Jujutsu Kaisen is the most popular manga of 2021 with over 30 million copies sold leaving Demon Slayer behind during this fiscal year.
Before Oricon announces its year-end list for the Best-Selling Manga Series of the year in Japan, we looked up the Oricon charts to find out what has been some of the most popular and best-selling manga series in Japan during this fiscal year so far. And the result is pretty much as you would expect with a few surprises here and there. But the numbers have continued to see an insane rise for the second year in a row with three manga series selling over 85 million copies this year between them.
Ever since the manga industry got the Demon Slayer-sized boost, there has been a surge in binge-reading manga with standout series selling millions of copies at once. Jujutsu Kaisen and Tokyo Revengers continue the tradition as Jujutsu Kaisen takes the top spot as the most popular manga of 2021 with more than 30.91 million copies sold during this year of Oricon.
The first season of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime concluded in March and that was also the manga’s best month where it sold 6.33 million copies.
Demon Slayer, which sold a record-breaking 82 million copies the last Oricon year, is currently at the second spot selling 29.51 million copies so far. The series sold 6 million copies in January alone.
READ MORE: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc Premiere Viewed by More than 5 Million Households
Tokyo Revengers, which had only sold 2.7 million copies at the end of April has skyrocketed even more in sales with the massive anime boost it got after the anime’s premiere in April. The series has taken the third spot selling more than 24.98 million copies.
Meanwhile, Attack on Titan is the fourth most popular manga of the year selling around 7.26 million copies with the release of its final two volumes this year and the help of a massive anime boost which made sure it surpassed last year’s total already in the first four months of this year alone.
In a surprising turn of events, My Hero Academia has taken the fifth place from One Piece as it is having the best year in the series’ history selling over 7.02 million copies this year.
The sixth place is held by One Piece, with the manga selling around 6.95 million copies this year.
The Chainsaw Man manga series which will be getting its anime adaptation by MAPPA sometime next year is in seventh place, the series is the first manga in the list which doesn’t have an anime adaptation yet. Chainsaw Man has sold a massive 5.17 million copies during this fiscal year.
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Spy x Family has also received a greenlit for an anime by none other than WIT Studio and Cloverworks and has taken the eighth spot in the list. The series has sold close to 5 million copies this year.
Kingdom holds ninth place for the most popular manga of the year with 4.63 million copies sold this year.
The final entry in the Top 10 is the beloved sports shonen Haikyuu!!, the series which concluded its run in July 2020 has sold over 4.3 million copies in just backlogs since the end of the anime. The fourth season of the anime aired its final episode last December.
Kaiju No. 8, which set the record for the biggest debut volume of all time with the release of its first volume last year, took the 11th spot selling about 3.485 million copies. The manga recently won first place at the Next Manga Awards 2021 (Digital Category).
The winner for the Print Category in the Next Manga Awards, Sousou no Frieren, took the 18th spot and has sold around 2.26 million copies this year.
The 12th and 13th place have been occupied by two beloved Shonen Jump series The Promised Neverland and Dr. Stone respectively. Both aired the second season of their respective anime this year as well.
Although while Dr. Stone Season 2 was praised by both the fans and the critics alike, The Promised Neverland was heavily criticized by the same. Rightfully so, as The Promised Neverland pulled off its very own Tokyo Ghoul √A. But despite that, the manga sold over 3.45 million copies this fiscal year.
Dr. Stone has sold around 3.06 million copies this year so far.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is the first entry in this list which has a manga based on a light novel. The manga series took 14th place and sold over 2.9 million copies. The second season of the anime has just finished airing and a sequel movie is planned for next year.
And despite its lackluster and rushed anime adaptation, Record of Ragnarok was the 15th most popular manga series of 2021 and sold over 2.8 million copies.
Jump SQ’s World Trigger was 19th on the list and sold around 2.1 million copies. The second season of the anime premiered during the Winter 2021 anime season and the third season is slated to start this month.
Kemono Jihen, which finally got its anime adaptation this year was in the 23rd spot selling 1.85 million copies while Fire Force was the only other ongoing serialization besides Tokyo Revengers from Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine to make it onto the Top 25.
Fire Force is currently the 24th most popular manga of the year and has sold over 1.84 million copies during this fiscal year. You can check out the full list below.
Top 25 Best-Selling Manga Series of 2021:
- Jujutsu Kaisen- 30,917,746
- Demon Slayer- 29,511,021
- Tokyo Revengers- 24,981,486
- Attack on Titan~ 7,260,000
- My Hero Academia- 7,020,000
- One Piece~ 6,959,000
- Chainsaw Man~ 5,170,000
- Spy x Family~ 5,000,000
- Kingdom~ 4,630,000
- Haikyuu- 4,340,000
- Kaiju No. 8~ 3,485,000
- The Promised Neverland~ 3,450,000
- Dr. Stone~ 3,060,000
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime~ 2,930,000
- Record of Ragnarok~ 2,860,000
- Demon Slayer: Gaiden~ 2,340,000
- Mystery to Iu Nakare~ 2,285,000
- Sousou no Frieren~ 2,260,000
- World Trigger~ 2,110,000
- The Apothecary Diaries~ 1,880,000
- The Quintessential Quintuplets~ 1,880,000
- Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 0~ 1,860,000
- Kemono Jihen~ 1,850,000
- Fire Force~ 1,840,000
- Honey Lemon Soda~ 1,800,000.
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What do you think of this list of 2021’s Best-Selling Manga Series? Did any of your favorites make the cut? Comment below and let us know.
Source: Oricon Charts, WSJ Oricon.
Where is Tokyo Revengers?