ICv2Â released their report detailing the top 20 best selling manga in the United States for the month of February 2024.
For this analysis breakdown, we'll be focusing on the Top 20 Manga for February 2024 which tracked sales data from February 4th. 2024 through March 2nd, 2024. (27 total days of sales data)
You can find our previous break down covering the Top 20 Manga the United States for January 2024 here.
Who is Circana Bookscan?
Circana Bookscan is a platform that collects weekly point-of-sale data on various consumer products print books from over 16,000 locations which include but not limited to: e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more.
While Behind The Manga can't personally access this information, Online trade magazine ICv2 publishes a report which showcases the Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels, Top 20 "Superhero" Graphic Novels, and Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels which can be accessed here
What are the Top 20 Manga in the US for February 2024?
(Source: Circana Bookscan)
What is This Month's Publisher Ranking?
Here's a visualization to help categorize how many titles each US Manga Publisher has ranked in the Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels for February 2024.
Publisher | Titles ranked in the Top 20 Manga |
Viz Media | 16/20 |
Dark Horse | 3/20 |
Yen Press | 1/20 |
Methodology
To calculate these numbers, we counted how many titles each publisher has in the top 20 manga graphic novels and gave it a fraction. We then converted each fraction into a decimal by dividing the numerator with it's denominator. Finally, we multiply the decimal by 100 to give us our percentage.
(For example, if Viz Media achieved 16 out of 20 total spots, it's fraction would be 16/20. We then divide 16 by 20 to get a decimal value of .80. Finally, We multiply our decimal value of .80 by 100 to give us our percentage of 80% )
How does it compare to last month?
Here's a visualization on how many titles each US Manga Publisher has ranked in the Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels for January 2024.
Publisher | Titles ranked in the Top 20 Manga |
Viz Media | 19/20 |
Dark Horse | 1/20 |
How does it compare to last year?
Here's a visualization on how many titles each US Manga Publisher has ranked in the Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels for February 2023.
Publisher | Titles ranked in the Top 20 Manga |
Viz Media | 17/20 |
Yen Press | 1/20 |
Square Enix | 1/20 |
Kodansha | 1/20 |
The Breakdown (Publisher Ranking)
Viz Media takes the lead by having sixteen titles break the top 20 in the list for this month. Dark Horse is in second place with having three titles in the top 20. Yen Press came in last with having a single title break the top 20 list.
While Viz still holds it's majority compared to the other publishers that made it on the list, Compared to last month they gave up four spots to the other publishers. Dark horse grew its presence this month by securing three of the top twenty spots compared to only having a single title break the top 20. Yen Press was able to secure it's slot compared to last month in which they weren't able to grab any
The biggest surprise this month was seeing Berserk Deluxe Volumes 1, 2 & 3 all make an appearance on the list
What's the Total Sales Gross for the Top 20 Manga?
Here's a chart to help visualize how much in total sales each of the top 20 manga grossed for February 2024
Methodology
To calculate these numbers, we took how many units each title sold within the given timeframe. Then we multiplied the total units by its MSRP given by the publisher. The reason we chose this method is because when conducting research for this project, we've discovered that Circana Bookscan uses this same methodology in their reporting. So to stay consistent with their reporting, we decided it would be best to replicate the same methodology. (For example: Berserk Deluxe Volume 1 made it to the top 20: it sold 11,410 units and it's MSRP is $49.99. We multiply $49.99 by 11,410 units to achieve a total gross of $570,385.90. But to stay consistent with Circana Bookscan, we round up the 90 cents to achieve our new total gross of $570,386.)
However, take these numbers with a grain of salt as not "every" unit was sold at MSRP as different retailers can offer the same books at different price points.
The Breakdown (Total Gross Sales)
Berserk Deluxe Volumes 1, 2, and 3 showed up this month not only taking three of the top twenty spots but also achieving a total gross of $974,605 (Vol. 1 - $570,386/Vol. 2 - $211,258/Vol. 3 - $192,961) This did not come out of no where, Berserk Deluxe Vol. 1 has consistently broken into the top 20 and what we're looking at is readers making their way through the 14 volume series.
