Children's books – Andy Griffiths and, to a lesser extent, Jeff Kinney, to be precise – and colouring books bolstered the sales figures of printed books in Australian shops last year, but other bestseller lists in the English-speaking world  were topped by female authors of erotica and fiction. The bestselling book in the United States was – not surprisingly, really –  the long-missing first novel of Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman, which sold almost 1.6 million copies. It also sold 111,000 in Australia and 342,000 in Britain.The perennially popular To Kill a Mockingbird got a significant boost in the US from the appearance of its earlier incarnation, selling 563,000 copies as well. In Britain the fourth instalment in E.L James' Fifty Shades of Grey saga, Grey, finished on top of the local bestseller list, selling almost 1.1 million copies. It finished in second spot in the US (1.4 million) and third in Australia (209,000), while David Walliams' Grandpa's Great Escape was second in Britain (533,000). In both markets Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train came in third, selling 1.3 million copies in the US and 478,000 in Britain. In Australia Hawkins' domestic noir came in sixth, racking up sales of 161,000.

Tidying up cleans up

Those colouring books are classified as non-fiction and so dominated the non-fiction sector in Australia last year, with 12 titles in the top 20. In the US the equivalent chart was topped by The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (1.1 million copies) by Japanese organiser Marie Kondo and followed by Bill O'Reilly's controversial Killing Reagan (852,000), which has been roundly condemned by historians. In third spot was Chris Kyle's film tie-in edition, American Sniper. In Britain, colouring book Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom sold 410,000 copies, with Guinness World Records selling 310,000 and Jamie Oliver's Everyday Super Food a tad under 300,000.

Cahill scores again

If the various football codes are worried about the inroads that soccer is making in Australia, they need only look at the sports sector of the 2015 bestsellers, which had Tim Cahill's Legacy on top with sales of 36,000. Mind you, Australia's leading goal-scorer only just pipped Chris Judd's Inside by 1000, which was 2000 copies ahead of Malcolm Knox and Peter Lalor's Phillip Hughes. In Britain former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's Leading sold 131,000, a few hundred ahead of former Liverpool star Steven Gerrard's My Story.

Colouring books go blank?

Talking of colouring books, in Britain's Bookseller, a survey of predictions for the book industry this year includes this gem from Profile managing director Andrew Franklin: "I predict that the last adult colouring book will be sold on February 29, 2016. On March 1, mountains of unsold colouring books will be returned from bookshops and wholesalers all over the country for pulping."

Twitter @jasonfsteger