Sales for the bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy by newly-announced vice presidential candidate JD Vance have soared this week following the Ohio Senator’s confirmation as former President Donald Trump’s running mate on Monday. Even as Vance’s 2016 memoir holds steady at the top of Amazon’s bestseller list, the Netflix adaptation of his life story has also exploded in popularity, with views shooting up by an estimated 1,179 percent.
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Prior to Monday night’s announcement, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis sat at number 220 for Amazon book sales. As of Tuesday morning, the hardcover and paperback editions of the book had climbed to first and second place on the list after Amazon sold at least 1.6 million new copies.
Vance joining the 2024 Trump ticket had a similar effect on director Ron Howard’s 2020 film adaptation of the book, which increased from 1.5 million viewing minutes on Monday to 19.2 million on Tuesday. In terms of individual viewers, this marks an increase from 9,000 to 164,000.
Hillbilly Elegy, which catapulted Vance to national notoriety before his entry into the world of politics, details his upbringing in poor rural Kentucky. The book became a significant cultural talking point after Trump’s 2016 presidential victory later that year, highlighting how his message reached blue-collar voters.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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