LONDON: The sixth volume of the Harry Potter saga sold more than 8.9mn copies in the first 24 hours it went on sale in the US and Britain to become the fastest-selling book in history, publishers said.

Britain’s Bloomsbury yesterday said that just over 2mn copies had sold within 24 hours of it going on sale just after midnight on Saturday, in line with expectations. US-based Scholastic said late on Sunday that 6.9mn sold over the same span.

But Bloomsbury shares sagged following the announcement as many investors had been hoping for a more upbeat report from the publisher following the initial sales.

Scholastic rushed out a second printing of 2.7mn copies of the book following its record first printing of 10.8mn.

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ sparked widespread price wars in Britain and the US as big retailers slashed the listed price by more than 50% to lure customers into stores in hopes they would buy more than just the book about the boy wizard.

Asda, Britain’s second-largest supermarket group and part of the Wal-Mart empire, said it sold nearly 300,000 copies over the weekend, one-third more than for the fifth book in the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.’

Online retailer Amazon.com wound up with more than 1.5mn advance orders for the book around the world and bookstore chain Barnes & Noble said it sold a record 1.3mn copies in the first 48 hours of release.

“This weekend was nothing short of a triumph for publishing, bookselling and reading,” Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Steve Riggio said.

Bloomsbury said sales for the sixth Harry Potter were 13% higher than the comparable figure for first-day sales of the previous title.

“The initial sales are in line with the group’s expectations and AGM statement on June 30,” Bloomsbury said. – Reuters