ICv2Â has released it's updated report detailing the top 20 best selling Graphic Novels within the United States for the month of January (12/31/23 - 2/3/24).
You can find our previous break down of the Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels in the United States 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 we can't personally access this information, Online trade magazine ICv2 publishes a report detailing from Circana Bookscan that showcases the top 20 adult graphic novels, Top 20 "Superhero" Graphic Novels, and more!
For this analysis, we'll focus on the Top 20 Manga for January 2024 which tracked from December 31st 2023 through February 3rd, 2024.
What's This Month's Publisher Ranking?
Publisher | Number of Titles in the Top 20 |
Viz Media | 19/20 |
Dark Horse | 1/20 |
Methodology
To achieve these numbers: we counted how many titles each publisher has in the top 20 and gave it a fraction (For example, Viz Media got 19 out of 20 total spots, so its 16/20) We then converted each fraction into a percentage to give us our percentage.
How does it Compare to Last Month?
Here is how it compared to December 2023:
Publisher | Number of Titles in the Top 20 |
Viz Media | 17/20 |
Dark Horse | 3/20 |
How does it Compare to Last Year?
Here is how the rankings stacked for January 2023:
Publisher | Number of Titles in the Top 20 |
Viz Media | 19/20 |
Dark Horse | 1/20 |
Quick Notes
Viz Media has a complete dominance on the number of spots claimed by a single publisher's titles for January 2024. This mirrors last year's data where Viz held 19 of the 20 spots and the single spot was owned by Dark Horse.
When compared to last month's results, Viz saw an improvement where they gained 2 spots. Dark Horse, on the other hand, saw a decline where they lost 2 spots in the top 20.
What's the Total Sales Gross?
To achieve these numbers: we took how many units each title sold and multiplied it by its MSRP. However, while we understand not "every" unit was sold at MSRP, when conducting research for this analysis: we've discovered Circana Bookscan uses this methodology in their reporting. In order to stay consistent with what we've found: this is the assumption we'll be going with moving forward
Here is how much each title grossed for January 2024:
And a chart to put it into perspective:
The Break Down
Berserk Deluxe vol 1 was the highest selling manga in January, selling over $668,000! This is a 32.4% increase from its total gross in January 2023. The Berserk Deluxe editions have been established as best sellers for Dark Horse and seem to continue to do so, based on January's sales.
Chainsaw Man volume 13 was January's second highest selling manga and Viz Media's highest selling manga for the same month. Chainsaw Man volume 12 is also on the list, 3 spots under volume 13. The performance for both volumes can be contributed to readers who potentially caught up via the box set and wanted to continue the story after part 1 of the series.
50% of the spots are held by Jujutsu Kaisen. While a few volumes have been in the top 20 at the same time for multiple months, this number of volumes in the top 20 shows how much of a hard hitter the series currently is. This improvement can be contributed to the anime's second season.
Fans of the anime wanted to read past season 2's content (season 2 ended on volume 16). The anime's popularity also got more people interested in picking up the series which would have them buy the early volumes.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy volume 1 earned over $65,000. While not a financial powerhouse like its mainline series, volume 1 of a spinoff earning over $60,000 in a single month is really good. It shows that the Demon Slayer brand is still high profile for Viz Media.
Publisher Analysis & Speculation
Viz Media
Viz continues to retain the majority of the spots with their best selling titles. Since Viz continues to license manga that end up getting popular anime adaptations, they continue to perform well and hold not only majority of the top 20 spots, but also the English market.
A notable observation from this month's chart is how Komi Can't Communicate and One Punch Man perform for Viz. The former's latest anime season concluded nearly 2 years ago and the latter's concluded 4 years ago. This shows the staying power both series have achieved with the English market.
I am curious to see if we will see the same results for Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Undead Unluck once their seasons have concluded.
Dark Horse
Dark Horse continues to retain their spot on the list with Berserk Deluxe edition. This volume has consistently shown up on the charts for 9 months straight! This series has become Dark Horse's best selling series and it doesn't seem to be slowing down.
It makes sense why other publishers want to create their own deluxe editions (i.e., Vinland Saga, and Ashita no Joe) after seeing how well Dark Horse's deluxe editions has been performing. I'm curious to see if the company's upcoming deluxe editions for Trigun will perform as well as Berserk Deluxe has.
Citation
Circana Bookscan. Circana BookScan. (n.d.). https://bookscan.npd.com/
Alverson, B. (2024). Pro: January 2024 Circana Bookscan - Top 20 author, manga, superhero graphic novels with actual sales. ICv2. https://icv2.com/articles/icv2-pro/view/56312/january-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 WinterVenom with data supplied by ICv2 & Circana Bookscan