‘Heaven Is for Real’ tops ‘The Shack’ record Print
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Thursday, 02 February 2012 09:00 AM America/New_York

Young Colton Burpo’s account of heaven continues to draw readers, now topping the New York Times Paperback Nonfiction list for 53 weeks, non-consecutively. With 172 weeks in total on the New York Times’ Paperback Fiction list, William P. Young’s 2008 book, The Shack (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group), achieved 52 weeks at No. 1.

Written by Colton’s father, Todd Burpo, with Lynn Vincent, Heaven Is for Real has been on the list for 62 weeks total and is the No. 1 on the current Feb. 5 list, tracking sales ending Jan. 21. Sales for the trade book, released in November 2010, have surpassed 6 million copies, publisher Thomas Nelson said, while The Shack has 10 million copies in print.

Heaven Is for Real also placed at No. 3 on USA Today’s “100 Best-selling Books of 2011,” where The Shack ranked at No. 68. Click here to see the full list.

Colton Burpo’s edition for kids from Tommy Nelson, Heaven Is for Real for Kids, also sits atop the latest New York Times Print Children’s Picture Books list. Additionally, Tommy Nelson, the children’s division of Thomas Nelson, has reached a milestone with its Read and Share brand, now celebrating more than 1 million units sold.

Presenting Bible stories through many formats—books, DVDs, CDs and 52 electronic apps for mobile devices just released—the brand launched with the release of the Read and Share Bible by Gwen Ellis in 2007. The Read and Share Bedtime Bible and Devotional will release in October.

Elsewhere, the Jan. 3 release, The Harbinger (FrontLine/Charisma House)—a story rabbi-author Jonathan Cahn believes to have prophetic import for America—ranks at No. 7 on the Feb. 12 New York Times Print Paperback list and at No. 17 on Print Hardcover & Paperback (Combined) list, tracking sales ending Jan. 28.