‘In Too Deep’ is Aotearoa New Zealand’s number-one Christmas bestseller

In Too Deep (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam) is the top Christmas bestseller for Aotearoa New Zealand, selling just under 2500 copies in the week ending 14 December, according to Nielsen BookData.

The 29th title in the Jack Reacher series, In Too Deep is the fifth Jack Reacher title to be the number one bestselling Christmas title in the Aotearoa New Zealand market since 2016, according to BookScan, and the third in a row over the past three years.

The top bestselling Aotearoa New Zealand-published title on the Christmas bestseller list is Tasty by Chelsea Winter (A&U New Zealand), according to Nielsen. Nielsen reported that by 14 December 2024 the book, which was published 1 October, had sold more than 11,000 units, been number one on the overall bestseller chart twice, and number one on the nonfiction chart seven times.

Nielsen BookData NZ territory manager Nevena Nikolic said: ‘Adult Fiction has been the star-performing category across 2024, and for five years running, and is up 0.5% by volume on last year. Within this broad category genre fiction, such as Crime & Thriller and Romance, has performed particularly well thanks to #BookTok helping drive sales. Given Lee Child is the most successful author in NZ across all genres, with over 900,000 books sold since BookScan began tracking sales in 2007 (including those co-authored with Andrew Child), it is well-deserved he has taken the number one spot for the fifth time in sixteen years.’

In Aotearoa New Zealand, a total of NZ$5.1 million was spent on printed books in the seven-day period ending 14 December, across 33,000 ISBNs or separate book titles, ‘an uplift of 40% on the average unique weekly titles of 23.5k, showing the support New Zealanders have for buying a wider range of books at Christmas time’.

Top 10 Christmas Aotearoa New Zealand bestseller list*

1. In Too Deep (Jack Reacher #29) (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam)
2. Big Jim Begins: Dog Man (Dav Pilkey, Scholastic)
3. Tasty (Chelsea Winter, A&U NZ)
4. Hot Mess (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #19) (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
5. The Hidden Girl (Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker, Pan Macmillan)
6. RecipeTin Eats: Tonight (Nagi Maehashi, Macmillan)
7. To Die For (David Baldacci, Pan Macmillan)
8. Orbital (Samantha Harvey, Vintage)
9. More Salad: Two Raw Sisters (Margo Flanagan & Rosa Power, A&U NZ)
10. Here One Moment (Liane Moriarty, Pan Macmillan)

Aotearoa New Zealand Christmas number-one bestsellers* over the past decade

• 2024: In Too Deep (Jack Reacher #29) (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam)
• 2023: The Secret (Jack Reacher #28) (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam)
• 2022: No Plan B (Jack Reacher #27) (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam)
• 2021: Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone (Outlander #9) (Diana Gabaldon, Penguin)
• 2020: Code Name Bananas (David Walliams, illus by Tony Ross, HarperCollins)
• 2019: The Beast of Buckingham Palace, (David Walliams, illus by Tony Ross, HarperCollins)
• 2018: Past Tense (Jack Reacher #23) (Lee Child, Bantam)
• 2017: Bad Dad (David Walliams, illus by Tony Ross, HarperCollins)
• 2016: Night School (Jack Reacher 21) (Lee Child, Bantam)
• 2015: Dan Carter (Duncan Greive & Dan Carter, Upstart Press)
• 2014: The Free Range Cook: Through the Seasons (Annabel Langbein, Annabel Langbein Media).

* Data sourced from Nielsen BookScan New Zealand Total Market measuring print book sales in New Zealand through its defined panel of retailers. Weekly data is for the period 8 to 14 December 2024. Year-to-date is to the week ending 14 December 2024.

Category: Local news