Steve Jobs biography tops Amazon’s 2011 best-seller list

Despite being a late entry into this years book market, the 630 page authorised biography of Steve Jobs has emerged as Amazon’s most bought book of 2011.

Taking into account both sales of traditional hard-copies of the book and downloads onto Amazon’s Kindle e-readers, Walter Isaacson’s comprehensive and candid telling of the life of the iconic co-founder of the world’s most successful tech company has shot to the top of the list, Amazon announced.

Though initially slated for a Christmas release, following the global outpouring of grief for Jobs after his death in October, publishers decided to change the release date.

While not announcing the exact sales figures for the book, Amazon senior editor for books Chris Schluep, said that “even though it was published in October, the sales have been phenomenal in both formats”.

The second most bought book, released in April, was much-loved comedian Tina Fey’s hilarious autobiography, Bossypants.

In what will probably be a future publishing trend, two books from Amazon’s program which allows authors to self-publish directly to Kindle — The Abbey by Chris Culver and The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan — also made the top ten list.

Here’s the full top ten list.

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (Memeburn is still running a give-away of this book)
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey
3. A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
4. The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan
5. In the Garden of the Beasts by Erik Larson
6. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
7. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
8. The Litigators by John Grisham
9. The Abbey by Chris Culver
10. Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini