Oricon (Japan) Manga Sales 2023 (First Half) [2022 Nov. 21 - 2023 May 21] - Two sport series dunk on the rest of the top

Rouk' · May 30, 2023

Oricon (2022 Nov. 21 - 2023 May 21)

Top 10 best-selling manga series of the semester:
RANK./LAST YEAR'S RANK. TITLE [WRITER] ( MAGAZINE / PUBLISHER ) {NUMBER OF NEW VOLUMES PUBLISHED} - YEAR-TO-DATE SALES

01./10. Blue Lock [Muneyuki Kaneshiro / Yusuke Nomura] (Weekly Shōnen Magazine / Kōdansha) {3 volumes} - 8,046,032 (+416%)
02./00. Chainsaw Man [Tatsuki Fujimoto] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 4,492,906
03./00. Slam Dunk [Takehiko Inoue] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {0 volumes} - 4,199,966
04./01. Jujutsu Kaisen [Gege Akutami] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 3,757,215 (-60%)
05./04. One Piece [Eiichirō Oda] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {1 volume} - 3,550,097 (-15%)
06./03. Spy x Family [Tatsuya Endo] (Shōnen Jump+ / Shūeisha) {1 volume} - 2,688,171 (-44%)
07./02. Tokyo Revengers [Ken Wakui] (Weekly Shōnen Magazine / Kōdansha) {1 volume} - 2,622,078 (-64%)
08./05. My Hero Academia [Kōhei Horikoshi] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {1 volumes} - 1,887,507 (-35%)
09./00. [Oshi no Ko] [Aka Akasaka / Mengo Yokoyari] (Weekly Young Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} 1,690,722
10./00. Kingdom [Yasuhisa Hara] (Weekly Young Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 1,569,434

Top 50 best-selling manga volumes:
RANK. TITLE [RELEASE DATE] - YEAR-TO-DATE SALES

01. One Piece #105 [2023.03.03] - 1,758,255
02. Jujutsu Kaisen #21 [2022.12.02] - 1,553,984
03. Jujutsu Kaisen #22 [2023.03.03] - 1,318,536
04. Spy x Family #11 [2023.04.04] - 1,177,254
05. Tokyo Revengers #31 [2023.01.17] - 846,297
06. My Hero Academia #37 [2023.02.03] - 726,883
07. Chainsaw Man #13 [2023.01.04] - 698,001
08. Kingdom #67 [2023.01.19] - 618,955
09. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #22 [2022.12.08] - 529,770
10. Blue Lock #22 [2022.12.16] - 518,277
11. Kingdom #68 [2023.04.18] - 517,986
12. Tokyo Revengers #30 [2022.11.17] - 482,942
13. Chainsaw Man #14 [2023.04.04] - 479,266
14. Kaiju No. 8 #9 [2023.03.03] - 453,197
15. The First Slam Dunk re:Source [2022.12.15] - 448,680
16. Blue Lock #23 [2023.03.16] - 445,253
17. Do Not Say Mystery #12 [2023.01.10] - 435,559
18. Detective Conan #103 [2023.04.12] - 397,185
19. One Piece #104 [2022.11.04] - 360,601
20. The Apothecary Diaries #11 [2023.02.25] - 350,781
21. Blue Lock #12 [2020.12.17] - 349,636
22. Blue Lock #13 [2021.03.17] - 347,432
23. Blue Lock #21 [2022.10.17] - 346,093
24. Chainsaw Man #12 [2022.10.04] - 343,271
25. Blue Lock #14 [2021.05.17] - 342,045
26. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #23 [2023.05.09] - 341,700
27. Blue Lock #15 [2021.08.17] - 338,153
28. Blue Lock #1 [2018.11.16] - 336,684
29. Blue Lock #20 [2022.07.15] - 336,353
30. Blue Lock #17 [2021.12.17] - 334,517
31. Blue Lock #16 [2021.10.15] - 334,407
32. Blue Lock #19 [2022.05.17] - 333,215
33. Blue Lock #18 [2022.03.17] - 331,572
34. Blue Lock #11 [2020.10.16] - 330,785
35. Blue Lock #2 [2019.01.17] - 324,266
36. Blue Lock #10 [2020.08.17] - 320,728
37. Blue Lock #9 [2020.05.15] - 317,909
38. Blue Lock #8 [2020.03.17] - 314,593
39. Blue Lock #3 [2019.03.15] - 312,619
40. Blue Lock #6 [2019.10.17] - 311,088
41. Blue Lock #7 [2020.01.17] - 309,551
42. Spy x Family #10 [2022.10.04] - 305,538
43. Blue Lock #5 [2019.08.16] - 305,063
44. Blue Lock #4 [2019.06.17] - 304,220
45. Record of Ragnarok #17 [2022.12.20] - 283,589
46. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End #10 [2023.03.16] - 281,931
47. Chainsaw Man #6 [2020.03.04] - 279,005
48. Chainsaw Man #7 [2020.06.04] - 276,980
49. Chainsaw Man #5 [2020.01.03] - 275,786
50. Chainsaw Man #10 [2021.01.04] - 275,439

