Half-Blood Prince Sets Sales Records, Bests Order of the Phoenix by 20 percent

-- Library Journal, 7/27/2005

J.K. Rowling fans remain potty for Potter: the latest adventure of the young wizard Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince set new print and audio sales records following its hotly anticipated July 16 release. The Associated Press tallies first day sales at a whopping 6.9 million copies in the United States—roughly 250,000 copies an hour—and two million copies in the UK, surpassing 2003's Order of the Phoenix, which sold five million copies domestically the first 24 hours, by roughly 20 percent. Bespectacled fans aren't just reading, the audio version also set new sales records with 165,000 copies sold the first week. Even factoring in generous discounts offered by some dealers, the title generated approximately $100 million in revenue for UK and U.S. publishers. "This is a cause for celebration, not just for Scholastic, but for book lovers everywhere," U.S. publisher Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Books, told the AP.