With all major categories posting increases, unit sales of print books rose 8.2% in 2020 over 2019 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. For the year ended Jan. 2, 2021, units hit 750.9 million, up from 693.7 million the year before.

BookScan said the 8.2% gain was the largest annual increase since 2010. The year certainly turned out much better than many in the trade side of publishing expected in the early spring, when pandemic-induced store lockdowns and some supply chain issues caused deep concern. But a prolonged decline never came, as online sales and sales through nonbookstore outlets more than offset declines at physical bookstores.

The industry received an immediate boost in the spring when parents had to cope with remote learning as schools shut, which led to strong demand for juvenile nonfiction titles. The category finished 2020 with a 23.1% increase in print unit sales. The strongest subcategories in the year were education/reference/language, which had a 55.5% increase, and games/activities/hobbies, which rose 31.3%. Two titles had particularly outstanding years: Big Preschool Work sold nearly 790,000 copies, while Crystal Radke’s My First Learn-to-Write Workbook sold more than 703,000 copies. (For the top 25 overall print bestsellers of 2020, see p. 8).

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