Average Circulation of Weekly Shounen Jump Falls Below 2 Million Copies
Weekly Shounen Jump, the number one best-selling manga magazine in Japan, has fallen below 2 million copies in circulation for the first time in 40 years.Quarterly data from the Japan Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA), published earlier this month, shows that the magazine's verified average circulation was 1,915,000 copies for the first three months of 2017. The latest circulation number represents a 4.5-percent drop over the previous quarter and is less than one-third of the magazine's peak circulation number in 1995.
The latest decline in circulation is a continuing trend which began in 2014 for the magazine. Prior to that year, Weekly Shounen Jump's average circulation numbers had stabilized at just under 3 million copies for nearly a decade. This recent decline does not necessarily indicate that the magazine is in financial trouble.
In July 2013, Shueisha published its first digital issue of Weekly Shounen Jump to commemorate the magazine's 45th anniversary. The next year, the publisher launched the Shounen Jump+ application, allowing readers to purchase digital copies of the magazine on their smartphones. According to Shueisha, the application has been downloaded more than 6.5 million times as of March 2017.
An industry survey published by the All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher's and Editor's Association (AJPEA) in February reports that combined physical and digital manga sales have been relatively unchanged between 2014 and 2016. While the overall manga market has been flat, there has been a growing shift from physical to digital publishing.
The AJPEA data shows that total physical manga magazine sales in 2016 fell 13 percent year-over-year to 101.6 billion yen, while digital manga magazine sales rose 55 percent year-over-year to 3.1 billion yen.
Weekly Shounen Jump will mark 50 years of publication in July 2018.
Weekly Shounen Jump Average Circulation (1977–2016)
Source: Japan Magazine Publishers Association
News submitted by D4XT3R
20 of 34 Comments Recent Comments
Hunter X Hunter is the only hope for the revival of Sj!
May 30, 2017 4:40 PM by removed-user
I'm calling it right now, when One Piece finishes, SJ will go bankrupt.
May 30, 2017 3:58 PM by Cock_Sucker
Not shocked. They've lost Naruto, Bleach, Nisekoi, Kochikame, and other popular ones recently. One Piece is one of their few iconic series left - there's HxH, but it's rarely in the magazine anyway.
May 30, 2017 11:52 AM by malvarez1
Of course the sales keep dropping
They axe every freaking new series with potential and a lot of hits recently finished publishing
They axe every freaking new series with potential and a lot of hits recently finished publishing
May 30, 2017 8:17 AM by Xenocrisi
Agafin said:
Yeah it's not really easy to count but I'm sure there's a way. I mean, in America they are capable of counting digital sales for music and books so it has to be possible.
The most important thing would be for them to harmonise everything. They can release the overall sales for a series in a year or if that is not possible, they can simply release the amount of money generated like they already do with physical sales.
Kuma said:
now the question, "does there any company that already tracking digital seles as a whole by series?"...
the main problem most digital sales information scattered trough every website of those manga/web publisher, and it's hard to spesify since they are count simply by how much they downloaded either overall series or divided from each chapter... even the worst there is no information at all...
now the question, "does there any company that already tracking digital seles as a whole by series?"...
the main problem most digital sales information scattered trough every website of those manga/web publisher, and it's hard to spesify since they are count simply by how much they downloaded either overall series or divided from each chapter... even the worst there is no information at all...
Yeah it's not really easy to count but I'm sure there's a way. I mean, in America they are capable of counting digital sales for music and books so it has to be possible.
The most important thing would be for them to harmonise everything. They can release the overall sales for a series in a year or if that is not possible, they can simply release the amount of money generated like they already do with physical sales.
the main problem rooted deeper than we tough... the japanese company habit already far different than the US...
financial data (including sales) is mainly still treated as company secret... even oricon is not gathering their physical printing manga sales information from publisher it self, but the are cumulating data feedback from sales distributor... wierd isn't it?
even in animation studio company, we still remember how surprised comunity when madhouse suddenly anounced their bankrupcity... the only animation company i know releasing their finacial data is TOEI and Polygon Pictures (which ironicaly both of them hated by comunity)... so it's not special in manga, but deeprooted in culture it self...
Agafin said:
And yes, I agree with you. MAL should be including web series like Tower of God in the database. We aren't in the 90s anymore.
And yes, I agree with you. MAL should be including web series like Tower of God in the database. We aren't in the 90s anymore.
i hope mal Mods hear us...
