Working Class Boy went straight to No.1 on the BookScan bestseller list and HarperCollins publishing director, Shona Martyn, says the book sold "a massive 16,266 in its first week – the sort of number that you would expect of a top 10 bestseller in Christmas week".

As well as being a beloved veteran of Australian rock music with Cold Chisel, Barnes focuses on his poignant childhood in the first of two planned volumes, revealing his tough beginnings with a poor Scottish migrant family and a violent alcoholic father.

Martyn was with Barnes in his home town Adelaide last week and says, "I can see that his book is affecting people's lives because of his searing honesty ... Because of the huge response, HarperCollins is adding a resource section to reprints directing readers seeking help to support services."

Barnes has been outselling that other working-class rock star Bruce Springsteen, whose well-reviewed autobiography Born to Run came out a week later and sold about 4880 copies in its first five days, according to BookScan.

In the same week, Barneys sold another 14,000 memoirs, taking his total sales to more than 30,000.

Dan Ruffino, managing director of Simon & Schuster Australia, told Undercover, "Early signs from all booksellers are encouraging and we've already hit the reprint button today to bring our total in print so far to 75,000 copies."

Comparing the first three days' sales of each book, Villaverdi says Dymocks sold "half as many Bruce as Jimmy".

Jon Page at Pages & Pages in Mosman tweeted on September 28: "Have sold the same number of Bruce Springsteen books in a day than we have of Jimmy Barnes in 10 days. Says something about our demographics."

But he told Undercover this week, "It must have been a first-day rush. Jimmy outsold Bruce over the weekend."

Springsteen needs to sell a lot of books to earn back his reported $US10 million advance and while 1100 fans waited to see him at Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles, it's unclear how many bought a book.

He has done just one Australian TV interview so far.

No doubt Christmas and his Australia-New Zealand concerts in January and February will give sales a healthy boost.

Familiar with the demands of touring, Barnes is backing his well-written story with up to three events a day, signing thousands of copies, and an appearance on Anh Do's Brush with Fame on ABC TV.

Sharon Villaverdi, senior category manager for Dymocks, says he did his first event at Dymocks' city store and went to Rouse Hill, Penrith and Parramatta in the first week, selling more than 300 copies at some events and more than 5000 so far at all Dymocks stores.

Barnes is already working on his second volume, which should be out next Christmas – and is unlikely to have the obvious title Working Class Man, says Martyn.