Since its highly anticipated release on October 24, Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, has inspired global news coverage and become a New York Times bestseller, but despite fan-made claims, the book failed to outsell another bombshell celebrity release this year, Prince Harry’s Spare, new sales figures have revealed.
Spears’ publishers, Gallery Books, announced on Wednesday that in the United States, The Woman in Me sold 1.1 million copies across print, digital and audio formats in its first week.
This makes the book one of the most successful celebrity memoirs of all time, but has not broken records in terms of U.S. sales.
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In January 2023, Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, was published to similar worldwide press attention, with his bombshell account of life behind palace walls as well as never-before-heard revelations about royal family members drawing interest which ultimately translated to sales.
In its first week, Spare sold 1.6 million copies across all formats in the U.S., outselling Spears by 5 million, based on numbers released by the books’ publishers Gallery Books and Penguin Random House.
In its first day, Spare sold 1.4 million copies across the U.S., U.K. and Canada, breaking the world record for fastest selling non-fiction book of all time, which was previously held by Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, which sold 887,000 copies on its release day in 2020.
Global data for The Woman in Me‘s sales across formats has not yet been released, it is therefore possible that, over time and worldwide, the star could still sell more copies than the prince, however, his U.S. record remains unbeaten.
In a comment issued by Spears after her book’s release, the pop singer thanked fans for the support shown to her as a result.
“I poured my heart and soul into my memoir,” she said, per AP. “And I am grateful to my fans and readers around the world for their unwavering support.”
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE/SIMON & SCHUSTER
Prior to its release, a number of stories from the book made headlines in the press, notably revealing the star’s experiences while dating fellow pop singer and former Mickey Mouse Club alumni, Justin Timberlake.
In a post to Instagram in the days leading up to her book’s publication, Spears wrote that she was aware some of its revelations may cause offense, however, felt it had brought her “closure” to write.
“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.