List of best-selling comic series
This page provides lists of best-selling comic book series to date. It includes Japanese manga, American comic books, and European comics. This list includes comic books that have sold at least 100 million copies.
There are three separate lists, for three different comic book publication formats: collected comic book volumes, periodical single-issue floppy comics, and comic magazines. They are separated because the sales figures of these publication formats are not directly comparable.
Collected comic book volumes
This list is for comics printed in a traditional book format (paperback or hardcover), typically with a similar number of pages as novels. The list includes graphic novels printed exclusively in this format, and trade paperback/hardcover books which compile periodical comic chapters/issues into larger collected volumes. Japanese manga tankōbon volumes and European comic albums account for the vast majority of collected comic book volume sales.[3] American trade paperbacks and graphic novels are also included in the list.
These comic series were originally serialized either as chapters (typically 15-30 pages each) in comic publications (such as comic magazines) or as single-page comic strips in non-comic publications (such as newspapers), before being collected into a larger comic book volume (which compiles either multiple comic chapters or numerous comic strips).[3] For comic series originally serialized as chapters in comic magazines or manga magazines, their estimated circulation figures in those magazines are given in footnotes.
Denotes comic series currently running |
Periodical single-issue floppy comics
This list is for single-issue floppy comics, also known as the American comic book format. Unlike the paperback book format, floppy comics are thinner periodicals and stapled together. Each floppy comic issue is typically 20-40 pages, and usually consists of a single chapter (as opposed to a larger comic book volume that typically includes multiple chapters). A floppy comic is comparable to a comic magazine, but is thinner in size and is dedicated to a single character or group of characters (whereas a comic magazine is thicker and serializes multiple different unrelated series).[3]
Single-issue floppy comics are the most common publication format for American comics, and account for the vast majority of American superhero comic sales.[48] This list also contains periodical publications from other countries that are similarly dedicated to a single character or group of characters. Some of the numbers reported here may also include sales of trade paperback volumes, which account for a small portion of American comic sales.
According to the most recently available data, the best-selling American single-issue comic of all time was X-Men #1, which was published in 1991 and has since sold almost 8.2 million copies. Marvel X-Force #1, which also came out in 1991, ranks in second place with around five million copies sold.
Comic series | Creator(s) | Publisher | No. of issues | Serialized | Approximate sales |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Superman | Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster | DC Comics | 15,000[49] | 1938 – present | 600 million[50][lower-alpha 17] |
Batman | Bob Kane Bill Finger | DC comics | 17,000[51] | 1939 – present | 484 million[lower-alpha 18][lower-alpha 17] |
Spider-Man | Stan Lee Steve Ditko | Marvel | 13,500[55] | 1963 – present | 387 million[lower-alpha 19][lower-alpha 17] |
X-Men | Stan Lee Jack Kirby | Marvel | 12,000[60] | 1963 – present | 260 million[27][lower-alpha 17] |
Captain America | Joe Simon Jack Kirby | Marvel | 9,000[61] | 1941 – present | 210 million[27] |
Diabolik | Angela Giussani Luciana Giussani | Astorina | 862 | 1962 – present | 150 million[31] |
Spawn | Todd McFarlane | Image Comics | 600[62] | 1992 – present | 150 million[63] |
The Phantom | Lee Falk | Frew Publications | 3,000[64] | 1936 – present | 150 million[27] |
Comic magazines
This list is for comic magazines, which are anthology magazines that serialize multiple different unrelated comic series. This list includes Japanese manga magazines, European comic magazines, and English-language comic magazines.
