Britney Spears has taken to social media to celebrate the release of her highly anticipated memoir, The Woman in Me, which hit bookstores on October 24.
In a post on the pop star’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, she thanked fans while making the claim that the book has broken records in the celebrity memoir genre. This would mean it has outsold Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare, which set a new Guinness World Record in January as the fastest selling non-fiction book ever.
“It’s happening ✨🤓📖 !!! My book is the highest selling celebrity memoir in history and it’s only day 1 !!!” Spears wrote. “Thank you to the fans who have been so supportive !!! Love you all 🌹!!! #TheWomaninMe @gallerybooks @simonandschuster.”
Steve Granitz/WireImage/Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Newsweek has contacted publishers Simon & Schuster and Spears’ management for confirmation. No official announcement about the book’s first day sales have yet been released.
The singer’s claim comes after celebrity podcaster, Heather McDonald, speculated that pre-sale figures for the book could have exceeded 9 million copies.
After its publication on January 10, Harry’s Spare was praised by publisher Penguin Random House who reported release day sales that exceeded 1.4 million copies.
Two days later, the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that this figure qualified as the world record for fastest selling non-fiction book of all time, having beaten the previous record held by former President Barack Obama, whose 2020 book A Promised Land, sold 887,000 copies on its release day.
The prince’s book gained worldwide media coverage and earned him both praise and criticism for his unvarnished account of royal life.
For Spears’ The Woman in Me to not only have exceeded Harry’s 1.4 million release day sales, but become the “highest selling celebrity memoir in history,” would be a momentous feat.
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE/SIMON & SCHUSTER
To achieve this, it would have to outsell memoirs that have been in print for years, sometimes decades.
For comparison, former first lady Michelle Obama’s 2018 memoir, Becoming, sold 1.4 million copies in its first week, rising to over 14 million in its first year.
Currently, The Woman in Me is leading the Amazon and Barnes & Noble book charts, though the booksellers have yet to release data confirming its first day sales.
Spears’ book has resulted in global press coverage, as the singer has detailed her life story in-depth for the first time. Breakout revelations have included insights into her relationship with former boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, and the family dynamic with father Jamie Spears that underpinned her career.
In a post to Instagram on October 21, the singer wrote that though some might be “offended” by her book, it was written as a way to bring “closure.”
“This is actually a book I didn’t know needed to be written,” she said. “Although some might be offended, it has given me closure on all things for a better future !!! Hopefully I can enlighten people who feel particularly alone in most cases or hurt or misunderstood !!!”
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.