15 Best-Selling Manga of All Time

Summary

• Manga is just as big of an industry as anime, and their success is interconnected.
• Some relatively new manga such as
  Demon Slayer
  can sell an unbelievable amount in a short period of time, while other best-sellers have been published for decades, such as
  KochiKame
  ,
  Doraemon
  , and
  Golgo 13
  .
• One Piece
  is currently the best-selling manga of all time, with more than 500 million of copies in circulation.

The manga industry is one that just keeps getting bigger with every year, and there are naturally some manga that end up becoming best-sellers. While anime tends to be the field that gets the most attention, manga is just as big of an industry, if not bigger. Naturally, many of the most popular anime wouldn’t exist if they didn’t have a manga to be adapted from, and that creates a symbiotic relationship where the success of a manga helps make its anime more successful which, in turn, helps make the manga even more successful.

Many of the best-selling manga have the benefit of being around for decades and accumulating massive amounts of sales accordingly, but in some cases, a relatively new manga was able to resonate with people so well that it would sell an unbelievable amount in a short amount of time.

Whatever the case, it’s not unheard of for a manga to sell hundreds of millions of copies during its run, and that’s led to a select few ranking among the most successful of all time. These rankings are based on volumes sold, not on the chapters published in weekly or monthly magazines.

The sales numbers reported here are based mostly on MangaCodex, plus other sources reported at the end of the list.

15 My Hero Academia (2014)

Approximate Sales: 100 Million

Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia takes place in a world where becoming a superhero has long since been a feasible goal thanks to the emergence of superpowers called Quirks. Izuku Midoriya is one such boy who dreams of becoming a hero, even though he was born Quirkless, but after a chance meeting with the world’s greatest hero, Izuku finds himself on the path toward becoming the world’s greatest hero.

Thanks to coming out when the popularity of superhero media was at its peak, My Hero Academia was quick to become one of the most iconic stories in modern anime and manga, and very recently, My Hero Academia‘s manga has sold approximately 100 million copies worldwide to become the 15th best-selling manga of all time. The manga recently came to an end, and it’s more than solidified itself as one of the biggest stories of the past decade.

14 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (1987)

Approximate Sales: 120 Million

Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is focused on the appropriately bizarre adventures of the Joestar family, most of whom have names that allow for the nickname “JoJo”. The Joestars always find themselves against one form of evil after another, with most of their conflicts revolving around the supernatural abilities called Stands, and throughout the story, their battles end up spanning multiple generations across multiple universes.

With almost 40 years of serialization, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the oldest and most iconic manga of all time, and at the time of writing, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the 14th best-selling manga of all time with approximately 120 million sales worldwide. Even with the series in its ninth part, The JOJOLands, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure shows no signs of slowing down, and it’s sure only become even bigger over the years.

13 Bleach (2001)

Approximate Sales: 130 Million

Tite Kubo’s Bleach stars Ichigo Kurosaki, a boy whose odd ability to see ghosts leads to him learning about the existence of man-eating monsters called Hollows and Soul Reapers, the only people with the power to fight them. A Hollow attack on his family forced Ichigo to become a Substitute Soul Reaper, and now Ichigo must hone his newfound abilities to protect his loved ones from Hollows and any other threats that arise, of which there are many.

As one of the “Big 3” of shōnen manga, Bleach is one of the biggest manga franchises of all time, and sure enough, Bleach‘s manga has sold approximately 130 million copies to be the 13th best-selling manga of all time. The popularity of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has done wonders to renew interest in the franchise, and there’s no telling how much more success it will bring the manga before it ends.

12 Oishinbo (1983)

Approximate Sales: 135 Million

Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki’s Oishinbo stars Shiro Yamaoka, a cynical journalist tasked with writing an article discussing the “ultimate menu” of Japanese cuisine for the centennial anniversary of the newspaper Tozai News. His quest to do so not only has him going through a wide assortment of Japanese cuisine, but also puts him in conflict with his abusive father, a famous gourmand working to publish a similar article for a rival newspaper.

Not only is Oishinbo one of the longest-running manga of all time at over 40 years, but at the time of writing, Oishinbo is the 12th best-selling manga of all time with approximately 135 million volumes sold worldwide. In 2014, Oishinbo went on indefinite hiatus after the author used the manga to express controversial opinions about the Fukushima nuclear accident, but if it does ever return, it’s sure to gradually become an even bigger success.