In Japan, manga magazines account for the vast majority of manga sales. Most manga series first appear in manga magazines, before later being sold separately as collected tankobon volumes.[3]
Comic magazine | Publisher | Country | No. of issues | Serialized | Approximate sales |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weekly Shōnen Jump | Shueisha | Japan | 2,406[65] | 1968 – present | 7.6 billion[65][lower-alpha 1] |
Weekly Shōnen Magazine | Kodansha | Japan | 2,942[66] | 1959 – present | 5.2 billion[lower-alpha 20] |
Weekly Young Jump | Shueisha | Japan | 1,765[67] | 1979 – present | 2.2 billion[lower-alpha 21] |
Weekly Shōnen Sunday | Shogakukan | Japan | 2,805[68] | 1959 – present | 1.9 billion[lower-alpha 22] |
Weekly Young Magazine | Kodansha | Japan | 1,976 | 1980 – present | 1.8 billion[lower-alpha 23] |
Micky Maus | Egmont Ehapa | Germany | 3,169 | 1951 – present | 1 billion[lower-alpha 24] |
The Beano | DC Thomson | United Kingdom | 4,000+ | 1938 – present | 1 billion[70] |
Classics Illustrated | Elliot Publishing Co. Gilberton Company, Inc. Frawley Corporation | United States | 169 | 1941 – 1971 | 1 billion[71] |
Ribon | Shueisha | Japan | 694[72] | 1955 – present | 594 million[lower-alpha 25] |
MAD Magazine | EC Comics, DC Comics | United States | 557 | 1952 – present | 430 million[73] |
CoroCoro Comic | Shogakukan | Japan | 480[74] | 1977 – present | 407 million[lower-alpha 26] |
Nakayoshi | Kodansha | Japan | 756 | 1954 – present | 400 million[lower-alpha 27] |
Monthly Shōnen Jump | Shueisha | Japan | 317[75] | 1970 – present | 215 million[lower-alpha 28] |
Action Comics | DC Comics | United States | 1,000 | 1938 – present | 188 million[lower-alpha 29] |
Pilote | Dargaud | France | 420[82] | 1959 – 1989 | 117 million[lower-alpha 4] |
See also
Notes
- See Weekly Shōnen Jump § Manga series.
- In addition to tankōbon sales, One Piece has had a total estimated circulation of approximately 3.1 billion copies in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine.[lower-alpha 1]
- Serialized in Pilote from 1959 – 1973. Collected comic album releases of the Pilote comics were published from 1961 – 1973. Since 1974, each instalment has been published as a complete album with no prior magazine serialization.
- See Pilote § Circulation.
- In addition to comic album sales, Asterix had a total estimated circulation of approximately 93.5 million copies in the comic magazine Pilote, which serialized Asterix from October 1959 to 1973.[lower-alpha 4]
- Estimates for the total Dragon Ball manga volume tankobon sales worldwide range from more than 250 million copies[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] to more than 300 million copies.[18][19][20][21][22][23] See Dragon Ball (manga) § Reception for worldwide sales breakdown.
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, Dragon Ball chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 2.96 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, Naruto chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 2.3 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- See Weekly Shōnen Sunday § Circulation.
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, Case Closed / Detective Conan chapters have had a total estimated circulation of approximately 1.3 billion copies in Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine, which has been serializing Detective Conan since January 1994.[lower-alpha 9]
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, KochiKame chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 6 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- Doraemon tankōbon sales:
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, Bleach chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 2 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, Slam Dunk chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 1.7 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, Fist of the North Star chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 1.1 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- In addition to tankōbon volume sales, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure chapters had a total estimated circulation of approximately 3.6 billion copies in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[lower-alpha 1]
- While the vast bulk of the sales are from single-issue floppy comics, the number may also include trade paperback volumes, which account for a small portion of the sales.
- Batman comic sales – 484.900.656 copies
- Spider-Man comic sales – 384,827,202 copies
- See Weekly Shōnen Magazine § Circulation.
- See Weekly Young Jump § Circulation
- See Weekly Shōnen Sunday § Circulation.
- See Weekly Young Magazine § Circulation
- In 1998, the total number of Micky Maus copies ever sold exceeded 1 billion.[69]
- See Ribon § Circulation.
- See CoroCoro Comic § Circulation.
- See Nakayoshi § Circulation.
- See Monthly Shōnen Jump § Circulation
- Action Comics sales – est. 187,508,831 copies
- Up until 1989 – 170,851,312[76]
- 1993 – 2,203,000[57]
- 1996–2001 – 3,055,766[57]
- 2002–2006 – est. 2,400,000[57]
- 2007–2008 – est. 1,200,000[57]
- 2009 – 192,400[77]
- 2010 – 439,000[78]
- 2011 – 950,600[79]
- 2012 – 1,035,600[80]
- 2013 – 777,500[81]
- 2014 – 583,704[58]
- 2015 – 440,757[59]
- 2016 – 1,080,297[52]
- 2017 – 1,179,798[53]
- 2018 – 1,119,097[48]
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