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One Piece officially sold more than Batman, is now the second best selling comic series after Superman

Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,597
As posted in this thread, OP numbers got to 490 million (not counting digital), while Batman is at 474 million.

www.animenewsnetwork.com

One Piece Manga Tops 490 Million in Circulation Worldwide

Volume 100 celebration includes space project, Where's Waldo crossover, more
www.animenewsnetwork.com www.animenewsnetwork.com





This means OP is the second most sold comic in the world, only behind Superman (600 million), and did it in "only" 24 years.

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Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,509
Ibis Island
With how things are going it'll probably beat Superman as well right? Or is it coming to a close?
I don't really keep track of One Piece.
 
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,962
This reminds me of when I see the Top Ten most popular things on Netflix.
 
Lord Azrael

Lord Azrael

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,976
Jawmuncher said:
With how things are going it'll probably beat Superman as well right? Or is it coming to a close?
I don't really keep track of One Piece.
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At its current pace it could easily go for more than five years still. It would've passed Superman regardless though, since it'll undoubtedly get a surge in sales as it approaches the climax, much as it did for the first half, and then probably a lot of backlog sales from people finally jumping into the volumes.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
22,472
Jawmuncher said:
With how things are going it'll probably beat Superman as well right? Or is it coming to a close?
I don't really keep track of One Piece.
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One Piece still has a few years left in the tank so it beating superman has a high chance of happening. Granted Superman will go on until the end of time most likely so a good chance it eventually passes back in front eventually
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,706
Probably double that counting everyone who likely read it online legally or otherwise. I have a few physical copies in Japanese because my friend had duplicates for whatever reason.
 
AzorAhai

AzorAhai

Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,614
lvl 99 Pixel said:
Probably double that counting everyone who likely read it online legally or otherwise. I have a few physical copies in Japanese because my friend had duplicates for whatever reason.
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Double? More like 10 times at least.

Keep in mind it has around 100 volumes already. So 500 million copies would translate to 5 million people buying the whole series, I'm sure it's far from the actual number of readers.

It's going to pass Superman and if the final arcs are great it will reach 1 billion in the next decade. Then it will remain #1 forever because of digital.
 
Orayn

Orayn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,973
To anyone intimidated by One Piece's length: It's about 120 hours of content depending on how fast you read. That's a Persona 5 Royal, Witcher 3 + DLC, 60% of the Wheel of Time book series, or 7 seasons of American primetime TV worth of manga. Long, but very accomplishable.
 
Bane

Bane

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
5,905
How are these numbers known? Is it all the various series of Batman combined or just Detective comics and/or Batman? I wouldn't think numbers like this could be known for a character that old, it's really neat nonetheless.
 
sir_crocodile

sir_crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,506
Jawmuncher said:
With how things are going it'll probably beat Superman as well right? Or is it coming to a close?
I don't really keep track of One Piece.
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I don't think it will unless it runs longer than expected, I would expect OP to be finished in about 5-6 years as it really feels like the story is starting to come into the home stretch (though the author himself never expected it to run this long lol, so who knows). Superman is a moving target as well, if less popular then in the past.

Of course if the OP netflix live series actually turns out to be a hit...
 
OP
OP
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,597
Bane said:
How are these numbers known? Is it all the various series of Batman combined or just Detective comics and/or Batman? I wouldn't think numbers like this could be known for a character that old, it's really neat nonetheless.
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The lists I saw included Detective Comics since 1939 (when Batman was introduced), I assume it includes everything Batman except crossovers.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,329
A comic I never heard about and know nothing of beats Batman? The Batman?

Well, I guess I'm really out of touch. Then again, I only read a few mangas.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
22,472
Rosebud said:
The lists I saw included Detective Comics since 1939 (when Batman was introduced), I assume it includes everything Batman except crossovers.
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I think crossovers would still count so long as Batman is headlining. Things like DC universe event comics featuring Batman probably don't even if Batman is playing a major role, but I imagine any comic that's titled something along the lines of "Batman and x" with x being a crossover character would still count
 
foxuzamaki

foxuzamaki

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,563
aevanhoe said:
A comic I never heard about and know nothing of beats Batman? The Batman?

