Manga is big business in Japan and is responsible for substantial economic and cultural influence. Otaku fandom in America is the reverse of Japan where manga accounts for around four times more sales than anime. Since the beginning of the 21st century though manga has steadily become as prominent in America as anime. But with out a doubt, it is incredibly important in it's home country. But who retains the title of the most successful manga in the history of modern manga?
Really a product of the post war reality of Japan, the manga industry as it exists took root in the late 40's and early 50's. A number of factors contributed to its growth and entrenchment in the nation psyche. It provided an inexpensive way to entertain the general population. The American occupation encouraged its expansion and the provisional Japanese government saw it as a great tool to integrate into the national education system.
Almost all manga is first printed in large anthology publications, generally in weekly or monthly installments. The anthologies are only a few dollars each and are printed on low quality paper, designed more as something to be discarded. Readers are asked to participate in ranking the manga that appear in the anthology by listing their favorite titles and mailing that info to the magazine company. Sometimes, especially in anthologies aimed at youth, entries are eligible to win prizes. The successful manga continue to run and eventually get reprinted in higher quality stand alone books called tankoubon. Manga that fall at the bottom of the rank for too long are usually cancelled. The manga Bakuman by the creators of Death Note details this system quite well and is worth reading.
So, what is the most successful manga? There are a few ways to answer that so here are the top 10 lists for a few different criteria. This data is directly taken from the Wikipedia article which lists the rankings and includes data taken from various Japanese sources and is indicative of sales figures in Japan only.
Top 10 manga series by number of overall tankoubon sold.
1. One Piece: 380 million. 81 tankoubon.
2. Golgo 13: 280 million. 177 tankoubon.
3. Dragon Ball: 230 million. 42 tankoubon.
4. Naruto: 220 million. 72 tankoubon.
5. Black Jack: 176 million. 17 tankoubon.
6. Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari: 198 million. 198 tankoubon.
7. Case Closed: 150 million. 86 tankoubon.
8. Oishinbo: 130 million. 111 tankoubon.
9. Slam Dunk: 120 million. 31 tankoubon.
10. Astro Boy: 100 million. 23 tankoubon.
These number though are a little misleading. A thing to take into consideration is the number of tankoubon that exist in a particular series. While not exactly accurate, but perhaps a little more telling when it comes to a series actual popularity, is to see how the series compare when you reconsider the sales data as representing the number of people who have purchased all available tankoubon for each series. By doing that, while not entirely accurate, we get a clearer view of a manga's actual popularity as opposed to its over all sales volume.
Top 10 manga series by estimating how many copies of each tankoubon sold.
1. Black Jack: 10 million copies of each tankoubon.
2. Dragon Ball: 5.4 million copies of each tankoubon.
3. One Piece: 4.6 million copies of each tankoubon.
4. Astro Boy: 4.3 million copies of each tankoubon.
5. Slam Dunk: 3.8 million copies of each tankoubon.
6. Touch: 3.8 million copies of each tankoubon.
7. Fist of the North Star: 3.7 million copies of each tankoubon.
8. Naruto: 3 million copies of each tankoubon.
9. Attack on Titan: 2.7 million copies of each tankoubon.
10. YuYu Hakusho: 2.6 million copies of each tankoubon.
Some series in the list have the benefit of being around for decades while newer series have sold incredibly well in only a few years. Here is the top 10 most successful manga based on the average number of tankoubon sold in a year. The average is found by dividing the total sales by the total years since the first tankoubon of the series has been available.
1. One Piece. 21 million per year on average.
2. Naruto. 13.7 million per year on average.
3. Attack on Titan. 8.75 million per year on average.
4. Dragon Ball. 7.4 million per year on average.
5. Case Closed. 7.1 million per year on average.
6. Golgo 13. 6 million per year on average.
7. Bleach. 5.8 million per year on average.
8. Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari. 5 million per year on average.
9. Vagabond. 4.8 million per year on average.
10. Slam Dunk. 4.8 million per year on average.
With all that said and done, based on the evidence of these 3 criteria here is what I determine to be the 3 most successful manga series in Japan.
1. One Piece. 380 million copies, between 81 volumes over 18 years.
2. Dragon Ball. 230 million copies, between 42 volumes over 31 years.
3. Naruto. 220 million copies, between 72 volumes over 16 years.
One Piece is assumed to only be about half way through its story as well. Dragon Ball was concluded in 1995 and Naruto ended in 2014. By and far One Piece will remain the most successful manga in the history of manga, even if it suddenly losses all popularity and is cancelled in a few years. So there you have it, some semi-empirical data to show what the most successful manga in Japan is.
