|
According to Circana, Swift's “Eras Tour Book” sold 814,000
copies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Circana tracks
around 85% of the print market, but the “Eras” numbers are more
precise: Swift sold the book exclusively through Target, which
launched the “Eras” tie-in on Black Friday.
Sales soared even as Swift skipped Amazon.com and other
retailers and as some fans complained online that the $39.99
book included typos and other errors. Representatives for Target
and Swift did not immediately respond to requests Wednesday for
comment.
The sales put Swift in rare company. The only bigger nonfiction
launch was the first volume of Barack Obama’s presidential
memoirs, “A Promised Land," which sold 816,000 copies its first
week on shelves in 2020, according to Circana, which does not
include audio and e-book sales. But Obama’s memoir was available
through all major outlets and Circana’s tracking for “Eras Tour
Book” accounts only for its first weekend sales.
Swift has arranged exclusive, non-traditional releases before.
For her “Eras” concert film, which came out in 2023, she
bypassed Hollywood studios and worked directly with AMC Theatres
and Cinemark Theatres. “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” has made
more than $200 million at the box office and stands as the
highest grossing concert movie in history.
Even before the “Eras” book, Swift has been a mini-genre in the
publishing industry, the inspiration for biographies, romance
fiction, fashion, coloring books and a cocktail recipe
collection, “Shake It Up.” Another top seller of 2024, according
to Circana, is Wendy Loggia's “Taylor Swift: A Little Golden
Book Biography,” designed in the tradition of such Little Golden
favorites as “The Three Bears” and “The Whispering Rabbit.”
All contents © copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
