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Debut novelist Richard Osman the standout success, as the only title to reach platinum status in the same year as publication. Matt Haig, Reni Eddo-Lodge, David Walliams and Tom Kerridge were also among those honoured.

London, 17 March 2021–The Nielsen Bestseller Awards annual ceremony took place virtually this evening (Wednesday 17 March 2021) with Richard Osman, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Matt Haig and David Walliams among the prize-winners. The awards honoured authors of the most successful books of 2020, who in turn praised the booksellers for playing such a crucial role in not only selling books but also supporting their local communities.

Authors received honours for significant lifetime sales, as measured by Nielsen BookScan and PubTrack Digital across both print and e-book formats. The awards are based on UK sales volumes and were presented to those that passed sales thresholds during 2020 – Silver (250,000 sales), Gold (500,000 sales), and Platinum (1,000,000 sales). Twenty-seven titles were awarded Silver, Gold or Platinum status and the sales have helped contribute to another robust year despite the challenges that lockdown brought to the retail sector of the UK book industry with Nielsen Book estimating the total year at 202m print books sold to the value of £1.8bn.

All titles that achieve Platinum status are inducted into the 21st century Hall of Fame, which now includes 149 titles. In 2020, eight books passed the Platinum Award million copy sales threshold. Although published in 2019, Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse was the bestselling title of 2020 and achieved Platinum status, as did Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. Richard thanked booksellers in his acceptance speech:

“More than anything, a big thank you to all the people who have sold the book, all the booksellers up and down the country – it was such a tough year in 2020, and I know that’s continuing at the moment. I hope in 2021 we can all sell an awful lot more books and I look forward to travelling across the country to meet many readers and booksellers.”

There were three children’s titles that achieved Platinum status: George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney and The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams & Quentin Blake. Sally Rooney’s Normal People and Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling also became Platinum bestsellers, as did the oldest inductee into the 21st century Hall of Fame Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, originally published in 1813.

Penguin Classics Editorial Director Jessica Harrison reflected on the enduring success of Pride and Prejudice, stating:

“Penguin Books first published Pride and Prejudice back in 1938, in a cheap paperback edition with woodcut illustrations. Since then Austen’s best-loved novel has been an evergreen bestseller for us, published in countless different editions over the years. 

During lockdown last year we saw readers turn to the most iconic and enduring classics on our list, we saw sales of our main edition of Pride and Prejudice rise by 22%. It’s heartening to think that in difficult times, readers turn to classic books like Pride and Prejudice for solace and pleasure more than ever.”

Matt Haig enjoyed a superb 2020 receiving a Gold award for Reasons to Stay Alive and three of his other titles achieving sales of over 250,000: How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Midnight Library — the paperback edition of which is currently a UK #1 bestseller.

Chef Tom Kerridge achieved two awards: Lose Weight for Good (Gold) and Proper Pub Food (Silver). Tom echoed the views of all successful authors, offering his thanks to the important role played by booksellers in local communities:

“My favourite bookseller is The Marlow Bookshop, run by some lovely people. We’re so lucky to have a community bookshop, and we will always be supportive of it. There’s still something super special about your local bookshop, one that sells books with paper in them, not one you order on the internet!”

Gold Awards were also presented to: Reni Eddo-Lodge for Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Beth O’Leary for The Flatshare, Lisa Jewell for The Family Upstairs, Harriet Tyce for Blood Orange, Kathryn Hughes for The Letter and Christy Lefteri for The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

Silver Awards were presented to: Lucy Foley for The Guest List, Bridget Collins for The Binding, Matthew Syed for You Are Awesome, Heidi Perks for Now You See Her and Erin Kinsley for Found. David Baddiel has crossed the threshold for four of his children’s books, The Person Controller, Head Kid, Birthday Boy & The Parent Agency.

