This page provides lists of best-selling comic book series to date. It includes Japanese manga, American comic books, and European comics.This list includes comic books that have sold at least 100million copies.
There are three separate lists, for three different comic book publication formats: collected comic book volumes, periodical single-issue floppy comics, and comic magazines. They are separated because the sales figures of these publication formats are not directly comparable.
This list is for comics printed in a traditional book format (paperback or hardcover), typically with a similar number of pages as novels. The list includes graphic novels printed exclusively in this format, and trade paperback/hardcover books which compile periodical comic chapters/issues into larger collected volumes. Japanese manga tankōbon volumes and European comic albums account for the vast majority of collected comic book volume sales.[1] American trade paperbacks and graphic novels are also included in the list.
These comic series were originally serialized either as chapters (typically 15-30 pages each) in comic publications (such as comic magazines) or as single-page comic strips in non-comic publications (such as newspapers), before being collected into a larger comic book volume (which compiles either multiple comic chapters or numerous comic strips).[1] For comic series originally serialized as chapters in comic magazines or manga magazines, their estimated circulation figures in those magazines are given in footnotes.
| Denotes comic series currently running |
| Comic series | Creator(s) | Publisher | No. of collected volumes | Serialized | Approximate sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Piece | 107 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 1997 – present | ||||
| Asterix | René Goscinny Albert Uderzo | Dargaud Les Éditions Albert René | 43 | 1959 – present | 393million[2] | |
| Doraemon | Shogakukan | 45 | 1969 – 1996 | 300 million[3] | ||
| Lucky Luke | Dupuis Dargaud Lucky Comics | 82 | 1946 – present | 300million[4] | ||
| Golgo 13 | Takao Saito | Shogakukan | 203 | Big Comic 1968 – present | 300 million[5] | |
| Peanuts | 1950 – 2000 | 300million[6] | ||||
| Oriental Heroes | Wong Yuk-Long, Tony | Culturecom | 2427 | 1969–present | 280 million[7] [8] | |
| Case Closed | 104 | Weekly Shōnen Sunday 1994 – present | 270million[9] | |||
| Dragon Ball | 42 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 1984–1995 | 260 million[10] | |||
| Naruto | 72 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 1999 – 2014 | 250million[11] | |||
| The Adventures of Tintin | 24 | 1929 – 1976 | 250million[12] | |||
| Spike and Suzy | 365 | 1945 – present | 230million[13] | |||
| Black Jack | Osamu Tezuka | 25 | 1973–1983 | 176 million[14] | ||
| Slam Dunk | Shueisha | 31 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 1990 – 1996 | 170 million[15] | ||
| 200 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 1976 – 2016 | 156.5million[16] | ||||
| Koyoharu Gotōge | Shueisha | 23 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 2016–2020 | 150 million[17] | ||
| Diabolik | Astorina | 862 | 1962 – present | 150million[18] | ||
| Crayon Shin-chan | 67 | 1990–present | 148 million[19] | |||
| Garfield | 1978 – present | 135 million[20] | ||||
| Oishinbo | Tetsu Kariya Akira Hanasaki | Shogakukan | 111 | Big Comic Spirits 1983 – present | 135 million[21] | |
| Bleach | Shueisha | 74 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 2001–2016 | 130 million[22] | ||
| JoJo's Bizarre Adventure | Shueisha | 131 | 1987–present | 120 million[23] | ||
| Attack on Titan | 34 | Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine 2009 – 2021 | 120 million[24] | |||
| Amar Chitra Katha | Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd. | 449 | 1967 – present | 100 million[25] | ||
| Astro Boy | 23 | Shōnen 1952 – 1968 | 100 million[26] | |||
| Casper the Friendly Ghost | 1949 – present | 100 million[27] | ||||
| Fist of the North Star | Shueisha | 27 | Weekly Shōnen Jump 1983 – 1988 | 100 million[28] | ||
| The Kindaichi Case Files | Kodansha | 95 | 1992–present | 100 million[29] | ||
| Touch | Shogakukan | 26 | Weekly Shōnen Sunday 1981 – 1986 | 100 million[30] |
This list is for single-issue floppy comics, also known as the American comic book format. Unlike the paperback book format, floppy comics are thinner periodicals and stapled together. Each floppy comic issue is typically 20–40 pages, and usually consists of a single chapter (as opposed to a larger comic book volume that typically includes multiple chapters). A floppy comic is comparable to a comic magazine, but is thinner in size and is dedicated to a single character or group of characters (whereas a comic magazine is thicker and serializes multiple different unrelated series).[1]
Single-issue floppy comics are the most common publication format for American comics, and account for the vast majority of American superhero comic sales.[31] This list also contains periodical publications from other countries that are similarly dedicated to a single character or group of characters. Some of the numbers reported here may also include sales of trade paperback volumes, which account for a small portion of American comic sales.
According to the most recently available data, the best-selling American single-issue comic of all time was X-Men #1, which was published in 1991 and has since sold almost 8.2 million copies.
| Comic series | Creator(s) | Publisher | No. of issues | Serialized | Approximate sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superman | Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster | DC Comics | 18,732[32] | 1938 – 2016 | [33] | |
| Batman | Bob Kane Bill Finger | DC Comics | 23,193[34] | 1939 – 2016 | 484million | |
| Spider-Man | Stan Lee Steve Ditko | Marvel | 13,500[35] | 1963 – 2016 | ||
| X-Men | Stan Lee Jack Kirby | Marvel | 12,000[36] | 1963 – 2016 | [37] | |
| Captain America | 9,000[38] | 1941 – 2016 | 210million | |||
| Diabolik | Astorina | 862 | 1962 – 2016 | 150million | ||
| Spawn | 600[39] | 1992 – 2016 | 150million[40] | |||
| The Phantom | 3,000[41] | 1936 – 2016 | 150million |
This list is for comic magazines, which are anthology magazines that serialize multiple different unrelated comic series. This list includes Japanese manga magazines, European comic magazines, and English-language comic magazines.
In Japan, manga magazines account for the vast majority of manga sales. Most manga series first appear in manga magazines, before later being sold separately as collected tankobon volumes.[1]
| Comic magazine | Publisher | Country | No. of issues | Serialized | Approximate sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Shōnen Jump | Japan | 2,406 | 1968 – present | 7.6billion[42] | ||
| Weekly Shōnen Magazine | Japan | 2,942[43] | 1959 – present | 5.2billion | ||
| Weekly Young Jump | Japan | 1,765[44] | 1979 – present | 2.2billion | ||
| The Beano | DC Thomson | United Kingdom | 4,200+ | 1938 – present | 2 billion[45] | |
| Weekly Shōnen Sunday | Japan | 2,805[46] | 1959 – present | 1.9billion | ||
| Weekly Young Magazine | Japan | 1980 – present | 1.8billion | |||
| Micky Maus | Germany | 3,169 | 1951 – present | 1billion | ||
| Classics Illustrated | Elliot Publishing Co. Gilberton Company, Inc. Frawley Corporation | United States | 169 | 1941 – 1971 | 1 billion[47] | |
| Ribon | Japan | 694[48] | 1955 – present | 594million | ||
| MAD Magazine | United States | 557 | 1952 – present | 430 million[49] | ||
| CoroCoro Comic | Japan | 480[50] | 1977 – present | 407million | ||
| Nakayoshi | Japan | 1954 – present | 400million | |||
| Monthly Shōnen Jump | Japan | 317[51] | 1970 – 2007 | 215million | ||
| Action Comics | United States | 1938 – present | 188million | |||
| Pilote | France | 420[52] | 1959 – 1989 | 117million |