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First thing first: we are proud to reveal that the new, upcoming audiobook The Tales of Beedle the Bard has come straight in at No.1 in the Audible charts! You can learn more about the recent offering here. To celebrate, here’s some more Harry Potter love we’ve spotted recently from around the globe.
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According to the Washington Post, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is one of the top ten most checked out books in New York Public Library, who have recently released their list based on their staggering 125-year history. The book is in good company, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Charlotte’s Web and To Kill a Mockingbird.
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According to TES.com, Harry Potter continues to dominate the top ten UK book list for UK-based primary schools, with seven books in the series being called out in the top 10 favourites.
Interestingly, the report shows that Harry Potter dropped out of the secondary schools’ top 10. However, according to University of Dundee Professor Keith Topping, who helmed this report, there’s probably a very good reason for that - which is that, perhaps “primary school children have read them all and none are left for secondary school children”.
In other words, we’re now getting into Harry Potter earlier than ever before - with no time wasted. How old were you when you read your first Potter book?
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After Harry Potter hit the 500 million sales mark in 2018, it’s estimated that one in 15 people in the world may own one of the novels. So, basically, if you bumped into anyone on the planet and said, ‘Hey, do you like Harry Potter?’ – chances are 1 in 15 of those people would say yes.
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So far, the Harry Potter books have been translated into over 85 languages, including Kazak, Māori and Yiddish. This has led to many enjoyable translation changes over the years, such as how Lord Voldemort's middle name is "Elvis" in French.
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In 2019, the company Joybird put together a well-crafted piece of research on the popularity of Harry Potter book by state. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the most searched for book, coming top in 27 states, including New Jersey, Texas and Florida.
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This year, one of the most recent translations of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Yiddish, sold out its first print-run in under 48 hours – a rare feat for a book of this nature in the Hasidic world. You can read the story of its translation, and surprise hit-status, here.
As seven is the most magical number, we’ll stop there for now. But just think, by the time you’ve finished reading this article, how many more people around the world have just read, “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much” for the very first time?
