USA sales of "Fifty Shades of Grey" series to hit 20 million copies this week.

USA sales of "Fifty Shades of Grey" series to hit 20 million copies this week.

Jul 09 2012

The "Fifty Shades" erotic trilogy is expected to hit the 20 million-sales mark in the U.S. this week, making it one of the fastest-selling book series in recent memory.

Sales figures relate to copies of the book sold since Vintage repackaged the original self-published series and published it in paper and ebook in March this year. Sales have been split almost evenly between paperback and ebook.

By comparison, Stieg Larsson's best-selling "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy took more than three years to reach the 20-million sales mark in the U.S (in part because the books were published over a three year period, whereas all three "Fifty Shades" volumes were published at the same time).

A further 11 million copies have been sold in other English-language markets.

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