Previously we reported that not everyone was particularly happy with E.L James' latest addition to the Fifty Shades... series. Professional critics and readers alike had some not all too flattering things to say. But that appears to have done very little to prevent the title doing more than smashing Amazon's kindle pre-order record.

Earlier this week Cornerstone, an imprint of Random House, revealed that Grey was proving phenomenally popular and the figures prove it. Now industry sales aficionado, Nielsen, has confirmed it.

In its first three days, Grey sold 647,401 copies in all formats. That beats the previous *five-day* record, held by Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol by some 96,400 units - handing Grey the largest ever UK first-week sales for an adult book. In the US, the title has sold approximately 1.1 million copies.

Of course there have been suggestions there was little in the new title to even warrant its publication. But with new content pined for by fans (and what with it being about a second view of events) that may be somewhat missing the point. The proof, as they say, is in the industry-standard book sales statistics.

Well done E.L James.

The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has now sold 125 million copies worldwide, and Grey looks as though it might continue that trend.