11 Attack On Titan (2009)

Approximate Sales: 140 Million

Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan is set in a world where the remnants of humanity have spent a century living behind giant walls to protect themselves from giant monsters called Titans. When the Titans break through the walls one day, the young Eren Yeager, forced to watch his mother be devoured by a Titan, swears to kill every last one of them, and his journey to do so reveals truths about himself and the world he never could have imagined.

Ever since the anime’s debut, Attack on Titan has become a cultural phenomenon and one of the biggest anime franchises of the past decade, and as of November 2023, Attack on Titan‘s manga has sold approximately 140 million copies worldwide, making it the 11th best-selling manga of all time. Both the anime and the manga ended by 2023, but the series is unlikely to waver in popularity anytime soon.

10 Crayon Shin-Chan (1990)

Approximate Sales: 148 Million

Yoshito Usui’s Crayon Shin-chan is a slice-of-life manga about the adventures of Shinnosuke “Shin” Nohara, a five-year-old boy with a rambunctious attitude and a proclivity for raunchy jokes and double-entendre. Following Usui’s death in 2009, the manga was taken over by his production team, UY Team, and relaunched as New Crayon Shin-Chan, with the manga still going on to this day.

For over 30 years, Shin-chan has struck a chord with people for how effortlessly it switches between childish comedy and raunchy humor, something especially emphasized by the anime’s English dub, and at the time of writing, Crayon Shin-chan has sold approximately 148 million copies worldwide to be the tenth best-selling manga of all time. The series might not be as well-known in the West as many manga both above and below it in sales, but Crayon Shin-chan’s success can’t be denied, and it’s easily one of the biggest anime franchises of all time.

9 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba (2016)

Approximate Sales: 150 Million

In Koyoharu Gotouge’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Tanjiro Kamado returns to his home from the market one day to find his family brutally murdered by demons. Only his sister, Nezuko, survived, but the incident caused her to turn into a demon, so Tanjiro must now become a Demon Slayer to help rid the world of demons and find a way to turn his sister back to normal.

The massive success of Demon Slayer’s anime, especially its movie, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, caused the manga’s sales to skyrocket at a truly unprecedented level, and with approximately 150 million copies sold worldwide, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba stands out as the ninth best-selling manga of all time. The manga ended in 2020, but with the anime still going strong, it wouldn’t be surprising if its success was enough to make its sales rise even higher over the years.

8 KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops (1976)

Approximate Sales: 157.2 Million

Osamu Akimoto’s KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops, one of the best manga that doesn’t have an official English translation, follows the adventures of Kankichi “Ryo” Ryotsu, a manchild of a police officer who, along with his coworkers, spends more time goofing off than he does doing actual police work. The series is famous for its satire of not just anime and manga, but Japanese culture, as a whole, and in a similar vein to The Simpsons, it’s even featured a multitude of cameos from real-life celebrities.

The lead hero of
Kochikame
, Ryo, appears as a cameo in Chapter 427 of
One Piece
.

With a 40-year run, KochiKame was the second longest-running manga of all time after Takao Saito’s Golgo 13, and thanks to its incredibly long serialization, KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops has managed to sell approximately 157.2 million copies worldwide, making it the eighth best-selling manga of all time.KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops is another manga many people outside of Japan are unlikely to be familiar with, but its comedic, satirical stylings have still allowed it to mark a notable place for itself in the history of manga, regardless.

7 Slam Dunk (1990)

Approximate Sales: 170 Million

Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk stars Hanamichi Sakuragi, a delinquent high schooler who joins his school’s basketball team to impress a girl he likes. As Sakuragi spends more time learning about basketball, however, not only does he start to genuinely love the game, but he and everyone else start to realize that his talk of being a genius might have some truth to it, after all.

Slam Dunk has long been a staple of the sports genre, and with approximately 170 million copies sold worldwide, Slam Dunk stands out as the seventh best-selling manga of all time. Just in 2023, Slam Dunk sold 4.9 million copies to be the sixth best-selling manga of 2023, and the fact that it could do so decades after it ended is nothing but a pure testament to how much success and goodwill it has garnered over the years.

6 Naruto (1999)

Approximate Sales: 250 Million

Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto stars the titular Naruto, an up-and-coming ninja who’s spent his whole life being ostracized for being the vessel of the legendary Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Naruto seeks to prove himself by becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village, to earn everyone’s respect, and his quest to do so leads to him being at the heart of a conflict to determine the fate of the entire world.