Really a product of the post war reality of Japan, the manga industry as it exists took root in the late 40's and early 50's. A number of factors contributed to its growth and entrenchment in the nation psyche. It provided an inexpensive way to entertain the general population. The American occupation encouraged its expansion and the provisional Japanese government saw it as a great tool to integrate into the national education system.
Almost all manga is first printed in large anthology publications, generally in weekly or monthly installments. The anthologies are only a few dollars each and are printed on low quality paper, designed more as something to be discarded. Readers are asked to participate in ranking the manga that appear in the anthology by listing their favorite titles and mailing that info to the magazine company. Sometimes, especially in anthologies aimed at youth, entries are eligible to win prizes. The successful manga continue to run and eventually get reprinted in higher quality stand alone books called tankoubon. Manga that fall at the bottom of the rank for too long are usually cancelled. The manga Bakuman by the creators of Death Note details this system quite well and is worth reading.
So, what is the most successful manga? There are a few ways to answer that so here are the top 10 lists for a few different criteria. This data is directly taken from the Wikipedia article which lists the rankings and includes data taken from various Japanese sources and is indicative of sales figures in Japan only.
Top 10 manga series by number of overall tankoubon sold.
1. One Piece: 380 million. 81 tankoubon.
2. Golgo 13: 280 million. 177 tankoubon.
3. Dragon Ball: 230 million. 42 tankoubon.
4. Naruto: 220 million. 72 tankoubon.
5. Black Jack: 176 million. 17 tankoubon.
6. Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari: 198 million. 198 tankoubon.
8. Oishinbo: 130 million. 111 tankoubon.
9. Slam Dunk: 120 million. 31 tankoubon.
10. Astro Boy: 100 million. 23 tankoubon.
These number though are a little misleading. A thing to take into consideration is the number of tankoubon that exist in a particular series. While not exactly accurate, but perhaps a little more telling when it comes to a series actual popularity, is to see how the series compare when you reconsider the sales data as representing the number of people who have purchased all available tankoubon for each series. By doing that, while not entirely accurate, we get a clearer view of a manga's actual popularity as opposed to its over all sales volume.
Top 10 manga series by estimating how many copies of each tankoubon sold.
1. Black Jack: 10 million copies of each tankoubon.
3. One Piece: 4.6 million copies of each tankoubon.
4. Astro Boy: 4.3 million copies of each tankoubon.
5. Slam Dunk: 3.8 million copies of each tankoubon.
6. Touch: 3.8 million copies of each tankoubon.
7. Fist of the North Star: 3.7 million copies of each tankoubon.
8. Naruto: 3 million copies of each tankoubon.
9. Attack on Titan: 2.7 million copies of each tankoubon.
10. YuYu Hakusho: 2.6 million copies of each tankoubon.
Some series in the list have the benefit of being around for decades while newer series have sold incredibly well in only a few years. Here is the top 10 most successful manga based on the average number of tankoubon sold in a year. The average is found by dividing the total sales by the total years since the first tankoubon of the series has been available.
1. One Piece. 21 million per year on average.
2. Naruto. 13.7 million per year on average.
3. Attack on Titan. 8.75 million per year on average.
4. Dragon Ball. 7.4 million per year on average.
5. Case Closed. 7.1 million per year on average.
6. Golgo 13. 6 million per year on average.
7. Bleach. 5.8 million per year on average.
8. Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari. 5 million per year on average.
9. Vagabond. 4.8 million per year on average.
10. Slam Dunk. 4.8 million per year on average.
With all that said and done, based on the evidence of these 3 criteria here is what I determine to be the 3 most successful manga series in Japan.
1. One Piece. 380 million copies, between 81 volumes over 18 years.
2. Dragon Ball. 230 million copies, between 42 volumes over 31 years.
3. Naruto. 220 million copies, between 72 volumes over 16 years.
One Piece is assumed to only be about half way through its story as well. Dragon Ball was concluded in 1995 and Naruto ended in 2014. By and far One Piece will remain the most successful manga in the history of manga, even if it suddenly losses all popularity and is cancelled in a few years. So there you have it, some semi-empirical data to show what the most successful manga in Japan is.
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