Andre Breedt, Managing Director of Nielsen Book said:

“We are delighted to be celebrating the fifth Nielsen Bestseller Awards, albeit virtually on social media. It feels more important than ever to recognise and celebrate the incredible role books have played in our lives this last year. Whether it was reading for escapism or keeping us calm, helping to homeschool our children or the source of the best binge worthy TV series; books were and continue to be at the centre of our lives. Indeed without books, knowledge would not have transferred across the ages from diaries of former pandemics to medical journals contributing to new vaccines. Never have books been more needed, or appreciated.”

2020 Nielsen Bestseller Awards:

Platinum Winners:

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney
• George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Boy in a Dress by David Walliams & illustrated by Quentin Blake
• The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
• The Cuckoo’s Calling: Cormoran Strike by Robert Galbraith
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Gold Winners:

• Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
• Fing by David Walliams & illustrated by Tony Ross
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
• Lose Weight for Good: Full-flavour cooking for a low-calorie diet by Tom Kerridge
• Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry
• Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
• Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
• The Break by Marian Keyes
• The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher and illustrated by Shane Devries
• The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
• The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
• The Letter by Kathryn Hughes
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Silver Winners:

• A Promised Land by Barack Obama
• Birthday Boy, Head Kid, The Parent Agency & The Person Controller by David Baddiel (Illustrated by Jim Field or Steven Lenton)
• Found by Erin Kinsley
• How to Stop Time, The Humans & The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• Now You See Her by Heidi Perks
• Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
• The Binding by Bridget Collins
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
• The Guest List by Lucy Foley
• The World’s Worst Parents by David Walliams & illustrated by Tony Ross
• Tom Kerridge’s Proper Pub Food by Tom Kerridge
• You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed & illustrated by Toby Triumph

Michael Morpurgo, Ian Rankin, Jojo Moyes, Fearne Cotton and David Walliams among those honoured

London, 23 January 2020 – ​Nielsen hosted its annual Bestseller Awards ceremony, in association with Coutts, the wealth manager and private bank, to honour authors of the most successful books of 2019. Held in the prestigious Coutts atrium, authors from across three primary categories – Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children’s – received top honours for significant lifetime sales of their titles as measured by Nielsen BookScan and PubTrack Digital across both print and e-book formats. ​Mariella Frostrup was the host of this year’s Nielsen Bestseller Awards.

The awards categories are based on sales volumes – Silver (250,000 sales), Gold (500,000 sales), and Platinum (1,000,000 sales). The authors being recognised have all reached significant sales milestones and have helped contribute to another robust year for the UK book industry, totalling 191m print books sold last year to the value of £1.7bn. In total, 26 titles were awarded either Silver, Gold or Platinum status.

This year, the Platinum Bestsellers are split across all three categories with eight titles honoured. For Fiction Jojo Moyes’ ​After You, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale ​and Heather Morris’ ​The Tattooist of Auschwitz ​each crossed the threshold of 1m sales in 2019 and were awarded Platinum awards. Jojo Moyes also received a Gold award for ​Still Me ​and Margaret Atwood received Silver for ​The Testaments. Erica James was awarded two Silver awards for ​Tell it to the Skies​ and ​Love and Devotion ​and Cara Hunter received Gold for Close to Home.

Memoirs and healthy eating dominated Non-Fiction in 2019 with both Adam Kay and ​Pinch of Nom ​authors Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson picking up two awards each. Adam Kay’s ​Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas achieved sales of over 500k in print and e-book, following on from the success of ​This is Going to Hurt ​which won a Platinum award. Pinch of Nom ​also achieved Platinum status and ​Pinch of Nom Everyday Light ​was awarded Silver. Ant Middleton’s ​First Man In: Leading From the Front ​was awarded Gold and Silver awards were presented to Fearne Cotton for ​Happy, Raynor Winn for​ The Salt Path, Dolly Alderton for ​Everything I Know About Love ​and Henry Firth and Ian Theasby for their bestselling vegan cookbook ​BOSH!.