Last year's top for reference:

Rouk' said:
Oricon (2021 Nov. 22 - 2022 May 22)

Top 10 best-selling manga series of the semester:
RANK./LAST YEAR'S RANK. TITLE [WRITER] ( MAGAZINE / PUBLISHER ) {NUMBER OF NEW VOLUMES PUBLISHED} - YEAR-TO-DATE SALES

01./02. Jujutsu Kaisen [Gege Akutami] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 9,382,099
02./03. Tokyo Revengers [Ken Wakui] (Weekly Shōnen Magazine / Kōdansha) {3 volumes} - 7,200,532
03./00. Spy x Family [Tatsuya Endo] (Shōnen Jump+ / Shūeisha) {1 volume} - 4,835,705
04./10. One Piece [Eiichirō Oda] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 4,155,790
05./07. My Hero Academia [Kōhei Horikoshi] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 2,894,149
06./01. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba [Koyoharu Gotōge] (Weekly Shōnen Jump / Shūeisha) {0 volumes} - 2,555,433
07./00. Mystery to Iu Nakare [Yumi Tamura] (Flowers / Shogakukan) {1 volume} - 2,492,813
08./00. Kaiju No. 8 [Naoya Matsumoto] (Shōnen Jump+ / Shūeisha) {2 volumes} - 1,858,391
09./00. My Dress-up Darling [Shinichi Fukuda] (Young Gangan / Square Enix) {1 volume} - 1,723,644
10./00. Blue Lock [Muneyuki Kaneshiro / Yusuke Nomura] (Weekly Shōnen Magazine / Kōdansha) {3 volumes} - 1,558,323

Top 50 best-selling manga volumes:
RANK. TITLE [RELEASE DATE] - YEAR-TO-DATE SALES

01. Jujutsu Kaisen #18 [2021.12.25] - 2,011,232
02. One Piece #101 [2021.12.03] - 1,793,360
03. Jujutsu Kaisen #19 [2022.04.04] - 1,608,811
04. One Piece #102 [2022.04.04] - 1,605,641
05. Spy x Family #9 [2022.04.04] - 1,232,036
06. Tokyo Revengers #25 [2021.12.17] - 1,126,893
07. Tokyo Revengers #26 [2022.02.17] - 997,857
08. Tokyo Revengers #27 [2022.04.15] - 835,721
09. My Hero Academia #33 [2022.02.04] - 790,901
10. Kaiju No. 8 #5 [2021.12.03] - 784,760
11. Spy x Family #8 [2021.11.04] - 704,735
12. Kingdom #64 [2022.02.18] - 653,813
13. Kaiju No. 8 #6 [2022.03.04] - 653,020
14. Jujutsu Kaisen #17 [2021.10.04] - 643,507
15. My Hero Academia #34 [2022.05.02] - 579,579
16. Mystery to Iu Nakare #10 [2021.12.10] - 545,481
17. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #19 [2021.12.09] - 523,447
18. World Trigger #24 [2021.12.03] - 485,488
19. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #20 [2022.03.09] - 481,037
20. Jujutsu Kaisen #0 [2018.12.04] - 463,806
21. Spy x Family #7 [2021.06.04] - 438,439
22. Spy x Family #4 [2020.05.13] - 434,969
23. Detective Conan #101 [2022.04.13] - 426,010
24. Spy x Family #5 [2020.09.04] - 425,244
25. Spy x Family #6 [2020.12.28] - 421,439
26. One-Punch Man #24 [2021.12.03] - 418,653
27. Takopi's Original Sin [2022.03.04] - 409,147
28. The Apothecary Diaries #9 [2021.11.25] - 408,887
29. Jujutsu Kaisen #16 [2021.06.04] - 381,654
30. Record of Ragnarok #13 [2021.12.20] - 369,457
31. Kingdom #63 [2021.11.19] - 366,170
32. Takopi's Original Sin [2022.04.04] - 360,557
33. Spy x Family #1 [2019.07.04] - 340,950
34. Spy x Family #2 [2019.10.04] - 333,176
35. Spy x Family #3 [2020.01.03] - 327,506
36. Jujutsu Kaisen #9 [2020.01.03] - 325,707
37. Record of Ragnarok #14 [2022.03.19] - 322,864
38. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End #7 [2022.03.17] - 322,600
39. Jujutsu Kaisen #15 [2021.03.04] - 322,591
40. Jujutsu Kaisen #10 [2020.03.04] - 317,457
41. Jujutsu Kaisen #14 [2021.01.04] - 317,134
42. Jujutsu Kaisen #8 [2020.01.03] - 316,579
43. Jujutsu Kaisen #11 [2020.06.04] - 315,536
44. Jujutsu Kaisen #12 [2020.08.04] - 315,262
45. Jujutsu Kaisen #13 [2020.10.02] - 314,090
46. Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray #5 [2021.12.17] - 311,181
47. My Dress-up Darling #9 [2022.03.25] - 303,226
48. One-Punch Man #25 [2022.05.02] - 297,864
49. Kaguya-sama: Love is War #24 [2021.12.17] - 291,501
50. Golden Kamuy #28 [2021.12.17] - 290,741

