2016 Japan Top-Selling Manga Series: ‘One Piece’ No. 1 With More Than 12 Million Copies; ‘Assassination Classroom,’ ‘Kingdom’ Rank 2nd & 3rd

Oricon has released the rankings of this year’s best-selling manga series. In the data gathered from Nov. 23, 2015 to Nov. 20, 2016 sales, Eiichiro Oda’s “One Piece” sold more than 12 million copies which is followed by “Assassination Classroom” with more than 6 million copies sold. Also in the top five are “Kingdom,” “Attack on Titan” and “Haikyuu!!”

“One Piece” is in first place once again with 12,314,326 estimated sales, according to Anime News Network. The fantasy-adventure manga, which started in 1997, is considered the best-selling manga series in history. It holds the Guinness World Record as the comic book series made by a single author with most copies published.

Oda earns at least 3.1 billion yen (US$26 million) with “One Piece,” factoring the royalties from series merchandise and international licensing. In a previous report, editor Suguru Sugita said the manga is 70 percent complete. “One Piece” volumes 80-83 also topped the list of manga series sold per volume with more than 2 million copies sold each.

In second place is Yusei Matsu’s “Assassination Classroom.” The series had 6,887,192 copies sold and was in second place even though it ended its four-year run last March. Yasuhisa Hara’s historical manga, “Kingdom,” came in third place with 6,595,968. It has a total of 44 volumes since its release in 2006.

“Attack on Titan” with 6,544,081 copies sold this year came in fourth place. Its sales figures are expected to rise in 2017 with the release of the anime’s second installment. “Attack on Titan” was close to topping “One Piece” in 2014. It surpassed Oda’s manga in the first half of 2014 with more than 8 million sales while “One Piece” only had more than 4 million, but “One Piece” still ranked first at the end of the year.

Volleyball manga “Haikyuu!!” is in fifth place with 6,474,394 copies sold. The manga is currently starting its Spring Inter-High arc so its sales might rise in the upcoming months. “The Seven Deadly Sins” and “My Hero Academia” — which are both airing a second season for its anime adaptation next year — are in sixth and seventh spots with 5,115,573 and 5,114,916 copies sold, respectively.

“Tokyo Ghoul: re,” the sequel to Sui Ishida’s “Tokyo Ghoul” manga series is in eighth place with 4,278,599 copies sold. While superhero parody manga, “One-Punch Man” is in number nine with 3,979,760 copies sold. In 10th place is “Food Wars: Shokugeki no Souma” with 3,477,128.

Other manga series in the 2016 top-selling list include:

11.   “Chihayafuru” (Kodansha) – 3,019,944
12.   “Terra Formars” (Shueisha)- 3,013,816
13.   “Fairy Tail” (Kodansha)- 2,719,478
14.   “Detective Conan” (Shogakukan)- 2,622,350
15.   “Erased” (Kadokawa)- 2,507,468
16.   “Prison School” (Kodansha)- 2,449,593
17.   “Bleach” (Shueisha)- 2,253,028
18.   “World Trigger” (Shueisha)- 2,234,851
19.   “Gintama” (Shueisha)- 2,231,751
20.   “Magi” (Shogakukan)- 2,215,458
21.   “Ace of Diamond Act II” (Kodansha)- 2,034,806
22.   “Kimi ni Todoke” (Shueisha)- 2,021,612
23.   “DAYS” (Kodansha)- 1,986,335
24.   “Nisekoi” (Shueisha)- 1,914,613
25.   “Bungo Stray Dogs” (Kadokawa)- 1,879,623
26.   “Golden Kamuy” (Shueisha)- 1,835,668
27.   “Major 2nd” (Shogakukan)- 1,816,669
28.   “Orange” (Futabasha)- 1,809,055
29.   “Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign” (Shueisha)- 1,735,680
30.   “Ajin” (Kodansha)- 1,679,180