The Children’s category once again boasted familiar authors from the nation’s bestseller charts including David Walliams, receiving one Platinum award for ​Bad Dad as well as two Gold awards for ​The World’s Worst Teachers ​and ​The Beast of Buckingham Palace. Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler brought home another Platinum award for ​A Squash and a Squeeze ​and a Gold for ​The Scarecrows’ Wedding.​ ​ Liz Pichon continued her success, having been awarded six Silver awards previously, with another Silver for ​Tom Gates: Family, Friends and Furry Creatures.

Ian Rankin and Michael Morpurgo were inducted into the 21st Century Hall of Fame, having achieved significant official lifetime sales across all their titles. Ian Rankin has achieved combined lifetime sales of 9.7m in print and 1.6m in e-books. His most popular books are Doors Open, ​selling over 325k print copies, and ​Saints of the Shadow Bible​ which has sold over 158k e-books. ​Michael Morpurgo has sold over 8.5m print books with ​War Horse ​being his most popular having sold 567k paperbacks since publication in June 2017. He has also sold 257k e-books with ​Private Peaceful ​the most popular at 34k copies purchased.

“Once again, we’re delighted to host and honour some of the bestselling authors in the UK,” said Andre Breedt, Managing Director, Nielsen Book Research International.  “2019 was another strong year for the industry, with sales keeping pace with the highs of recent years. My warmest congratulations to all the winners, it is always a pleasure to celebrate with so many of you at our annual ceremony.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Nielsen once again for these awards”, said Simon Hopes, Managing Director, Coutts. “Coutts has a long and proud tradition in the literary world, counting Charles Dickens, Lord Alfred Tennyson and Bram Stoker as former clients. With a library here that dates back to 1850, storytelling is written in the very foundations of this organisation. Seeing so many accomplished authors under one roof, and sharing the celebrations of their achievements is extremely humbling and something everyone at Coutts is proud to support.”

Please see below the list of 2019 Nielsen Bestseller Awards:  

For Non-Fiction:
Platinum
● Pinch of Nom ​by Kay Featherstone & Kate Allinson
● Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind ​ by Yuval Noah Harari
● This is Going to Hurt ​by Adam Kay

Gold
● First Man In: Leading From the Front ​by Ant Middleton
● Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas ​by Adam Kay

Silver
● BOSH! ​ by Henry Firth & Ian Theasby
● Everything I Know About Love ​by Dolly Alderton
● Happy ​by Fearne Cotton
● Pinch of Nom Everyday Light ​by Kay Featherstone & Kate Allinson
● The Salt Path ​by Raynor Winn
● When Breath Becomes Air ​by Paul Kalanithi

For Fiction:
Platinum
● After You ​by Jojo Moyes
● The Tattooist of Auschwitz ​by Heather Morris
● The Handmaid’s Tale ​by Margaret Atwood

Gold
● Close to Home ​by Cara Hunter
● Still Me ​by Jojo Moyes

Silver
● Love and Devotion ​&​  Tell it to the Skies ​by Erica James
● The Testaments ​by Margaret Atwood

For Children’s:
Platinum
● Bad Dad ​by David Walliams
● A Squash and a Squeeze ​by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Gold
● The Scarecrows’ Wedding ​by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
● The World’s Worst Teachers ​&​ The Beast of Buckingham Palace ​by David Walliams

Silver
● Fing ​by David Walliams
● Tom Gates: Family, Friends and Furry Creatures ​by Liz Pichon
 
Honorary 21st Century Hall of Fame:
● Ian Rankin
● Michael Morpurgo

Legendary bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford was presented with a special recognition at the HarperCollins UK head office in London Bridge on Thursday 28 November 2019.

It’s the first time a ‘Lifetime Platinum Bestseller Award’ framed award has been presented and reflects a unique lifetime of incredible sales of an array of bestselling novels over a 40 year writing career.

The author was visiting the UK from her New York home to promote her new novel In the Lion’s Den and to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of her most memorable classic, Woman of Substance.

The Nielsen Bestseller Awards have presented Pinch of Nom founders, Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson, with both Silver (250,000 copies sold) and Gold Bestseller Awards (500,000 copies sold) to celebrate the phenomenal sales achievement of their debut book.

