Bestselling Books of 2009

Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer and Lawrence Hill Take Away Top Honours in Canada’s Bestselling Books of 2009

TORONTO December 21, 2009 – The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown was the top-selling book in Canada this year, followed by Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, Eclipse, and New Moon. Canadian Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes rounded out the top five.

According to BNC SalesData, Canada’s national book sales tracking service, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson was the only non-fiction title to make the top ten bestsellers at number 10. Juvenile Fiction had half of the top spots (Jeff Kinney’s The Last Straw; Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, Eclipse, Twilight and New Moon).

Fiction titles made up 40% of the ten highest (The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The Shack by William P. Young and, as mentioned, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown).

“Once again this year vampires feature heavily on the bestselling lists, with three of the top selling books of the year featuring the undead.” said BookNet CEO Noah Genner. “The strong showings by Playing With Fire, Always Looking Up, Outliers and The Book of Negroes give a decidedly Canadian feel across many of the lists.”

Two of the top ten bestselling authors, Lawrence Hill and William P. Young, were Canadian. Other top selling Canadian-authored titles include Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Theo Fleury’s Playing with Fire.

From January 1, 2009 to the week ending December 13th, 2009, the top-selling books are as follows:

Top 5 Overall, All Categories

1. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, hardcover) $36.95
2. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $23.99
3. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $21.99
4. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.99
5. The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (HarperCollins Publishers, trade paperback) $30.95

Top 5 Canadian-Authored, All Categories

1. The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (HarperCollins Publishers, trade paperback) $30.95
2. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, William P. Young (Windblown Media, trade paperback) $15.99
3. Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (Little Brown & Company, hardcover) $30.99
4. Playing With Fire, Theo Fleury (HarperCollins Canada, hardcover) $32.99
5. Always Looking Up, Michael J. Fox (Hyperion Press, hardcover) $33.99

Top 5 Trade Paperback Adult Fiction

1. The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (HarperCollins Publishers) $30.95
2. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, William P. Young (Windblown Media) $15.99
3. The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger (Knopf Canada) $22.00
4. My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult (Simon & Schuster) $19.99
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer (Random House Publishing) $16.50

Top 5 Trade Paperback Non-Fiction

1. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time, Greg Mortenson (Penguin Group) $16.50
2. Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama (Crown Publishing Group) $16.95
3. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle (New World Library) $14.95
4. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (Simon & Schuster) $16.50
5. The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama (Crown Publishing Group) $19.95

Top 5 Hardcover Adult Fiction

1. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, hardcover) $36.95
2. The Host, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company) $28.99
3. An Echo in the Bone, Diana Gabaldon (Doubleday Canada) $39.95
4. The Associate, John Grisham (Knopf Doubleday Publishing) $33.00
5. Twenties Girl, Sophie Kinsella (Random House Publishing) $32.00

Top 5 Hardcover Non-Fiction

1. Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (Little Brown & Company, hardcover) $30.99
2. Guinness World Records 2010, Craig Glenday (Guinness World Records Limited) $37.99
3. Playing With Fire, Theo Fleury (HarperCollins Canada, hardcover) $32.99
4. Always Looking Up, Michael J. Fox (Hyperion Press, hardcover) $33.99
5. Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom (Hyperion Press, hardcover) $29.99

Top 5 Juvenile

1. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $23.99
2. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, hardcover) $21.99
3. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.99
4. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown and Company, trade paperback) $11.99
5. The Last Straw, Jeff Kinney (Abrams, hardcover) $14.50

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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.