The newest installment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series broke sales records by selling an incredible 6.9 million copies in its first day.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” sold more than 250,000 books per hour, more than most books would sell in a lifetime.

“This is a cause for celebration, not just for Scholastic, but for book lovers everywhere,” said Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Children’s Book, which publishes Rowling’s books in the U.S.

The previous record was held by the fifth Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which sold five million copies in its first day in 2003.

Stores ran out of “Order of the Phoenix” when it debuted so Scholastic increased the print run of “Half-Blood Prince” from 10.8 million to 13.5 million copies.

The book was available almost everywhere, in bookstores, supermarkets and web sites. Holton said that the increased availability of the book dramatically helped sales. The number of bookstore parties also increased from 800 to 5,000.

Although some stores and web sites offered discounts on the book it easily earned more than $100 million, more than the combined gross of this weekend’s top two movies, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “The Wedding Crashers.” But unlike many blockbusters nowadays, “Half-Blood Prince” is getting rave reviews from critics.

“A harrowing denouement that sees the death of yet another important person in Harry’s life renders ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ the darkest and most unsettling installment yet,” said The New York Times

U.S. bookstore Barnes and Noble made an estimated $1.3 million U.S. for the book in its first two days, 400,000 more than the last Harry Potter book. The other big bookstore chain, Borders Group Inc. had a record 850,000 sales in its first day, 100,000 more than the last installment.

Scholastic figures are for the U.S. Sales figures for other countries are expected to come in next week.






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