Michelle Obama Memoir ‘Becoming’ Sells 1.4 Million Copies In One Week

Michelle Obama can now add best-selling author to her resume. The former First Lady’s memoir “Becoming” sold more than 1.4 million print and digital copies in the United States and Canada since it hit the shelves on November 13.

“Becoming” had one of 2018’s biggest debuts, according to the Associated Press. Crown Publishing printed over 3 million hardcover copies in North America and when it was released it became a hot title, selling more than 725,000 copies. When it comes to other memoirs from former First Ladies, Obama surpassed Hillary Clinton’s 2003 book “Living History” which sold approximately 600,000 copies in its first week.

On the international front, Crown says that Obama’s memoir is sitting in the number one spot when it comes to nonfiction in the United Kingdom, France, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Finland, and Germany — where 200,000 copies have been sold which has prompted another printing of 100,000 copies.

The memoir, which has gotten positive reviews, follows Obama’s journey from a child growing up in the South Side of Chicago to her time as First Lady. Last week, she made her first late-night stop on her book tour on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! where Kimmel said that since she no longer is in the White House, she can basically say whatever she wants. That said, he asked her to read things he’d written for her such as “The whole eight years we were in the White House we used Laura Bush’s Netflix password” and “I’m not sure which one is Sasha and which one is Malia.”