Prince Harry’s jaw-dropping memoir “Spare” – which details his drug-taking, sex life and spats with members of the Royal Family – has sold an equally jaw-dropping 1.4 million copies in the U.S., U.K. and Canada on its first day of sales.
The figure includes all formats and editions, including e-books and print.
According to publisher Penguin Random House, the book has smashed all records for any first-day nonfiction book sale it had ever put out, The Bookseller reported. “Spare” has even overtaken Barack Obama’s presidential memoir “A Promised Land,” which previously held the record.
The book was released on Tuesday, Jan. 10 simultaneously across the world in 16 languages.
The sales figures are all the more impressive given that most of the revelations within the book – including a physical fight with elder brother Prince William, Harry’s loss of virginity and details of his cocaine and magic mushroom-taking – made headlines across the world after booksellers in Spain broke the strict embargo and began selling “Spare” on Thursday, Jan. 5 in order to catch footfall ahead of a local holiday.
Penguin Random House said in a statement (first reported by People magazine): “Penguin Random House announced today the English language edition of ‘Spare,’ the memoir by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, sold more than 1,430,000 million units in all formats and editions in the United States, Canada and the U.K. on the first day of its publication, Tuesday, January 10, 2023.”
“The first full day of sales of ‘Spare’ represents the largest first-day sales total for any nonfiction book ever published by Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade publisher.”