On 13 June 2019, publisher Bluebird published a second Pinch of Nom title, Pinch of Nom: Food Planner to accompany the bestselling cookbook. The planner is a weekly journal to chart slimming progress, plan weekly meals and to inspire Pinch of Nom fans to reach their goals.

Echoing the success of the cookbook, Pinch of Nom: Food Planner is the second bestselling title in the Family, Health & Relationships category this year, the 13th bestselling Non-Fiction title of the year and is within the Top 35 in the Diet & Fitness category since records began.

On hearing they had sold a combined total of 1 million books in the UK, Kay & Kate said:

“It’s going to take a long while for this to sink in! We’re overwhelmed and in awe of the response to both the Pinch of Nom book and the planner. We can’t thank those who have believed in us enough. It’s beyond belief!” – Kay and Kate, Pinch of Nom

Publisher Carole Tonkinson said:

“Working with Kay and Kate and the Pinch of Nom team has been a huge career highlight for me.  Their cookbook has sold in every channel and seemingly to most UK households. Their delicious, healthy recipes have such a wide appeal: people looking for hearty family favourites, slimmers, people looking for simple dishes that are easy on the budget. Pinch of Nom has them all covered. We are thrilled to see Kay and Kate break another record in such a short time.”

– Carole Tonkinson, Bluebird

Bluebird announced earlier this year that it has acquired two additional Pinch of Nom titles from agent Clare Hulton, details to be announced.

Pictured: George R.R. Martin, Alastair Giles (Director of Nielsen Bestseller Awards), Jane Johnson (Publishing Director, HarperCollins) and Andre Breedt, (MD, Nielsen Book)

George R.R. Martin made a rare appearance in London last night (8 August 2019) answering questions from historian Dan Jones, in front of an audience of over 1000 guests at The Emanuel Centre, Marsham Street.

The event was managed by HarperCollins UK and Waterstones with over 500 signed copies of his latest book Fire and Blood sold.

At the start of the event the author was presented with two Nielsen Platinum Bestseller Award trophies for A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings.

The first two of his seven published books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series have both sold over a million copies in the UK across all editions. He is now one of only seventeen authors this century with more than one title in the 21st Century Platinum Hall of Fame.

Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick awarded Silver Bestseller Award pictured from l to r with Anna Valentine publisher of Trapeze, Stephen Long from Nielsen, Noel Fitzpatrck & Paul Stevens from Independent Talent

On the 31st of May 2019 at the Hay festival ‘Supervet’ Noel Fitzpatrick was awarded a Silver Bestseller Award for his uplifting memoir Listening To The Animals: Becoming The Supervet which has sales in excess of 250,000 copies in the UK.

In this long-awaited memoir, Noel recounts this often-surprising journey that sees him leaving behind a farm animal practice in rural Ireland to set up Fitzpatrick Referrals in Surrey, one of the most advanced small animal specialist centres in the world. We meet the animals that paved the way, from calving cows and corralling bullocks to talkative parrots and bionic cats and dogs.

As heart-warming and life-affirming as the TV show with which he made his name, Listening to the Animals, is a story of love, hope and compassion, and about rejoicing in the bond between humans and animals that makes us the very best we can be.

On the 14th of March, 2019, Karin Slaughter was presented with an Honorary Platinum Nielsen Bestseller Award at the London Book Fair.

This award is in recognition of Slaughter’s combined UK sales of over 5,000,000.

Published in 37 languages, with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as  Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter.

E. L. James being presented with her award by Andre Breedt

On the 13th of March, 2019, E. L. James was presented with a Sextuple Platinum Award for Fifty Shades of Grey at the London Book Fair.

A former TV executive, wife and mother-of-two based in the leafy suburbs of West London, James has been writing romantic fiction since 2009 and in 2012 her career took an extraordinary turn when the Fifty Shades Trilogy became worldwide bestsellers and subsequently a series of blockbuster movies.

James’ first novel in the Fifty Shades trilogy has astonishing sales of over 6,500,000 in the UK alone.

