PRH Audio’s READY PLAYER ONE First-Ever NY Times #1 Audio Fiction Bestseller
The Random House Audio edition of Ernest Cline’s READY PLAYER ONE is making publishing history as the first #1 Audio Fiction Bestseller on the first-ever New York Times Bestseller List devoted separately and solely to Audio titles. The debut rankings appear in the Sunday, March 18 print edition of The New York Times Book Review, now available online, and will henceforth appear monthly, reporting combined physical and digital audio sales for the top 15 fiction and nonfiction audiobooks respectively.
In all, Penguin Random House Audio placed an industry-leading eight titles on the inaugural lists:
Audio Fiction
- READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline, narrated by Wil Wheaton (Random House Audio)
- BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate, narrated by Emily Rankin and Catherine Taber (Random House Audio)
- ORIGIN by Dan Brown, narrated by Paul Michael (Random House Audio)
- LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng, narrated by Jennifer Lim (Penguin Audio)
- STILL ME by Jojo Moyes, narrated by Anna Acton (Penguin Audio)
Audio Nonfiction
- THE POWER OF HABIT by Charles Duhigg, narrated by Mike Chamberlain (Random House Audio)
- ENLIGHTENMENT NOW by Stephen Pinker, narrated by Arthur Morey (Penguin Audio)
- WHEN by Daniel Pink, narrated by the author (Penguin Audio)
In their announcement, New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul said, “The vibrant growth of audiobooks in the industry has created a need for an impartial, reliable source for tracking and reporting the top-selling audiobooks across the country.”
Amanda D’Acierno, EVP, Publisher, Penguin Random House Audio, said, “This recognition by the New York Times of the increasing popularity and vitality of audiobooks is enormously welcome by all of us who love to create and to listen to them. We are thrilled by the performance of our titles on their debut lists, which has given us a benchmark to constantly try to improve upon.”