2023 is arguably the year of celebrity memories. From the first month of the year, when Prince Harry’s long-awaited Spare was released, to the last few months, when Britney Spears and Jada Pinkett Smith’s much-spiced revelations landed, this year has been full of stars who have confessed it all.
It turns out that only the highest-profile of all stars can move major book sales. While tomes by celebrities including Dolly Parton and Henry Winkler sold respectable numbers, they were nowhere near the sales of Harry and Brit.
And it was also the year we learned that a flashy tabloid promotional campaign doesn’t sell: Pinkett Smith was said to have appeared on every report and gossip page this fall, but her book lagged behind many other celebrity memoirs.
Here’s a look at how many copies thirteen of the most prominent writers expected have sold. All information was provided exclusively through Circana BookScan and reflects U. S. print sales. UU. la week ending Dec. 9.
The Duke of Sussex had not just one of the bestselling books of the year in any genre but also one of the bestselling celebrity memoirs ever. It sold 1,208,871 copies since its January 10 release date. A majority of those sold in the first few weeks of publishing.
Britney Spears arguably had the second most anticipated e-book of the year, Prince Harry, and the sales figures proved it. It sold 791,862 copies, well, Harry, but it still made his e-book one of the most productive distributors of the year, all genres combined, despite its publication at the end of October. With revelations about the former Justin Timberlake and data on how trauma affected Spears’ formative years, her memoir also opened the door to critical conversations about intellectual health.
Barbra Streisand is a diva, to be sure, but she doesn’t dominate the shelves as dominantly as a Billboard chart or box list can. His long memoir (992 pages, the longest on this list) has sold 152,060 copies. Honestly, the Babs book came out in early November, so it hasn’t been around as long as others. But Streisand also hasn’t traveled as much with the press as other celebrities (that’s Barbra, she doesn’t want one).
Former House Rep. Liz Cheney’s e-book had only been available for 4 days when the numbers were taken, and it was already fourth on the list. His highly anticipated memoir performed well in Washington, D. C. , where e-book sellers told the Washington Post’s weekly e-book newsletter that they were very interested in pre-orders. It sold 77,017 copies in its first week and a half.
Dolly Parton’s hilarious and hilarious memoir comes right after Cheney and has sold 75,831 copies since its release on October 17. It wasn’t Parton’s book of the year, either: He also wrote a children’s book.
Henry Winkler is one of the few actors who has transcended the iconic role for which he is known, treating people’s respect for The Happy Days Fonz with clever humor but eagerly accepting roles that get bigger beyond the boundaries of the smart boy Fonzie. Entertaining memory, Winkler reflects on all this, and ran a large pre-publication exposure campaign that helped remarkably. The book, published on Halloween, sold 66,497 copies.
Pamela Anderson knows how to make headlines. Lately she won them for appearing makeup-free on red carpets, a true ballerina gesture. It has also been the subject of a hit documentary on Netflix over the past year. All this helped him sell 60,401 copies of his memoirs, which were published in January.
Paris Hilton showed she can still generate headlines when she became a mom of two this year, and between those arrivals, she published a memoir in March. The book has sold 53,325 copies so far.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
Jada Pinkett Smith found herself in the middle of one of the biggest scandals of 2022 after Chris Rock pulled a joke at her expense at the Oscars and her husband, Will Smith, stepped up to the level to slap him. In Pinkett Smith’s memoir, she revealed that she and Smith had been living apart for years. She has talked about the book and her marriage on communication programs and participated in interviews for print publications. But other people might have felt they knew everything they wanted about the Smiths after that: Their e-book, published in mid-October, sold 44,750 copies.
There was something unforeseen in Kerry Washington’s memoir: a personal and family revelation that surprised her, everything she talked about about her press tours. This intrigue has helped it sell 43,758 copies so far.
John Stamos addressed his complicated feelings about playing Uncle Jesse on Full House, as well as discussing many other things, in his memoir out in late October, which has sold 42,125 copies.
Minka Kelly rose to fame on Friday Night Lights just two decades ago, but she hasn’t played a similar role since, possibly explaining why her memoir, published in May, sold just 17,748 copies.
Finally, Sly Stone’s memoir, in mid-October, sold 7,548 copies. It arguably had the most reviewed book of the year, with the New York Times, Variety, Kirkus, and many others enthusiastic.