Kindle E-readers and tablets nearly tripled in sales this past holiday when compared to the 2010 Christmas season. Amazon’s total sales for the final quarter were at a staggering $17.3 billion.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos:

“We are grateful to the millions of customers who purchased the Kindle Fire and Kindle e-reader devices this holiday season, making Kindle our bestselling product across both the U.S. and Europe,”

Amazon doesn’t report exactly how many devices they sold but industry analyst approximate that nearly six million Kindle products moved this season.

Wednesday Amazon launched their new e-books lending library which is just what it sounds like, a lending library. Members of Amazon Prime, which costs about $80 a year, can borrow one free e-book a month.

Jeff Bezos comments on the new service:

“Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free, including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers — as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. No other e-reader or ebook store offers such a service,”

Currently there are over 5,000 books available from the library. Amazon is hoping the introduction of the new service will drive Kindle sales up even further and contribute to the overall popularity of e-books.