Kindle is Amazon's Most-Gifted Holiday Item Ever

On Christmas Day, users bought more books via the Kindle than they did physical books – for the first time ever, the company said in a release.

"We are grateful to our customers for making Kindle the most gifted item ever in our history," Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said in a statement. "On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the world, we wish everyone happy holidays and happy reading."

On the company's peak day – Dec. 14 – customers bought 9.5 million items throughout the globe, or 110 items per second.

During the holiday season, Amazon shipped to 178 countries. The "last minute" award goes to an Amazon Prime customer in Seattle, who ordered a Kindle at 1:43pm on Christmas Eve and received it at 4:57pm that evening.