David Walliams's book sales fall

David Walliams's book sales have fallen in the weeks after he was dropped by his publisher, HarperCollins, for alleged inappropriate behaviour towards junior female employees at the company - allegations that Walliams has strongly denied.

Trade magazine The Bookseller has reported that sales of David Walliams' books dropped 30% overall in the last two weeks of 2025, following The Telegraph's investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the author and comedian, and were down 19% year on year, according to NielsenIQ BookData. The 30% drop is estimated to represent around 15,000 copies of his books.

Walliams' sales were already declining during 2025: up until the middle of October, his volume sales were 14% down against the same period in 2024, according to the Bookseller report. When Walliams's latest title, Santa & Son, was published in October 2025, his sales rose before dropping in the last two weeks of the year. The Bookseller also noted that in the first week of 2026, the author's sales were down 41.5% compared to the same week in 2025.

HarperCollins said in a statement: "After careful consideration, and under the leadership of its new CEO, HarperCollins UK has decided not to publish any new titles by David Walliams. The author is aware of this decision.

"HarperCollins takes employee wellbeing extremely seriously and has processes in place for reporting and investigating concerns. To respect the privacy of individuals we do not comment on internal matters."