Film boosts Potter books

Harry Potter novels are dominating book sales

The first Harry Potter novel - released four years ago - is the UK's biggest-selling book of 2001, according to new sales figures.

Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, the film version of which was released last month, sold 1.1 million copies this year - over 200,000 more than JK Rowling's third book, The Goblet of Fire, which is in second place.

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Data from Whitaker BookTrack shows JK Rowling's books take up four out of the five places in the best-seller lists for the first 50 weeks of the year, and together they account for 3.5 million sales.

Bridget Jones's Diary - also turned into a film this year - is the only non-Potter book in the year's top five.

Even a £26 box set of Potter books sold more than 20,000 copies in the past week.

Sales of The Lord of The Rings novels are up too - the top seven places in this week's best seller chart are taken up by either Potter or Tolkien's fantasy classics.