Rosebud · May 30, 2023

Love to see Spy x Family doing well

pbayne · May 30, 2023

No suprises other than Slam Dunk resurgance. Whats creating that wave other than the new movie? I remember hearing shohei ohtani saying he liked it caused a spike in sales.

Broseph · May 30, 2023

Slam Dunk in the third place despite ending more than 2 decades ago is insane. It's still so popular in Asia and the new movie being a big hit boosted those new editions up like crazy

On another note, One Piece has almost the same amount as JJK despite having one less volume. Is that because of Film Red boost or did JJK drop off compared to last year?

Rouk' · May 30, 2023

pbayne said:
No suprises other than Slam Dunk resurgance. Whats creating that wave other than the new movie? I remember hearing shohei ohtani saying he liked it caused a spike in sales.

The new movie has become one of the biggest movie of all-time in Japan, so yes, just that. I didn't notice any other spike, movie aside

Rijapega · May 30, 2023

Since Blue lock is a lock to be #1 for the entire year, is this the first time that we know of o a Kodansha manga getting 1st place in Oricon? I think so, isn't it? But what about the pre-Oricon years?

Also, One Piece finally getting its crown back for best selling volume. I suspect One Piece will also recover its overall place as #1 next year since there isn't any other big Shueisha battle shonen right now. But there is always the possibility of a wild card series getting crazy sales a la Blue Lock.

Magister Xehanort · May 30, 2023

Here in image form:

Rouk' · May 30, 2023

Rijapega said:
Since Blue lock is a lock to be #1 for the entire year, is this the first time that we know of o a Kodansha manga getting 1st place in Oricon? I think so, isn't it? But what about the pre-Oricon years?

Also, One Piece finally getting its crown back for best selling volume. I suspect One Piece will also recover its overall place as #1 next year since there isn't any other big Shueisha battle shonen right now. But there is always the possibility of a wild card series getting crazy sales a la Blue Lock.

Pre-Oricon, you'd have to go back to Kindaichi in 1997, probably, to find a WSM series topping the year. the years after would be dominated by Conan, and then One Piece (maybe Death Note and Nana managed to beat OP at some point), the years before would be all about Slam Dunk or Dragon Ball.

One Piece nowadays sells at a level that just a great boost is enough to beat it, so no, I wouldn't say it taking back #1 next year is likely.

Broseph · May 30, 2023

Rijapega said:
Since Blue lock is a lock to be #1 for the entire year, is this the first time that we know of o a Kodansha manga getting 1st place in Oricon? I think so, isn't it? But what about the pre-Oricon years?

Also, One Piece finally getting its crown back for best selling volume. I suspect One Piece will also recover its overall place as #1 next year since there isn't any other big Shueisha battle shonen right now. But there is always the possibility of a wild card series getting crazy sales a la Blue Lock.

Frieren is one to look out for. I haven't read it myself but it's very popular (8 million in circulation with 10 volumes) so it could be poised for a Blue Lock level boost in 2024 when the anime comes out later this year.

