ICv2 has released an updated report detailing the top 20 best selling manga in the United States for the month of November (10/29/23 - 11/25/23)
You can find our previous break down of the top 20 adult graphic novel 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 Graphic Novels for November 2023 which tracks from October 29th, 2023 to November 25th, 2023
What are the Top 20 Manga for November 2023 in the US?
(Source: Circana Bookscan)
What's This Month's Publisher Ranking?
Here's a chart to help categorize how many spots each US Manga Publisher has in the top 20 for November 2023
Publisher | Titles in the Top 20 Best Selling Manga |
Viz Media | 16/20 |
Dark Horse | 2/20 |
Yen Press | 1/20 |
Square Enix | 1/20 |
(Source: Circana Bookscan)
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 16 out of 20 total spots, so its 16/20) We then converted each fraction into a percentage to give us our percentage
How's it compare to last month?
Publisher | Titles in the Top 20 Best Selling Manga |
Viz Media | 18/20 |
Dark Horse | 1/20 |
Kodansha USA | 1/20 |
(Source: Circana Bookscan)
Quick Notes
It comes as no suprise that Viz Media continues its dominance for the month of November, securing sixteen of the twenty spots on the list with its titles. Dark Horse comes in second thanks to its two volumes of Berserk. Finally, its a tie between Square Enix and Yen Press as each publisher had a single title break the top 20.
Comparing to the previous month, Viz still maintained a majority of the top 20. However, it lost two slots thanks to the lastest relase of Square Enix's My Dress Up Darling & Yen Press's Oshi No Ko.
Shifting over to Dark Horse, it was able to knock Kodansha off the top 20 chart thanks to the dynamic duo of Berserk Deluxe Volume 1 & Volume 14 .
What's the Total Sales Gross?
Methodology
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 we conducted 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's a chart to help visualize how much in total sales each of the top 20 manga grossed for the month of November
The Break Down
The Demon Slayer Complete Boxset takes the number one spot breaking over $1,000,000 in total grossed sales. With the holiday season in full swing, it's no surprise to see a Manga Boxset as being the top choice for families to gift to a manga fan, or introduce their kids to the medium as it provides the best value per book. Combined with Demon Slayer's popularity in popular culture (especially in the US), these were the ingredients that allowed Demon Slayer Complete Boxset to take the #1 spot
Berserk Deluxe Edition Volume 1 and 14 follow up taking the #2 & #3 spot in this list. Berserk Deluxe Vol. 14 is the last collected volume of Miura's work before it was passed onto Kouji Mori which makes this volume culturally impactful for fans of the series. Dark Horse also included in Volume 14 the Berserk Official Guidebook which they call "the ultimate resource to Miura’s manga masterpiece"
With that said, its important to note that whenever Dark Horse releases a new deluxe volume, it has consistently found itself in the top 20 best selling manga. While the actual reason could be its own article (lmao) The aspects of Berserk such as its art & storytelling STRONGLY resonate with its north american audience. We've seen this pattern happen with its previous volumes such as Berserk Volume 13 & Volume 11
Shifting over to Volume 1, this volume has continued to be a powerhouse now as it has broken the Top 20 best selling manga & adult graphic novels for the seventh time in a row . With its recent availablilty & awareness recieving a boost thanks to stores such as Walmart. It should come as no suprise when we see this volume continuosly show how strong it is,
The same perspective can also be said for One Piece Omnibus Volume 1. While One Piece it's a VERY popular title among fans. Its availablilty & awareness also recieved a boost by showing up instores at Target . combined retailer's SUPER generous discount of 20% off MSRP + an additional 5% for RedCard Holders make it a great gateway into someone who's interested into reading manga
My Dress Up Darling Volume 10 finds itself sitting in the #9 spot with 9,392 units sold. Compared to the previous volume, its position hasn't changed, but has moved 111 less units when comparing the two. However, what's interested to note is that this series has a similar sales pattern to Dark Horse's berserk deluxe in which every volume of has found itself in the top 20 best selling of its release month.
Last but not least, Oshi No Ko Volume 4 finds itself at the #12 spot with with 5,598 units sold. Compared to it's previous volume, it sold 85 units more compared to Volume 3. While we would need to wait till 2024 for the release of Season 2 , This is the first volume that's outside of the anime release. It'll be interesting to see if this growth continues heading into the 2024 year
Publisher Analysis & Speculation
(Note: The views and Opinions expressed here are those of MangaAlerts. These do not reflect the official position of BehindTheManga or any of the US Manga publishers listed below)
Viz Media:
This is the second month since Viz media has rolled out the new pricing inital to all of it's titles and so far? It doesn't seem like these increases negativily impacting the sucess of these title. If anything, it's making their titles generate more sales without having to move as many units as before. Now there was a hint earlier in november when X (Formally Twitter) user @FireLunarTT spotted that Barnes & Noble listed a higher MSRP on the Demon Slayer Boxet by $50 and One Piece Boxset 1 by $60.
These have now since been reverted back to their original MSRP, but it opens the possiblity of Manga Boxsets being next on the list. We've already seen this change slowly roll out to it's reprints so only time will tell to see how this plays out for them.
Yen Press:
It's no suprise that Oshi No Ko is a very sucessful title for Yen Press and I can forsee it comepeting with the likes of Bungo Stray Dogs & Toilet Bound Hanako-kun in terms of sales. I'm curious to see if Yen Press is looking into licensing everything around "Oshi no Ko" such as the recent Glare x Sparkle Oshi no Ko Artbook that released in Japan not too long ago.
Dark Horse:
Now that the all of Kentaro Mirua's work has been put into a deluxe edition package, the next question myself & many fans have is if they'll also put Kouji Mori's work into a Deluxe edition. Me personally I would assume so as Berserk is THAT popular, but there has been no official statement from Dark Horse regarding the matter.
Square Enix:
With My Dress-Up Darling shaping up to be a solid title for Square Enix, I'm curious to see if their other titles such as Mr Villians Day Off , The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl, or Tokyo Aliens will find similar success. Currently, Square Enix Manga licensed the My Dress-Up Darling Official Anime Fanbook Scheduled to release on June 18th, 2024.
Citation:
Circana Bookscan. Circana BookScan. (n.d.). https://bookscan.npd.com/
Alverson, B. (2023). Pro: November 2023 Circana Bookscan - Top 20 author, manga, superhero graphic novels with actual sales. ICv2. https://icv2.com/articles/icv2-pro/view/55772/november-2023-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