May 30, 2017 5:00 AM by Kuma
Kuma said:
now the question, "does there any company that already tracking digital seles as a whole by series?"...
the main problem most digital sales information scattered trough every website of those manga/web publisher, and it's hard to spesify since they are count simply by how much they downloaded either overall series or divided from each chapter... even the worst there is no information at all...
Agafin said:
Bottom line is that, oricon and any company not tracking digital sales in the future will become really obsolete.
Bottom line is that, oricon and any company not tracking digital sales in the future will become really obsolete.
now the question, "does there any company that already tracking digital seles as a whole by series?"...
the main problem most digital sales information scattered trough every website of those manga/web publisher, and it's hard to spesify since they are count simply by how much they downloaded either overall series or divided from each chapter... even the worst there is no information at all...
Yeah it's not really easy to count but I'm sure there's a way. I mean, in America they are capable of counting digital sales for music and books so it has to be possible.
The most important thing would be for them to harmonise everything. They can release the overall sales for a series in a year or if that is not possible, they can simply release the amount of money generated like they already do with physical sales.
And yes, I agree with you. MAL should be including web series like Tower of God in the database. We aren't in the 90s anymore.
May 30, 2017 4:29 AM by Agafin
That cover some very fine character designs.
Kunisaki Chihiro from that series is husbando material.
Wonder why it's not more popular.
Kunisaki Chihiro from that series is husbando material.
Wonder why it's not more popular.
May 30, 2017 1:18 AM by AlexandricLeo
1996 is the beginning of downfall,
Where digital stuff is more preferred compared prints.
Where digital stuff is more preferred compared prints.
May 30, 2017 1:07 AM by Xaelath
@Kuma
He is known more as Totsuno. He did Doutei Karuta, which compiled volume released on 2013. He is more active on Omocoro.
I was only able to find his information in Japanese. I think he's a columnist or some sort.
He is known more as Totsuno. He did Doutei Karuta, which compiled volume released on 2013. He is more active on Omocoro.
I was only able to find his information in Japanese. I think he's a columnist or some sort.
May 29, 2017 11:28 PM by tsubasalover
EGOIST said:
Menzo- said:
It's not surprising in the slightest. All forms of print media are dying.
It's for the best, less trees will be cut down which is a good thing :cIt's not surprising in the slightest. All forms of print media are dying.
That's not how it works. Trees are specifically planted and grown to be then cut down. The problem is that we often cut down more than we plant and in the wrong places.
May 29, 2017 11:25 PM by Askorti
tsubasalover said:
@Kuma
It is Alice to Taiyou, a one-shot by Takahide Totsuno (? 凸ノ高秀)
https://www.shonenjump.com/j/weeklyshonenjump/
@Kuma
It is Alice to Taiyou, a one-shot by Takahide Totsuno (? 凸ノ高秀)
https://www.shonenjump.com/j/weeklyshonenjump/
the art style look familiar, but i can't find his name anywhere... doe author really beginner? i can't find any information about him in english...
Agafin said:
Bottom line is that, oricon and any company not tracking digital sales in the future will become really obsolete.
Bottom line is that, oricon and any company not tracking digital sales in the future will become really obsolete.
now the question, "does there any company that already tracking digital seles as a whole by series?"...
the main problem most digital sales information scattered trough every website of those manga/web publisher, and it's hard to spesify since they are count simply by how much they downloaded either overall series or divided from each chapter... even the worst there is no information at all...
May 29, 2017 11:22 PM by Kuma
This reminds of the discussion on Physical vs Digital manga sales from the other week. A very interesting article was posted on a French manga site I follow:
http://www.mangamag.fr/dossiers/etat-du-marche-manga-japon-2016/
It's source is the 2017 edition of the Shippu Chiyo magazine, a Japanese based 400+ pages magazine which is specialized in the collection and release of data from the manga market (both magazines and tankobon) on an annual basis. You need a subscription (or actually buying the book) to have access to its content but thankfully someone from that site had said access.
The most important tidbits:
-Magazines sales (which is what this thread is about) were down 11.7% year on year from 118.6 billion yen ($1.07 billion) to 104.7 billion yen ($942 million) but this underscores a huge difference between print and digital sales. As stated, physical manga sales were down 12.9 percent (14.1% when counting units sold rather than money obtaines) 101.6 billion yen ($914 million) while digital sales were up 55% to 3.1 billion yen ($28 million).
