Barack Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land, has sold more than 1.7 million copies in its first week, a record-breaking stat for Penguin Random House, the publisher announced on Wednesday.
On the first day of its release, the former president's book sold an incredible 887,000 units in all formats and editions in the US and Canada, according to Penguin Random House. This is the company's largest first-day sales total ever.
A Promised Land also surpassed the publisher's one-week sales record with a total of 1,710,443 units sold after it was published on November 17.
This is the advice Barack Obama would give President Trump:
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The hardcover edition of the memoir has 4.3 million copies in print in the US and Canada after an initial printing of 3.4 million copies, Penguin Random House has revealed.
The book, which was published in 20 languages and will be printed in six more, has even become the number one bestselling book in the UK.
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Obama said of his new book: "There's no feeling like finishing a book, and I'm proud of this one."
He adds:
"I’ve spent the last few years reflecting on my presidency, and in A PROMISED LAND I’ve tried to provide an honest accounting of my presidential campaign and my time in office.
"The key events and people who shaped it; my take on what I got right and the mistakes I made; and the political, economic, and cultural forces that my team and I had to confront then—and that as a nation we are grappling with still."
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According to Deadline, George W. Bush's memoir Decision Points sold 775,000 units in its first week, and Bill Clinton's My Life sold about 1 million in its first eight days.
While Mr. Obama's early sales are undeniably impressive, his wife and former First Lady Michelle Obama will be a tough one to catch up with. Indeed, her memoir Becoming, published in 2018, has sold more than 10 million copies around the world.
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"I'm not aware, in my personal experience with Penguin Random House, that we ever sold 10 million units of a memoir," chief executive Markus Dohle told The Wall Street Journal.
"We believe this could be the most successful memoir in history," said Thomas Rabe, chief executive of Bertelsmann SE, the German media and services conglomerate that has a controlling stake in Penguin Random House.