Britney Spears’ latest memoir, “The Woman in Me,” has made quite an impact, although it falls short of being the record-breaker. Initial sales reports from its first week reveal that the memoir has been purchased by 1.1 million readers in the United States alone. This impressive figure encompasses a variety of formats, including pre-orders, printed copies, e-books, and audiobooks. Of these, printed copies accounted for 418,000 units, as reported by Circana, a publishing market tracker.
Expressing her gratitude for the overwhelming support from her fans and readers, Britney Spears stated, “I poured my heart and soul into my memoir.” She made this statement through a press release by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.
“The Woman in Me” was launched on October 24th, and on the very day of its release, Spears proudly declared on Instagram that her book had achieved the status of “the highest-selling celebrity memoir in history.”
Britney Spears’ Memoir ‘The Woman in Me’ (Credits: Getty Images)
Despite this remarkable achievement, the memoir is not the best-selling of 2023. Contributing to this fact is Spears’ decision to abstain from interviews promoting her book.
Currently, “The Woman in Me” lags behind “Spare,” Prince Harry’s memoir, which was released in January and garnered 1.6 million sales in the U.S. during its first week. Other memoirs such as former President Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” and former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” are also enjoying strong sales.
One unique advantage that Britney Spears’ memoir possesses over those of Prince Harry and the Obamas is its ability to boost streams and sales of her music catalog. According to Luminate, a music and entertainment analytics company, Spears experienced a significant surge in on-demand streams and album sales in just one day last week. Her catalog’s on-demand streams increased by 18.2%, and album sales soared by 36.8%, with these numbers continuing to rise over subsequent days. Luminate reports that her U.S. streams surged by 24% compared to the previous week, jumping from 16 million to 19.8 million, while album sales increased by 61.4%, and digital sales rose by 49%.
Furthermore, the audiobook version of “The Woman in Me,” narrated by the Oscar-nominated actor Michelle Williams, has set a record as the fastest-selling audio release in Gallery Books’ history. However, specific audiobook sales figures were not disclosed by the publisher.