-Tankobon (volume) sales were up by 4.8% year on year in Japan. But there is a huge discrepancy between digital and physical again. While printed (physical) volumes sales were down 8% from last year, digital volume sales were up a whooping 27.1% in value.
- In Japan, 370.21 million units of printed volumes were sold in 2016, generating 194.7 billion yen (~$1.75 billion) while digital sales generated 146 billion yen (~$1.31 billion) for a total of 340.7 billion yen (~3.07 billion).
-In 2015 (still in Japan), Physical volume sales represented about 64.8% of the market while digital was 35.2%. In 2016, physical volumes' share has fallen to 57.1% while digital rose to 42.9%. It's very likely that in 2017, or 2018 at the latest, digital manga sales will surpass print.
-Worldwide, manga sales generated 445 billion yen in 2016 (~$4.01 billion). Broken down, that's $3.07 billion (76.6%) from Japan and $940 million (23.4%) from the rest of the world. For printed manga, Japan was $1.75 billion (65.7%), rest of world was $914 million (34.7%) while in the digital market, Japan completely dominates with $1.31 billion (97.9%) and $28 million (2.1%) from the rest of the World.
- The tables speak for themselves I suppose. One Piece, Snk and HxH are the only manga printing over a million units currently with 3.6, 1.9 and 1.62 million for their latest 2016 volumes. One Piece and HxH are rather stable when compared to their usual averages (HxH is currently close to its peak of 1.6 million while OP is down from its peak of 4.05 million). Snk on the other hand has dropped a lot. It's peak was 2.75 million back in 2014. Worth noting however is the fact that SnK seems to be doing far better than the other two in digital sales (it was apparently the best selling digital manga last year, easily outpacing even One Piece) so it's very likely that printed volume sales alone are rapidly becoming a rather misleading metric for it especially as the digital market grows (the same is true for Assassination classroom and NNT according to another article from this same site).
Bottom line is that, oricon and any company not tracking digital sales in the future will become really obsolete.
http://www.mangamag.fr/dossiers/etat-du-marche-manga-japon-2016/
It's source is the 2017 edition of the Shippu Chiyo magazine, a Japanese based 400+ pages magazine which is specialized in the collection and release of data from the manga market (both magazines and tankobon) on an annual basis. You need a subscription (or actually buying the book) to have access to its content but thankfully someone from that site had said access.
The most important tidbits:
-Magazines sales (which is what this thread is about) were down 11.7% year on year from 118.6 billion yen ($1.07 billion) to 104.7 billion yen ($942 million) but this underscores a huge difference between print and digital sales. As stated, physical manga sales were down 12.9 percent (14.1% when counting units sold rather than money obtaines) 101.6 billion yen ($914 million) while digital sales were up 55% to 3.1 billion yen ($28 million).
-Tankobon (volume) sales were up by 4.8% year on year in Japan. But there is a huge discrepancy between digital and physical again. While printed (physical) volumes sales were down 8% from last year, digital volume sales were up a whooping 27.1% in value.
- In Japan, 370.21 million units of printed volumes were sold in 2016, generating 194.7 billion yen (~$1.75 billion) while digital sales generated 146 billion yen (~$1.31 billion) for a total of 340.7 billion yen (~3.07 billion).
-In 2015 (still in Japan), Physical volume sales represented about 64.8% of the market while digital was 35.2%. In 2016, physical volumes' share has fallen to 57.1% while digital rose to 42.9%. It's very likely that in 2017, or 2018 at the latest, digital manga sales will surpass print.
-Worldwide, manga sales generated 445 billion yen in 2016 (~$4.01 billion). Broken down, that's $3.07 billion (76.6%) from Japan and $940 million (23.4%) from the rest of the world. For printed manga, Japan was $1.75 billion (65.7%), rest of world was $914 million (34.7%) while in the digital market, Japan completely dominates with $1.31 billion (97.9%) and $28 million (2.1%) from the rest of the World.
- The tables speak for themselves I suppose. One Piece, Snk and HxH are the only manga printing over a million units currently with 3.6, 1.9 and 1.62 million for their latest 2016 volumes. One Piece and HxH are rather stable when compared to their usual averages (HxH is currently close to its peak of 1.6 million while OP is down from its peak of 4.05 million). Snk on the other hand has dropped a lot. It's peak was 2.75 million back in 2014. Worth noting however is the fact that SnK seems to be doing far better than the other two in digital sales (it was apparently the best selling digital manga last year, easily outpacing even One Piece) so it's very likely that printed volume sales alone are rapidly becoming a rather misleading metric for it especially as the digital market grows (the same is true for Assassination classroom and NNT according to another article from this same site).