Well, I guess I'm really out of touch. Then again, I only read a few mangas.
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I'm sorry but you would have to be REALLY out of touch to not know even a passing mention of one piece, I'm guessing you aren't a millennial since you'd know about the Naruto, one piece and bleach days haha
 
OP
OP
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,597
aevanhoe said:
A comic I never heard about and know nothing of beats Batman? The Batman?

Well, I guess I'm really out of touch. Then again, I only read a few mangas.
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Are you in the US? One Piece never got very famous there like Dragon Ball, Naruto etc., probably because of the awful 4Kids localization.
 
TAJ

TAJ

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
12,446
Superman is possibly not the highest selling comic. I've seen higher claims for several other series.
For example, Classics Illustrated allegedly sold a billion copies.
 
sir_crocodile

sir_crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,506
aevanhoe said:
A comic I never heard about and know nothing of beats Batman? The Batman?

Well, I guess I'm really out of touch. Then again, I only read a few mangas.
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It's been going since 1997 and I started reading it in 2003 when it was first officially released in English lol

It's been the most popular manga in Japan for a large chunk of that time. Didn't get as much penetration in the west initially as 4kids bought the localisation rights to the anime and messed it up big time. It did get released properly in an official manner after Funimation picked it up though.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,329
foxuzamaki said:
I'm sorry but you would have to be REALLY out of touch to not know even a passing mention of one piece, I'm guessing you aren't a millennial since you'd know about the Naruto, one piece and bleach days haha
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I know of Naruto, I know it's supposedly about ninjas, I know his run is funny and I know how he looks and that's it - I never watched or read any of it. Bleach I do not know. While I'm not against manga, it's basically a big blindspot for me. Never understood the obsession, really. It always felt so culturally different from the western stuff I was raised on. I did like a few mangas, though.

Oh, and I'm a millennial.
 
Rogue Blue

Rogue Blue

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
2,280
Hey I was just watching a Super Eyepatch Wolf video where he talks about exactly this lol.

Wonder if he'll do a follow up. Cause damn this is huge.
 
Techno

Techno

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,412
Well deserved, it's the GOAT series.

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Superman is next.
 
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lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,706
aevanhoe said:
I know of Naruto, I know it's supposedly about ninjas, I know his run is funny and I know how he looks and that's it - I never watched or read any of it. Bleach I do not know. While I'm not against manga, it's basically a big blindspot for me. Never understood the obsession, really. It always felt so culturally different from the western stuff I was raised on. I did like a few mangas, though.

Oh, and I'm a millennial.
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What obsession? its a massive variety of storytelling by very different artists and writers. Considering the concession that you have little experience with manga it seems like a gross generalization. Not all of it is battle shounen (ie. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece).
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

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Member
Aug 28, 2018
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lvl 99 Pixel said:
That's impressive considering how mainstream it is, with many (awful) videogames, a long running anime and the best selling long running (as in probably older than many posters here) manga.
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There are parts of this forum I totally don't get. Like, I wasn't intentionally avoiding Anime/Manga games, films or comics (in fact, I just watched Dorohedoro on Netflix) and I read a few (liked Tsutomu Nihei stuff, for example) - but I was never super into manga. Like, I know Pokemon and stuff, I know Naruto exists, I know Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

But it is funny, there are threads like "name your favorite game" or "character from a game" and I understand exactly one half of the thread with games like God of War or Halo or WoW, then there are things I know, of course, like Final Fantasy, Persona, etc. - and then there are games that sound to me like someone randomly picked words from a dictionary (something like "Panzer Core Negative Return") and people are crazy about them and I'm like…. What?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong there and it's perfectly fine, not everyone is into everything - but I'm still shocked to see this overtaking Batman. It's probably not that strange - but it seems that way to me :)

lvl 99 Pixel said:
What obsession? its a massive variety of storytelling by very different artists and writers. Considering the concession that you have little experience with manga it seems like a gross generalization. Not all of it is battle shounen (ie. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece).
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Sorry, didn't mean to generalize, I am aware there are such different mangas and animes out there. But anime culture is insanely popular, that's what I meant. Sorry it came off as negative.
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,706
aevanhoe said:
There are parts of this forum I totally don't get. Like, I wasn't intentionally avoiding Anime/Manga games, films or comics (in fact, I just watched Dorohedoro on Netflix) and I read a few (liked Tsutomu Nihei stuff, for example) - but I was never into it. Like, I know Pokemon and stuff, I know Naruto exists, I know Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

