) $15.99
4. The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (HarperCollins, trade paperback) $24.95
5. Late Nights on Air, Elizabeth Hay (McClelland & Stewart, trade paperback) $22.00

Top 5 Paperback Fiction, Adult

1. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, William P. Young (Windblown Media) $15.99
2. The Appeal, John Grisham (Dell Publishing) $11.99
3. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett (Penguin Group) $27.50
4. Heart and Soul, Maeve Binchy (McArthur and Company) $24.95
5. The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (HarperCollins) $24.95

Top 5 Paperback Non-Fiction

1. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Eckhart Tolle (Penguin Group) $15.50
2. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin Group) $18.50
3. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle (New World Library) $14.95
4. The Innocent Man, John Grisham (Dell Publishing) $11.99
5. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace …One School at a Time, Greg Mortenson (Penguin Group) $16.50

Top 5 Hardcover Fiction, Adult

1. Remember Me?, Sophie Kinsella (Dell Publishing) $30.00
2. The Host, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company) $28.99
3. The Appeal, John Grisham (Doubleday Publishing) $33.00
4. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski (Doubleday Canada) $32.95
5. Love the One You’re With, Emily Giffin (St. Martin’s Press) $27.95

Top 5 Hardcover Non-Fiction

1. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch (HarperCollins Publishers) $17.50
2. The Secret, Rhonda Byrne (Simon and Schuster) $28.99
3. Guinness World Records 2009, (Guinness World Records Ltd.) $32.95
4. Ripley’s Believe It or Not: Prepare to be Shocked!, (Ripley Entertainment) $28.95
5. Audition: A Memoir, Barbara Walters (Knopf Publishing Group) $34.00

Top 5 Juvenile

1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.50
2. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $23.99
3. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $21.99
4. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.50
5. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $21.99

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About BookNet Canada
Created and supported by the Canadian book industry, BookNet Canada is the not-for-profit agency dedicated to technology innovation in the Canadian book industry. It is responsible for tracking national book sales, managing industry-wide business-to-business electronic commerce, bibliographic data, and other critical components of technology infrastructure.