With how big of a success the anime and manga have been, it’s unsurprising that Naruto would be one of the best-selling manga of all time. As one of the “Big Three” of shonen manga, Naruto was one of the biggest series of the 2000s and 2010s, and with approximately 250 million copies sold worldwide, Naruto holds the honor of being the sixth best-selling manga of all time. Naruto might have ended in 2014, but with it having sequel stories in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, the franchise is still as strong as ever.

5 Doraemon (1969)

Approximate Sales: 250 Million

Fujiko F. Fujio’s Doraemon, one of the best manga and anime franchises that’s bigger in Japan than America, is centered around Nobita Nobi, a complete loser who fails at everything he tries in life. Things end up so bad for Nobita that one of his descendants builds Doraemon, a robot cat who travels back in time to fix Nobita’s life, although he tends to have very little success in doing so.

Having been around since 1969, Doraemon is one of the oldest manga franchises around, and with approximately 250 million copies sold worldwide, Doraemon is definitively the fifth best-selling manga of all time. While the original manga ended in 1996 due to the death of the writer half of the duo, Hiroshi Fujimoto, Doraemon has long since maintained relevancy with its various anime series and movies, and that’s led to it being one of the biggest and most iconic anime franchises of all time.

4 Detective Conan (1994)

Approximate Sales: 270 Million

Gosho Aoyama’s Case Closed, better known as Detective Conan, stars Shinichi Kudo, a teen detective prodigy who’s turned into a child by an experimental drug of the mysterious Black Organization. Now living under the disguise of Conan Edogawa, Shinichi has to do what he can to uncover the truth of the Black Organization to both take him down and get his body back to normal.

Detective Conan’s use of suspense and murder mystery, both episodically and in a serialized narrative, have made it an iconic part of Weekly Shonen Sunday’s lineup, and with approximately 270 million copies sold worldwide, Detective Conan stands out as the fourth best-selling manga of all time. Similar to One Piece, Detective Conan is a long-running manga where it’s hard to tell when it can be expected to end, but regardless, that longevity has allowed it to become one of the biggest anime franchises of all time.

3 Golgo 13 (1968)

Approximate Sales: 300 Million

Takao Saito’s Golgo 13, the longest-running manga of all time, stars the titular Golgo 13, a professional assassin who takes jobs of varying seriousness, no matter who he may cross, all with his signature M16 rifle. While Saito died in 2021, the series has been continued by his production company, Saito Production, something that Saito had given his approval of before his death.

Having been serialized on and off since 1968 both before and after Takao Saito’s death in 2021, Golgo 13 holds the world record for the highest number of volumes for a manga at 209 volumes, and with approximately 300 million copies sold worldwide, Golgo 13 is the third best-selling manga of all time. Golgo 13 has allegedly been heading toward a conclusion since 2015, and by the time it finally gets there, it’ll undoubtedly have become an even bigger success than it already is.

2 Dragon Ball (1984)

Approximate Sales: 300 Million

Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball is a classic manga about the adventures of Son Goku, a super powerful boy with a monkey tail who loves to fight solely for the sake of bettering himself. While Dragon Ball started as a comedic action-fantasy series loosely based on Journey to the West, it gradually transitioned into a sci-fi epic with more serious storytelling and battles of increasingly epic scale.

Dragon Ball is easily one of the biggest anime franchises of all time, and the original manga is appropriately one of the best-selling manga of all time. Dragon Ball was one the most successful manga to ever be published in Weekly Shonen Jump, and with approximately 300 million copies sold worldwide, Dragon Ball stands out as the second best-selling manga of all time. With Dragon Ball Super and the upcoming Dragon Ball DAIMA, Dragon Ball is the liveliest it’s been in decades, and its success as a franchise is likely to only increase as the years go on.

1 One Piece (1997)

Approximate Sales: Over 500 Million

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece tells the story of a world in the midst of a Great Age of Piracy as pirates search the world for the One Piece, the legendary treasure that will make anyone who obtains it the King of the Pirates. Among the people looking for it is Monkey D. Luffy, a boy with a straw hat and a body made of rubber, and despite how new he and his crew are to everything, Luffy will show everyone that he can’t be ignored in the race to become king.

One Piece has risen to become the biggest anime franchise of all time over the past 27 years and the most successful of the “Big Three” of shonen manga, and with over 500 million copies sold worldwide, One Piece definitively stands out as the number one best-selling manga of all time. One Piece recently entered its final saga, and by the time the series finally comes to a close, it will undoubtedly find even more success and further establish itself as one of the best-selling manga of all time.

Sources: MangaCodex, HITC, Anime News Network, Comicbook.com, Attack on Titan FLY‘s official X account, My Hero Academia‘s official X account.