Boris Johnson’s book, Unleashed, was one of the major flops of 2024 in the book charts after being outsold by Richard Osman, the Guinness World Records and former Tory MP rival Rory Stewart.
Despite receiving a lofty advance and enjoying a flurry of media attention, the former prime minister’s much-anticipated memoir fell well short of publisher expectations.
The book only managed to reach number 45 on The Bookseller’s UK chart and failed to secure a place on The Sunday Times’ top 50 list.
In contrast, Stewart’s political memoir, Politics on the Edge, resonated more strongly with readers, climbing to number 29 on The Sunday Times’ bestseller list and 28 on The Bookseller’s rankings.
Johnson only managed to sell 42,528 copies in its opening week and according to The Bookseller, only 138,000 overall.
This is far less than his publishers, HarperCollins, had likely predicted, given the huge advance and mass media attention to book received.
Other authors who beat the veteran Tory included two books from Richard Osman, the Guinness World Records 2025 and several cookbooks.
Speaking on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, Richard Osman said at the time: “HarperCollins thought he was going to do Prince Harry numbers, and he [Harry] sold 450,000 in his first week, and he [Mr Johnson] sold 42,000, which is so far below any of the expectations they would have had.
“They have overpaid massively.”
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