Anime & Manga News

Japan's Yearly Manga and Light Novel Rankings for 2018

by Snow
Dec 10, 2018 11:14 PM | 57 Comments
Here are the manga and light novel sales rankings for the fiscal year of 2018 (November 20, 2017 - November 18, 2018).

Manga Sales by Series
*1. 8,113,317 One Piece
*2. 6,718,185 Boku no Hero Academia
*3. 5,235,963 Shingeki no Kyojin
*4. 5,214,085 Slam Dunk
*5. 5,030,624 Haikyuu!!
*6. 4,970,171 Kingdom
*7. 4,867,680 Nanatsu no Taizai
*8. 4,246,955 Yakusoku no Neverland
*9. 3,460,066 Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken
10. 3,267,843 Tokyo Ghoul:re


Manga Sales by Volumes
*1. 2,476,305 One Piece Vol.88
*2. 2,167,146 One Piece Vol.89
*3. 2,074,623 One Piece Vol.90
*4. 1,486,038 Shingeki no Kyojin Vol.24
*5. 1,358,623 Shingeki no Kyojin Vol.25
*6. 1,226,619 Shingeki no Kyojin Vol.26
*7. 1,090,958 Hunter x Hunter Vol.35
*8. *,892,834 Hunter x Hunter Vol.36
*9. *,846,414 Kingdom Vol.50
10. *,845,862 Kingdom Vol.49

11. *,821,501 Boku no Hero Academia Vol.17
12. *,812,204 Boku no Hero Academia Vol.18
13. *,790,286 Kingdom Vol.51
14. *,787,332 Tokyo Ghoul:re Vol.14
15. *,771,570 Haikyuu!! Vol.29
16. *,758,175 Boku no Hero Academia Vol.19
17. *,756,335 Tokyo Ghoul:re Vol.15
18. *,750,139 Haikyuu!! Vol.30
19. *,743,333 One Punch-Man Vol.15
20. *,739,230 Tokyo Ghoul:re Vol.16

Rank 21 - 50



Light Novel Sales by Series
*1. *,807,693 Overlord
*2. *,630,889 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
*3. *,626,952 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
*4. *,619,031 Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu
*5. *,539,277 Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken
*6. *,478,242 Ryuuou no Oshigoto!
*7. *,426,794 Sword Art Online: Progressive
*8. *,393,949 Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e
*9. *,371,626 Sword Art Online
10. *,350,960 No Game No Life


Light Novel Sales by Volumes
*1. *,240,361 Overlord Vol.13
*2. *,208,825 Sword Art Online: Progressive Vol.5
*3. *,177,656 Sword Art Online: Progressive Vol.6
*4. *,170,766 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Vol.24
*5. *,166,745 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Vol.25
*6. *,161,121 No Game No Life Vol.10
*7. *,152,569 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Vol.26
*8. *,143,251 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Vol.13
*9. *,138,937 Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Vol.13
10. *,131,790 Meitantei Conan: Zero no Shikkounin

11. *,128,339 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Vol.14
12. *,*99,483 One Piece Novel A Vol.1
13. *,*82,217 One Piece Novel A Vol.2
14. *,*67,197 Bokura no 7-kan Sensou
15. *,*57,763 Boku no Hero Academia: Yuuei Hakusho


Light Novels Separated by Specific Ranking


Source: Oricon Youtaiju

← First Half

20 of 57 Comments Recent Comments

Bloe said:
scrg said:

lmao did you just say "people like different things" when you were the one to trash him for his favorites in the first place..?

I didn't mean to but he provoked me.

No you approached him first and replied to him by calling out his faves but w/e

Dec 18, 2018 11:26 AM by --l--

scrg said:
Bloe said:

Look, people like different things.

Boom. Now you are more understanding than 10% of the MAL (the worst part)

People like Bnha cause it is..I don't know the correct word but I guess a.."realistic shounen.?".
And come on, you know how all of yours have a shit load of plot holes.
Maybe that's your thing and I don't mind it.

lmao did you just say "people like different things" when you were the one to trash him for his favorites in the first place..?

I didn't mean to but he provoked me.

Dec 18, 2018 4:48 AM by Bloe

Takamura-sama said:
Lul-oppa said:

It's a fairly well written shounen imo

Its good but lets not call ot realistic

I guess sorry for calling it realistic.

Dec 18, 2018 4:47 AM by Bloe

Snow said:
Manga Sales by Series
*1. 8,113,317 One Piece
*2. 6,718,185 Boku no Hero Academia
*3. 5,235,963 Shingeki no Kyojin
*7. 4,867,680 Nanatsu no Taizai


All hail the Pirate King!

This is the 11th year in a row that One Piece has topped the annual manga ranking chart. Simply amazing. Has any other manga done that before?

Awesome numbers for Boku no Herir Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin and Nanatsu no Taizai too. And also Hunter x Hunter and Kuroshitsuji in the lista of manga sales by volumes.


Snow said:
Light Novel Sales by Series
*7. *,426,794 Sword Art Online: Progressive
*9. *,371,626 Sword Art Online
10. *,350,960 No Game No Life


Great sales for Sword Art Online and No Game No Life, like always. If you combine the numbers of Progressive and the "normal" series, SAO ends up as the number #2 in total yearly sales for Light Novels.

The novels of One Piece and Boku no Hero Academia did very well.