Chainsaw Man is a title that consistently breaks into the top 20 with it's newest volume release, it's previous volumes lingers for a few months, and finally Volume 1 as it's the entry point for those new to the series. For this month, It's four volumes have made an appearance grossing a total of $777,432 (Vol. 14 - $556,576/ Vol. 13 - $98,270/ Vol. 12 - $74,542/ Vol. 1 - $48,044)
Up next is Jujutsu Kaisen who follows a similar pattern to chainsaw man, but for this month has the most volumes break the top 20 with a total of seven volumes. Those seven volumes grossed a total of $397,315 (Vol. 21 - $84,134/ Vol. 20 - $62,552/ Vol. 1 - $57,133/ Vol. 17 - $57,133/Vol. 18 - $49,071 /Vol.16 -$48,002 /Vol.19 -$46,233 )
Finally are the titles in which only a single volume has broken the top 20. These volumes usually are the latest volume of a serious or a title that released last month that is still lingering into the current month
Oshi No Ko Volume 5 is the latest in the series and achieved a total gross of $78,871
Dragon Ball Super Volume 20 is the same story and achieved a total gross of $177,752.
Demon Slayer Volume 1 is a volume that will often pop up from time to time, but given the upcoming Hashira training arc, we could start to see a similar patter to Jujutsu Kaisen in upcoming months. But for now, this volume grossed
Next we have Kaiju No 8 Vol. 9 that released last month and lingered into this month achieving a gross of $45,550 & One Piece Volume 104 which released in the US November 2023, but still maintained its presence through this month achieving a total gross of $44,699
Finally we have the odd one out which is Vagabond Volume 1 which released all the way back in September 2008, it's recent reprint allowed it to find new readers, It's also worth noting that this volume also received a price increase from $19.99 to $24.99 for it's future reprints. This would be my guess as to why Vagabond was able to gross a total of $114,019
Publisher Analysis & Future Speculation
Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Piece, and Kaiju No 8 aren't going anywhere as their volumes continue to perform well after their release date in the US. Especially with factors such as Kaiju No 8's upcoming anime, Chainsaw Man's upcoming movie, and more. I can only see these as keys to help solidify those titles into the mainstream audience.
I'm also curious if this recent Vagabond reprint could open the door other reprints from Viz's back log given the "actual" demand is there
Finally, given the recent passing of Akira Toriyama I would not be surprised if we see if Viz Media begins to reprint works such as Dr.Slump, Cowa!, and license behind the scenes/fan books related Tomiyama specifically.
We will most definitely see an increased attention towards dragon ball similar to what happened with berserk and I wouldn't be surprised if more dragon ball volumes break the top 20 list.
Berserk Deluxe Volume 1 continues to be one of Dark Horse's best selling volumes. So to see the other volumes begin to appear in the top 20 shows that readers are reading past the first volume and making their way through. With the announcement of H.P Lovecraft's Deluxe Edition, i'm wondering if this volume will get a similar treatment from readers looking for another way to consumer HP Lovcraft's works (which if you haven't read any of the HP Love craft manga adaptations I highly recommend them as they're underrated
While we didn't see much presence from Yen Press this month on the manga side of things, they are ABSOLUTELY killing it on the Webtoon side.
But worry not, they have an upcoming license announcement next week at Sakura Con which they announced new upcoming licenses. Last Year we got the Bocchi The Rock announcement so I'm excited to see what is in store for this year
Citation
Circana Bookscan. Circana BookScan. (n.d.). https://bookscan.npd.com/
Alverson, B. (2024). Pro: February 2024 Circana Bookscan - Top 20 author, manga, superhero graphic novels with actual sales. ICv2. https://icv2.com/articles/icv2-pro/view/56462/february-2024-circana-bookscan-top-20-author-manga-superhero-graphic-novels-actual-sales
The Publisher Ranking and Total Gross of each volume charts were created & Calculated by MangaAlerts with data supplied by ICv2 & Circana Bookscan.