3.4M: Michelle Obama’s Book Was 2018’s Top Seller

The New York Post reports:

“Becoming,” the memoir by former first lady Michelle Obama, has emerged as the bestselling hardcover book in 2018, with 3.4 million copies sold, despite its November release.

According to stats released by NPD Bookscan, which tracks about 80 percent of the retail market, Obama’s book surged, with 712,000 sold in the week before Christmas. That even beat the sales following its Nov. 13 release, when its first-week sales hit a record 710,000 copies sold, according to Bookscan.

The robust numbers have to be a big relief to Penguin Random House, which bought the book in a two-book deal including a memoir by former President Barack Obama for a record-shattering $65 million.