Hil book wins popular vote

“WHAT HAPPENED” is big sales.

Hillary Clinton’s book about her stunning loss in 2016 to Donald Trump sold more than 300,000 copies in the combined formats of hardcover, e-book and audio, Simon & Schuster told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The book’s hardcover sales of 168,000 was the highest opening for any nonfiction release in five years, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks around 85% of retail print sales.

Sales for “What Happened” far exceeded the first-week numbers of more than 100,000 copies for Clinton’s book about her years as secretary of state, “Hard Choices,” which came out in 2014 as she was preparing to launch her run for President.

“What Happened” has been at or near the top of the Amazon.com bestseller list since its publication Sept. 12 despite a suspicious early wave of negative reader reviews (later pulled by Amazon), likely posted by commentators who had not yet read the book.

Clinton’s all-time best opening was for her 2003 memoir, “Living History,” which included her first extended comments on the affair between her husband, President Bill Clinton, and White House intern Monica Lewinsky. It sold more than 600,000 copies in its first week.