But it is funny, there are threads like "name your favorite game" or "character from a game" and I understand exactly one half of the thread with games like God of War or Halo or WoW, then there are things I know, of course, like Final Fantasy, Persona, etc. - and then there are games that sound to me like someone randomly picked words from a dictionary (something like "Panzer Core Negative Return") and people are crazy about them and I'm like…. What?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong there and it's perfectly fine, not everyone is into everything - but I'm still shocked to see this overtaking Batman. It's probably not that strange - but it seems that way to me :)
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You called it an obsession, which is unhealthy by definition. Its fine that you don't know all the various popular IP, but its not right to generalize both an entire medium and the people enjoying it like that.
 

jdawg

Banned
Nov 26, 2020
511
Doesn't seem like anything particularly significant or noteworthy.

Manga is very popular in Japan and culturally relevant there. Western superhero comics have been completely and utterly dead for decades.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,329
lvl 99 Pixel said:
You called it an obsession, which is unhealthy by definition. Its fine that you don't know all the various popular IP, but its not right to generalize both an entire medium and the people enjoying it like that.
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Yes, I did apologize for my bad choice of words (maybe you missed my second reply to you).
 
OP
OP
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,597
aevanhoe said:
There are parts of this forum I totally don't get. Like, I wasn't intentionally avoiding Anime/Manga games, films or comics (in fact, I just watched Dorohedoro on Netflix) and I read a few (liked Tsutomu Nihei stuff, for example) - but I was never super into manga. Like, I know Pokemon and stuff, I know Naruto exists, I know Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

But it is funny, there are threads like "name your favorite game" or "character from a game" and I understand exactly one half of the thread with games like God of War or Halo or WoW, then there are things I know, of course, like Final Fantasy, Persona, etc. - and then there are games that sound to me like someone randomly picked words from a dictionary (something like "Panzer Core Negative Return") and people are crazy about them and I'm like…. What?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong there and it's perfectly fine, not everyone is into everything - but I'm still shocked to see this overtaking Batman. It's probably not that strange - but it seems that way to me :)
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I get it. I watched anime my whole life ("Pikachu" was one of my first words lol) and I watch One Piece since I was 11/12, so for me it's "natural". But I know nothing about many things talked here (most sports, most MP shooters, most singers...)
 
Busaiku

Busaiku

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,500
TAJ said:
Superman is possibly not the highest selling comic. I've seen higher claims for several other series.
For example, Classics Illustrated allegedly sold a billion copies.
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Something like that would be more comparable to Weekly Shonen Jump, which has over 7.5 billion copies in circulation.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,329
Rosebud said:
I get it. I watched anime my whole life ("Pikachu" was one of my first words lol) and I watch One Piece since I was 11/12, so for me it's "natural". But I know nothing about many things talked here (most sports, most MP shooters, most singers...)
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Well, we do have some things similar - like, I also don't know sports, most MP shooters and most signers :) Also, Pikachu being one of your first words is adorable (and, of course, I know Pikachu :)
 
Yams

Yams

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,846
My understanding is that the Superman number is very conservative. They literally have no idea how much they sold in the golden era
 
PeakPointMatrix

PeakPointMatrix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,104
Orayn said:
To anyone intimidated by One Piece's length: It's about 120 hours of content depending on how fast you read. That's a Persona 5 Royal, Witcher 3 + DLC, 60% of the Wheel of Time book series, or 7 seasons of American primetime TV worth of manga. Long, but very accomplishable.
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I also want to add this:

you won't want it to end.

I'm sitting here tortured and caught up wishing there were another 100 chapters to blow through. There are so many mysteries, theories, unresolved plot lines and histories waiting to be touched on that when you reach the finish line, you'll only want more. An intimidating length becomes it's greatest strength when you can't get enough.
 
HiLife

HiLife

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
39,674
It's going to do even bigger numbers when the final war happens and Luffy finds the One Piece.

I mean…Marineford was already dwarfing most other mangas during that specific arc. I can't even imagine how many sales the finale will get.
 
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