Bottom line is that, oricon and any company not tracking digital sales in the future will become really obsolete.
May 29, 2017 10:55 PM by Agafin
Did the fujoshi stop buying the shounen mangas or what ?
May 29, 2017 10:35 PM by Swagernator
@Kuma
It is Alice to Taiyou, a one-shot by Takahide Totsuno (? 凸ノ高秀)
https://www.shonenjump.com/j/weeklyshonenjump/
It is Alice to Taiyou, a one-shot by Takahide Totsuno (? 凸ノ高秀)
https://www.shonenjump.com/j/weeklyshonenjump/
May 29, 2017 10:06 PM by tsubasalover
oh, and i want to ask, what series in right below? i don't know wsj currently publishing that series...
May 29, 2017 10:02 PM by Kuma
Not just only is it because digital is the way to go but also because WSJ needs good series.
May 29, 2017 9:37 PM by AntwanMantilla
Kuma said:
this is not even special to wsj in the slightest... pretty sure WSM was barely passing 1 million unlike previously when their peak is around 1.7 million...
the one hit hardest was shounen sunday and shounen champion... SS barely 500K and champion is 300 K IIRC...
____________________________________________
the main problem is that now physical printing even for manga volume become more and more innacurate view of a series popularity since digital become more and more important... our solely information is still from physical printing from oricon... i wonder when we will get digital copy sales information...
like the current MP100 problem because the manga physical printing sales is rock bottom, well, it's understable because they are actually web comic (ura sunday) and looking how positive it reciever (tv rangking, BD sales and awards) as well as 50 million download anniversary, it actually a succes, but other than manga reader, i doubt other than manga reader know it...
oh, another interesting note that lot of publisher already move to digital as well, if shueisha (weekly shounen jump) has Tonari no young jump aand shounen jump+, kodansha (weekly shounen magazine) has good!afternoon and mangabox, shougakukan (shounen sunday) has ura sanday... maybe there is lot more, that's only what i know... i don't know much especially for webmanga for female readers... not to mention another publisher that also releasing other webmanga like gangan and ichijinsha even more special to web like comico and naver... this is serious note since lot of korean manhwa and chinese manhua is web release...
maybe, this will also another consideration to make MAL change their outdated manga physical printing restriction, for good...
tower of god and the gamer in mal, when?
Hoppy said:
Shounen in general is stagnating and the new WSJ serie that ares coming are meh save for 2 of them.
Shounen in general is stagnating and the new WSJ serie that ares coming are meh save for 2 of them.
this is not even special to wsj in the slightest... pretty sure WSM was barely passing 1 million unlike previously when their peak is around 1.7 million...
the one hit hardest was shounen sunday and shounen champion... SS barely 500K and champion is 300 K IIRC...
____________________________________________
the main problem is that now physical printing even for manga volume become more and more innacurate view of a series popularity since digital become more and more important... our solely information is still from physical printing from oricon... i wonder when we will get digital copy sales information...
like the current MP100 problem because the manga physical printing sales is rock bottom, well, it's understable because they are actually web comic (ura sunday) and looking how positive it reciever (tv rangking, BD sales and awards) as well as 50 million download anniversary, it actually a succes, but other than manga reader, i doubt other than manga reader know it...
oh, another interesting note that lot of publisher already move to digital as well, if shueisha (weekly shounen jump) has Tonari no young jump aand shounen jump+, kodansha (weekly shounen magazine) has good!afternoon and mangabox, shougakukan (shounen sunday) has ura sanday... maybe there is lot more, that's only what i know... i don't know much especially for webmanga for female readers... not to mention another publisher that also releasing other webmanga like gangan and ichijinsha even more special to web like comico and naver... this is serious note since lot of korean manhwa and chinese manhua is web release...
maybe, this will also another consideration to make MAL change their outdated manga physical printing restriction, for good...
tower of god and the gamer in mal, when?
I wish one day mal would add those series on the site.
May 29, 2017 9:22 PM by keragamming
Jak said:
Sales don't necessarily equal quality. What the fuck are you smoking?
Sales don't necessarily equal quality. What the fuck are you smoking?
nothing, i just saying my opinion dude
May 29, 2017 9:21 PM by RioAl
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