What an amazing year 2021 has been for anime. From plenty of high-profile sequels to so many long-awaited new anime adaptations and some really spectacular anime originals, this year really has been a blessing for the anime community.
This year was so crazy that at one point we got to watch the new episodes of Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Dr. Stone Season 2, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2, and the second season of Yuru Camp all within the same week.
There were also some really noteworthy new titles throughout the year such as WIT Studio’s Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, Odd Taxi, Ranking of Kings, 86–Eighty-Six, Tokyo Revengers, and Mushoku Tensei.
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Today we are going through the Oricon charts for the fiscal year of 2021 to find out the Top 20 Best-Selling Anime of 2021 based on the performances of their home releases. While there have been a decent amount of upsets for some big titles, this year has been relatively great for the anime market and we have some massive numbers at our disposal as further proof of that.
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby was the Top-Selling Anime of 2021.
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is blessed by the gacha gods and has broken so many sales records establishing itself as the Best-Selling TV Anime of all time based on average sales per volume. The second season of the anime left behind the likes of the classic and well-established franchises such as Evangelion, Love Live, and Monogatari.
The first volume of the second season of Uma Musume: Pretty Derby has sold 203,817 copies so far and is by far the Best-Selling Volume of any TV anime ever. The record was previously held by the 10th disc of Evangelion which sold over 131,000 copies.
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Meanwhile, Jujutsu Kaisen has maintained its dominance in every medium it has transcended into. The Jujutsu Kaisen manga will soon hit 60 million copies in circulation and its first volume for the anime’s home release which came out back in January has already sold 35,040 copies. This series is truly a shonen phenomenon.
Idol Anime continue to dominate the Top 20 Best-Selling Anime of 2021 List.
Amongst the top half of the list, 5 out of the 10 anime are Idol anime, once again proving just how insanely popular this genre still is.
The latest entry in the Love Live franchise, Love Live! Superstar!! released its first volume in October and has sold over 15,000 copies and is currently 4th on the list.
While Zombieland Saga: Revenge, the return of the beloved anime from 2018 still proves to be a huge hit with the first volume of this sequel selling close to 10,000 copies. The first volume for the first season of Zombieland Saga sold over 24,000 copies.
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IDOLiSH7: Third Beat is another sequel to a popular idol anime series and it sold 8,010 copies with its Volume 1. The first volumes for the previous two seasons sold 37,575 and 13,624 copies respectively.
Going into other genres, aside from Uma Musume, the list has two more sports anime. Studio Bones’ anime original series, SK8 the Infinity, has scored really impressive numbers with the first volume of the anime’s home release selling almost 9,000 copies and ranking 7th on the list. The anime’s massive success has guaranteed the show a continuation project.
The first volume for Haikyuu!! To the Top: Second Season also did incredibly well with the anime taking the 10th spot selling over 7,200 copies.
Several big sequels and new titles from the crazy Winter 2021 anime season also managed to rank in the Top 20.
The first volume of Yuru Camp Season 2 took the 12th spot selling 6,250 copies. While That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ranked 17th as it sold 4,594 copies with its first volume.
Mushoku Tensei took the 18th place with 4,385 copies sold.
Tokyo Revengers on the other hand has also recreated some of Jujutsu Kaisen’s magic ever since its premiere in Spring. The manga is the third best-selling manga series of 2021 with over 24 million copies sold and its home media release also continues to see outpouring love with time.
The anime’s first volume debuted with less than 3,000 copies but as the anime’s popularity grew and shifted into full gear, the first disc of the series has managed to sell over 6,000 copies since then.
The only other title from Spring anime season to chart on the Top 20 is Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, the anime ranked 16th as its Volume 1 sold over 4,700 copies.
It should be noted that we are only including the sales for the first DVD/BD volume of the anime shows. Furthermore, Oricon’s fiscal year starts in December, thus, the list has also included titles that had their first volume released in December 2020. The majority of these Blurays cost over $100 and usually consist of 3-4 episodes.
Oricon’s Top 20 Best-Selling Anime of 2021 in Japan:
- Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 2; 203,817
- Jujutsu Kaisen; 35,040
- Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai; 27,076
- Love Live! Superstar!!; 15,871
- Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle – Rhyme Anima; 10,598
- Zombieland Saga: Revenge; 9,876
- SK8 the Infinity; 8,928
- IDOLiSH7: Third Beat!; 8,010
- Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Raihousha-hen; 7,674
- Haikyuu!! To The Top 2nd Season; 7,252
- Assault Lily: Bouquet; 6,276
- Yuru Camp Season 2; 6,250
- Tokyo Revengers; 6,068
- Strike Witches: Road to Berlin; 5,233
- Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2; 5081
- Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song; 4,729
- Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season; 4,594
- Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu; 4,385
- Majo no Tabitabi; 4,373
- Azur Lane: Bisoku Zenshin!; 4,334.
Additionally, Horimiya‘s first volume sold 3,740 copies while the first volume of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S sold 3,625 copies. Other popular releases which failed to make the Top 20 include The Quintessential Quintuplets Season 2, which sold 3,493 copies with its first disc, and Attack on Titan: The Final Season which sold 3,108 copies.
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Redo of Healer also had a stellar first run selling 3,015 copies while the first volume of Higehiro sold 1,977 copies.
The first volume of My Hero Academia Season 5 sold 1,912 copies and Fruits Basket: The Final Volume 1 sold 1,812 copies. 86–Eighty-Six sold 1,754 copies with its first volume while Bungo Stray Dogs: Wan sold 1,289 copies. What a successful year it has truly been for anime.
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