David Walliams, Gail Honeyman, Adam Kay, Francesca Simon and Tony Ross among those honoured

London, 22 January 2019 – Nielsen hosted its annual Bestseller Awards ceremony, in association with Coutts, to honour authors of the most successful books of 2018. Held in the prestigious Coutts atrium, authors from across three primary categories – Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children’s – received top honours as measured by Nielsen BookScan and PubTrack Digital across both print and e-book formats for a title’s lifetime of sales. The awards ceremony was hosted by Mariella Frostrup.

Mariella Frostrup Photo: Marte Rekaa

The awards categories are based on sales volumes – Silver (250,000 sales), Gold (500,000 sales), and Platinum (1,000,000 sales). The authors being recognised have all reached significant sales milestones and have helped contribute to another robust year for the UK book industry, totalling 191m books sold last year to the value of £1.6bn. In total, 22 Fiction titles have reached either Silver, Gold or Platinum status.

This year, the Platinum Bestsellers are dominated by Fiction titles with four authors honoured including Jojo Moyes for After You, Liane Moriarty for The Husband’s Secret, B. A. Paris for Behind Closed Doors and Gail Honeyman for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Notably, Honeyman had a stellar year with her debut, achieving sales of 1.2m in 2018 alone – well in excess of the 1m sales required for a Platinum award. Honorary Platinum winners inducted into the 21st Century Hall of Fame are Francesca Simon and Tony Ross.

Gail Honeyman Photo: Marte Rekaa

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to all of the library staff, booksellers and, of course, to all of the readers who have championed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine over the last year or so,” said Gail Honeyman. “I’m very grateful, and I’m completely thrilled to be receiving this award.”

The Children’s category boasted some of the most successful authors including David Walliams, receiving two Platinum awards for The Midnight Gang and Ratburger as well as two Gold awards for The Ice Monster and World’s Worst Children 3. David said of his multiple wins, “I am delighted to be honoured at this year’s Nielsen Book Awards for my children’s books and I’d like to say a huge thank-you to my readers for making it possible!” Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler brought home two Platinum awards for The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child and Roald Dahl’s The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also achieved Platinum status. Liz Pichon continued her success, having been awarded three Silver awards in 2017, with three more Silver awards for 2018. Jim Field accepted a Silver award for Oi Frog! on behalf of himself and Kes Gray.

Non-Fiction authors also received top honours. Jamie Oliver achieved Platinum status for 5 Ingredients – Quick and Easy Food while Michelle Obama’s Becoming and Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt both received Gold.

Adam Kay Photo: Marte Rekaa

“Once again, we’re delighted to host and honour some of the bestselling authors the UK has produced,” said Andre Breedt, Managing Director, Nielsen Book Research International. “2018 was another strong year for the industry, with sales keeping pace with the highs of recent years and where the largest category Non-Fiction saw growth in both value and volume sales. My warmest congratulations to all the winners, it will be great to celebrate with so many of you tonight.”

“Coutts are delighted to be supporting the UK book industry through this year’s Nielsen Bestseller Awards, recognising and celebrating the UK’s bestselling titles,” said Simon Hopes, Commercial Director at Coutts. “It will be hugely inspirational to see so many accomplished authors together under one roof, and to be able to champion their achievements. We can already count a large number of the UK’s most established authors, past and present among our clients, from Bram Stoker and Charles Dickens to many of today’s best loved writers, so this is a natural fit for us.”

On April the 10th, 2018, David Baldacci was presented with an Honorary Platinum Nielsen Bestseller Award at the London Book Fair.

The bestselling American novelist has official sales totalling over 6 million copies in the UK alone.

Since his debut in 1996 with Absolute Power that was subsequently adapted to a film starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, he has published 37 novels for adults and 6 novels for younger readers. His books have been published in 45 languages and in 80 countries. With ten series of thrilling novels including the Amos Decker and Atlee Pine series as well as stand alone novels Baldacci has been captivating readers in the UK in their millions.