Nielsen BookData announces Jacques Pauw’s Our Poisoned Land as the official South African Christmas #1 Bestseller

20 December 2022

Nielsen BookData announces Jacques Pauw’s Our Poisoned Land as the official South African Christmas #1 Bestseller

Cape Town, Friday 16 December 2022

Jacques Pauw’s Our Poisoned Land is South Africa’s official Christmas Number One bestseller according to Nielsen BookScan figures for print book sales for the week ending 10th December 2022. The South African author is well known for his previous title, The President’s Keepers, which also reached number one in the charts after publication. Our Poisoned Land sold 2,213 copies in the week ending 10 December 2022 – 766 copies ahead of the number two spot from Colleen Hoover.

It Starts with Us is the latest book from this popular romance writer and a well-known TikTok favourite for readers. This book which follows the challenges of a love triangle, sold 1,447 copies in the week. Colleen Hoover’s first book in this series, It Ends with Us is at number three, having sold 1,412 this week, no mean feat considering it was published over 6 years ago.

SA Top 10 bestsellers: week ending 10 December 2022
1. Our Poisoned Land, Jacques Pauw
2. It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover
3. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover
4. No Plan B, Lee Child & Andrew Child
5. Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: Diper OverlÖde (Book 17), Jeff Kinney
6. Faf, Faf du Plessis & Marco Botha
7. Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan
8. The Boys from Biloxi, John Grisham
9. Platter’s South African Wine Guide 2023
10. 12 Rules for Life, Jordan B. Peterson

A grand total of R49.3m was spent on 223.3k printed books in South Africa last week—up 4.4% versus the comparative week last year in value terms, and up 0.3% in volume terms.

In 2021, the fiction writer Damon Galgut took the top spot with The Promise selling 1,261 copies in the final week before Christmas. Released on the 1st May 2021, this number one sold nearly 200 copies more than the number two title, Rise by Siya Kolisi.

Hazel Kenyon, Nielsen Book Research director, said: “Congratulations to all this year’s bestsellers for their successes. We’re delighted to celebrate all the authors, publishers and booksellers and the hard work they put in at this important book buying time of year.”