Dec 16, 2018 9:09 AM by Andan210

So happy that Shigenki no kyojin is rank 3 and 4 in series sales and Volumes. Its great too see Boku no hero number 2 Its great series

Overlord number 1 in Light novel ranking series and Sales. One of my most favourite anime series of all of time. So happy It top light novel ranking and It good too see Youkoso up there as well.

Dec 15, 2018 11:48 PM by PrideRoyalIvy

Almost 600k is backlog alone, sasuga ainz-sama, truly leading isekai.
807,693 Overlord
240,361 Overlord Vol.13

Dec 13, 2018 7:59 PM by ichii_1

One Piece #1 even without the 1.5 million so far of volume 91 counted. With the events of the 14th movie and the current arc I can the popularity growing even more.

Congrats to Slam Dunk for making a comeback.

Dec 13, 2018 4:17 PM by SuperRed

keragamming said:


Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I saw a article saying digital sales has surpass manga sales overall?


Searching around and found this: https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2018/02/26/comic-paper_a_23370852/
So yes, indeed. I had come across that story before so I should have known - it just slipped my mind.

The point on light novels still holds true for those, of course.

Dec 13, 2018 12:45 PM by kuuderes_shadow

kuuderes_shadow said:
keragamming said:

I have lost most of my interest in these rankings ever since I realise that the physical sales are dying, and oricon still haven't choose to count digital sales as well.



Figures from KonoRano suggest that for light novels, ebooks only make up around 20% of the market, with physical still accounting for 80%. Of course it would be nice to have figures for digital sales for a wide variety of reasons, but they're not all that much of the market and we're still a very long way from digital becoming the dominant form of sales, if we ever get there, let alone physical sales actually dying.

Manga sales may be more skewed towards digital sales, or they may not. I don't know.

What is definitely true, though, is that there are certain people on MAL and elsewhere who very heavily overstate any shift from physical to digital.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I saw a article saying digital sales has surpass manga sales overall?

aybekay said:
90% of mal is pirating their manga anyway....


These are sales only in Japan not outside of Japan, so your point is irrelevant here.

Dec 13, 2018 10:46 AM by keragamming

90% of mal is pirating their manga anyway....

Dec 13, 2018 10:10 AM by darkestTimes

keragamming said:

I have lost most of my interest in these rankings ever since I realise that the physical sales are dying, and oricon still haven't choose to count digital sales as well.



Figures from KonoRano suggest that for light novels, ebooks only make up around 20% of the market, with physical still accounting for 80%. Of course it would be nice to have figures for digital sales for a wide variety of reasons, but they're not all that much of the market and we're still a very long way from digital becoming the dominant form of sales, if we ever get there, let alone physical sales actually dying.

Manga sales may be more skewed towards digital sales, or they may not. I don't know.

What is definitely true, though, is that there are certain people on MAL and elsewhere who very heavily overstate any shift from physical to digital.

Dec 13, 2018 9:47 AM by kuuderes_shadow

Slam Dunk anime remake when?

Dec 13, 2018 8:40 AM by deg

thebrentinator24 said:
For once One Piece isn't leading second place by a huge margin.

Cool to see Slam Dunk there even though it's been over for 20+ years. It's also nice to see Promised Neverland up there, especially since it's only been around for a couple years, and is the youngest manga in the top 10. Pretty impressive.


Nope, in 2014 one piece beat 2nd place snk by only 80k, that was the closes one piece has ever been to loosing its number 1 spot.

I have lost most of my interest in these rankings ever since I realise that the physical sales are dying, and oricon still haven't choose to count digital sales as well.

snk is doing great, I believe there is some unrealistic expectation for snk that it should always be 2nd to one piece or be the one competing with one piece, the thing is it is a monthly series and it only releases 3 volumes, not to mention most of its backlog sales has dried up meaning it is really relying only on its individual sales. snk is still the number 2 series when it comes to per volume sales which most people don't pay attention to.

I think snk probably will be 5th or even 6th next year, depending if my hero backlog sales is still strong, and I predict promised neverland and maybe the slime series will surpass it in overall sale next year.

Dec 13, 2018 8:36 AM by keragamming

NGNL in top 10, season 2 fucking when Madhouse?

Bloe said:

MAL accepts attention seekers, I mean we have Swaggernator.

Had. RIP

Dec 13, 2018 4:20 AM by Knightmare_YK

Lul-oppa said:
Stripes said:


No.

It's a fairly well written shounen imo

Its good but lets not call ot realistic

Dec 13, 2018 12:55 AM by Takamura-sama

Cloverfags btfo. Get out of the way boys, the new BIG SHOUNEN incoming.

Dec 13, 2018 12:46 AM by Shadzzo

It's great to see Slam Dunk at top 5.

Dec 13, 2018 12:43 AM by halcyon-

Lul-oppa said:
Stripes said:


No.

It's a fairly well written shounen imo


I love the series but nobody who likes it would call it "realistic".

Dec 12, 2018 9:48 PM by Stripes

not surprised but it's nice to see slam dunk on the list.

Dec 12, 2018 1:42 PM by oh

BNHA was just under 1.4M away from One Piece year. It's catching up immensely.

I'm also rooting for YnN to get a ridiculous boost next year.

Bloe said:

People like Bnha cause it is..I don't know the correct word but I guess a.."realistic shounen.?"


No.

Dec 12, 2018 1:20 PM by Stripes

It’s time to ditch the text file.
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