The sixth Harry Potter book has already topped online retailer Amazon's book chart, less than 24 hours after its release date was announced.
Fans will have to wait until 16 July to get their hands on 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', but thousands of customers have placed pre-orders with amazon.co.uk.
The publication date was disclosed at noon yesterday and within hours the book topped Amazon's Hot 100 chart.
Author JK Rowling was set to announce the release date on her website on Christmas Day but decided to bring it forward.
The last Harry Potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', took a record 420,000 pre-orders from as far afield as Fiji and Nepal.
