They may now be the least popular type of book, but as recently as 2005, sales of autobiographies were not doing so badly. Last year, autobiographies made up just 0.58% of all book sales, while 'romance and sagas', accounted for 11.26%, due partly to the huge success of EL James' Fifty Shades of Grey.

Nielsen BookScan collected the data directly from over 35,500 bookshops' point of sale systems on a weekly basis. That does mean however that sales of e-books are not included in the data, and second-hand book sales are likely to be under-estimated.

The best-selling autobiography since 2001 is 'A Child Called It' by Dave Pelzer, shifting over a million copies and generating over £5.5 million in revenue. Peter Kay's autobiography 'The Sound of Laughter' tops the chart in terms of revenue at £9.3 million. Comedians figure prominently on the list with Paul O'Grady, Dawn French, Russell Brand, Michael McIntyre and Frank Skinner all making it to the top 50.

When the publication date is taken into account, the list looks very different. Steve Jobs biography, though the most expensive on the list at RRP £25, sold on average 535 copies a day since it was published in October 2011, making it the fastest selling book on the biography list. That still appears a weak performance when compared to Cheryl Cole's autobiography 'Cheryl: My Story' which has sold on average 2,308 copies a day since it was released in October last year.

Each of the titles in the top biographies since 2001 sold on average 223,000 copies. For the authors in the top 50 autobiographies, the average number of copies sold was 410,000. The average RRP of the best-selling biographies was £11.01, and £13.61 for a top 50 autobiography though the average selling price for both was consistently lower than the RRP.

Though arts autobiographies have fallen from selling 2.1 million in 2005 to just 649,000 in 2012, this remains the most popular subject. Sales of historical, political and military autobiographies have also fallen considerably during this time.

Autobiographies from royalty, which had been on a downward trend since 2003, almost doubled between 2008 and 2009. Biographies written by religious and spiritual figures about their own lives continue to be the weakest category, representing just 1% of all sales.

• 'Dreams from My Father:A Story of Race and Inheritance' by President Barack Obama is number 4 on the bestseller list, selling 784,000 copies.

• At £25 and the most expensive autobiography on the list, Tony Blair's 'A Journey' ranks 42nd.

• In 11th place in the biography chart, it's not possible to say how many of the 332,000 sales of "Feel:Robbie Williams" were due to excited fans misreading the title.