Magister Xehanort · May 30, 2023

Rouk' said:
Pre-Oricon, you'd have to go back to Kindaichi in 1997, probably, to find a WSM series topping the year. the years after would be dominated by Conan, and then One Piece (maybe Death Note and Nana managed to beat OP at some point), the years before would be all about Slam Dunk or Dragon Ball.

One Piece nowadays sells at a level that just a great boost is enough to beat it, so no, I wouldn't say it taking back #1 next year is likely.

In 1998 and 1999 the best selling manga was Detective Conan, from 2000 to 2004 One Piece was the best selling but in 2005 Nana was the best selling and in 2006 it was Death Note.

Moara · May 30, 2023

Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

Darkmaigle · May 30, 2023

Sports anime/manga is the best and you can't change my mind

Rouk' · May 30, 2023

Magister Xehanort said:
In 1998 and 1999 the best selling manga was Detective Conan, from 2000 to 2004 One Piece was the best selling but in 2005 Nana was the best selling and in 2006 it was Death Note.

Yeah, I know, but I prefer to be careful and not be definitive in my statement, because up to (and tbh, including) 2008, Oricon weren't as truwstworthy as they became later. In particular, in the late 90s, they only had access to about 10% of the market, so it's hard to say they were representative of it. We do have the annual publication report that gives data on how many copies were printed in a given year, but not every publisher shared the full data, so we're in the dark for Jump series or Sunday series.

mrmickfran · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

It's fantastic.

Though compared to Haikyu, it's definitely more solo oriented than team. A big thing about Blue Lock is people letting their egos get the best of them.

Wikipedia classifies it as a thriller which is pretty accurate. Think Squid Games but the soccer edition.

Dougieflesh · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

Blue Lock foregoes character development and is constant pedal to the floor when it comes to playing the sport, unlike Haikyu. Blue Lock doesn't really make you feel for the cast at all really outside of like 4 characters.

Muu · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

Although it's strayed quite a bit from the initial premise of "death game but soccer" the series has an undeniable pull to it. As with every soccer series one of the series peaks coming during World Cup 2022 definitely helped it. Wish Libero no Takeda made a similar comeback, but alas.

AoM · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

Depends on your tolerance for cringe/edginess. A pass from me.

(It says the tweet is unavailable, but just click on the hyperlink.)

View: https://twitter.com/manga_nostalgic/status/1564052245318176769

Busaiku · May 30, 2023

When is Do Not Say Mystery gonna get animated, it's already so huge.

Rainy · May 30, 2023

Broseph said:
Slam Dunk in the third place despite ending more than 2 decades ago is insane. It's still so popular in Asia and the new movie being a big hit boosted those new editions up like crazy

On another note, One Piece has almost the same amount as JJK despite having one less volume. Is that because of Film Red boost or did JJK drop off compared to last year?

JJK definitely fell off with the last few volumes, pretty drastically with a small recovery in the latest volume (though a poll probably inflated it). It hasn't been able to sustain the gains from that post KNY boom tbh. I mean still sells a lot but yeah. Don't think it'll really get a boost from S2 either since traditionally later season boosts arent big or there at all.

Mortemis · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

It's a lot of fun imo. Not nearly as good as Haikyuu though but also not really similar.

I was guessing that the anime would give it a boost but not all the way to first. Happy for it. It had perfect timing coming out during the world cup.

Kuro · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

Its garbage and makes a mockery out of the sport. Not as good as other sports series at all like Haikyuu or Chihayafuru.

Rijapega · May 30, 2023

Moara said:
Is Blue Lock actually good? Haven't really heard much about it so surprised to see it so popular. How is it compared to something like Haikyu

I watched both Blue Lock season 1 and Haikyuu up to like season 2 or 3 iirc (I am one season behind) and I liked Blue Lock way better, so IMO it is very good.

Magister Xehanort · May 31, 2023

Darkmaigle said:
Sports anime/manga is the best and you can't change my mind

I agree.

Oricon (Japan) Manga Sales 2023 (First Half) [2022 Nov. 21 - 2023 May 21] - Two sport series dunk on the rest of the top

Rouk'

Rosebud

Two Pieces

pbayne

Corrupted by Vengeance

Broseph

Rouk'

Rijapega

Magister Xehanort

Rouk'

Broseph

Magister Xehanort

Moara

▲ Legend ▲

Darkmaigle

Rouk'

mrmickfran

Dougieflesh

One Winged Slayer

Muu

AoM

Busaiku

Teyvat Traveler

Rainy

Mortemis

One Winged Slayer

Kuro

Rijapega

Magister Xehanort