Best-selling autobiographies Since 2001. Click heading to sort table Pos. Title Author Vol. Value (£) Type of Autobiog. Pub. Date Av. Sales Per Day 1 Child Called It,A Pelzer, Dave 1105413 5,511,694.28 General 36895 250.26 2 Sound of Laughter,The Kay, Peter 853533 9,308,665.26 Arts 38995 368.38 3 At My Mother's Knee ...:and Other Low Joints O'Grady, Paul 723459 7,116,290.73 Arts 39715 453.01 4 Dreams from My Father:A Story of Race and Inheritance Obama, President Barack 703727 4,670,003.67 Historical 39604 412.02 5 Sharon Osbourne Extreme:My Autobiography Osbourne, Sharon 656439 7,086,492.32 Arts 38628 244.57 6 Dear Fatty French, Dawn 645387 6,338,264.47 Arts 39730 407.96 7 On the Edge:My Story Hammond, Richard 555829 5,779,700.34 Arts 39345 282.58 8 That's Another Story:The Autobiography Walters, Julie 537392 5,466,425.28 Arts 39723 338.20 9 Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid,The Bryson, Bill 522834 2,961,650.28 General 39235 251.73 10 David Beckham:My Side - The Autobiography Beckham, David 517579 6,152,265.55 Sport 37876 150.63 11 Sickened:The True Story of a Lost Childhood Gregory, Julie 505091 2,402,833.30 General 38260 165.50 12 My Booky Wook Brand, Russell 502984 5,178,610.01 Arts 39401 263.20 13 Parky:My Autobiography Parkinson, Michael 479051 4,838,297.83 Arts 39723 301.48 14 It's Not About the Bike:My Journey Back to Life Armstrong, Lance 448592 3,381,041.24 Sport 37014 104.37 15 Two of Us,The:My Life with John Thaw Hancock, Sheila 432138 5,360,344.19 Arts 38264 141.78 16 Sound of Laughter,The Kay, Peter 424682 2,317,787.42 Arts 39268 207.77 17 Fry Chronicles,The:A Memoir Fry, Stephen 411852 4,249,222.23 Arts 40434 469.08 18 Being Jordan Price, Katie 398162 2,156,542.75 Arts 38534 143.33 19 Life and Laughing:My Story McIntyre, Michael 385712 3,928,354.16 Arts 40465 455.39 20 Man Named Dave,A Pelzer, Dave 378579 2,067,432.63 General 37043 88.68 21 Frank Skinner Autobiography Skinner, Frank 364210 2,090,084.56 Arts 37378 92.58 22 Don't Tell Mummy:A True Story of the Ultimate Betrayal Maguire, Toni 358809 1,710,620.78 General 39146 165.66 23 Bad Blood:A Memoir Sage, Lorna 352872 2,015,985.36 Literary 37074 83.26 24 Eat, Pray, Love:One Woman's Search for Everything Gilbert, Elizabeth 341814 2,106,047.42 General 39146 157.81 25 Untold Stories Bennett, Alan 341621 4,173,207.78 Literary 38628 127.28 26 Road to Nab End,The:A Lancashire Childhood Woodruff, William 341484 1,936,791.05 General 37259 84.25 27 Being Jordan Price, Katie 335698 4,191,267.36 Arts 38113 104.94 28 Ooh! What a Lovely Pair:Our Story McPartlin, Ant & Donnelly, Declan 329969 3,268,584.35 Arts 40079 267.61 29 Call the Midwife:A True Story of the East End in the 1950s Worth, Jennifer 328558 1,661,776.51 General 39513 182.63 30 Blessed:The Autobiography Best, George 326415 1,890,473.47 Sport 37469 84.94 31 Humble Pie Ramsay, Gordon 325553 3,759,347.66 Arts 38934 136.90 32 What You See Is What You Get:My Autobiography Sugar, Alan 318417 3,404,610.62 Business 40451 369.82 33 Dear Fatty French, Dawn 314672 1,664,558.62 Arts 39996 239.11 34 Two of Us,The:My Life with John Thaw Hancock, Sheila 313112 1,729,206.27 Arts 38509 111.71 35 Margrave of the Marshes Peel, John & Ravenscroft, Sheila 309371 3,470,054.85 Arts 38642 115.87 36 Kindness of Strangers,The:The Autobiography Adie, Kate 303856 2,097,262.84 Arts 37774 85.88 37 Humble Pie Ramsay, Gordon 300240 1,654,359.77 Arts 39203 142.36 38 Life:Keith Richards Richards, Keith 300084 3,203,776.79 Arts 40477 359.38 39 Mad World, My Masters,A:Tales from a Traveller's Life Simpson, John 300070 2,150,298.03 General 37141 71.94 40 Look Who it Is!:My Story Carr, Alan 295400 2,911,862.98 Arts 39720 185.55 41 Lucky Sebold, Alice 292719 1,908,099.75 General 37591 78.67 42 Journey,A Blair, Tony 291847 4,033,842.73 Historical 40422 327.92 43 My Booky Wook Brand, Russell 291018 1,584,510.65 Arts 39639 173.95 44 Piece of Cake,A Brown, Cupcake 290006 1,425,313.39 General 38992 125.00 45 Sharon Osbourne Extreme:My Autobiography Osbourne, Sharon 281556 1,530,702.85 Arts 38840 113.90 46 Jade:Fighting to the End Goody, Jade 278019 1,183,160.10 Arts 39895 196.20 47 Robbie Williams:Somebody Someday Williams, Robbie & McCrum, Mark 276234 3,521,030.07 Arts 37147 66.32 48 Call The Midwife:A True Story of the East End in the 1950s Worth, Jennifer 276102 1,320,181.35 General 40913 691.98 49 Gospel According to Chris Moyles,The:The Story of a Man and His Mouth Moyles, Chris 275279 2,951,545.03 Arts 38995 118.81 50 Cheryl: My Story Cole, Cheryl 274666 2,467,987.34 Arts 41193 2,308.12

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