All numbers here are via Brian Hibbs, via bookscan. He’s posted a top-750 sellers plus analysis summary of the US comics industry every year since 2003. Usually, manga makes up enough of that list to give a decent picture of the top of the market. OEL series are not included, not because of like/dislike issues but because my ultimate interest in analyzing this dataset is the potential interest of US figures on the Japanese market (with a sidebar interest in the effects of digital distribution). If you want to check how they or comics industry as a whole did, click on the link above.
A caveat: This data is for US stores only. It should be noted that this isn’t a comprehensive guide of Western taste, as it doesn’t address potential differences between the US and, say, France (where the comic culture is different and manga reportedly makes up a quarter of total comics sold). CNN reports that manga sales in Europe and the Middle East ($250 million) more than double manga sales in the US ($120 million).
Edit: Found the 2007 data here.
Edit 2: Added the 2013 data from here.
Edit 3: Added the 2003-2006 data from links found in the comments section. Note that, from 2003-2005, Tokyopop titles list “CLIENT” as the publisher.
Edit 4: Added the 2014 data from here.
2003: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ehWq1mC_dITq7DBxajNqZhO_VBx9Fwq-kjq7JWrLh4c/edit?usp=sharing
2004: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kexCexNiQ6tB0QtkJ9jiEHsF1hnWhyUPoUTRfmq_2f0/edit?usp=sharing
2005: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GUfMfVjxECztYUv0-hJnkSXlOPjjzjqBTSBBx19fKow/edit?usp=sharing
2006: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dhj9rJ92U02GYpKWF_k3mMCDXElgd0aXVO9gBbWf9M4/edit?usp=sharing
2007: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdDA5VVpqT1g1YkJ5NWtTYW9fY1UwVnc#gid=0
2008: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdHpPZ3RUUHF3S20wMTdKbnBDWU0wS0E&usp=sharing
2009: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdGtXbVI0VFJYMnVPZ1kxeE1pVjZVcUE&usp=sharing
2010: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdEpCQWl2Uy1CakdyME1obXRzNV9XUmc&usp=sharing
2011: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdEk5RzdWMXdFRzYtOTR2dUFyMGxWckE&usp=sharing
2012: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdEthZnoyQ2oxYzBueGltZXc2V2diamc&usp=sharing
2013: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsrLCSzBWkEvdE5RUEJoSWNXRkxEWGVtd0g5NU95eEE#gid=0
2014: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11J68lFHKKUOgbOmkJmnfYl3f9n7OA89GU2z3x4O8JCw/edit?usp=sharing
2015: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zQCvlmYhBR6smBpzt6YP0LoOSLDa5MSHt6SRHT8bw6U/edit?usp=sharing
2016: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MbnH6Zoz0o3aSLlo-NdnZqbvLAvkczUScRDDkPv_0zM/edit?usp=sharing
Recovered the lost data via Archive.org:
2003
BookScan https://web.archive.org/web/20040605105425/http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/BookScan.htm
Analysis
https://web.archive.org/web/20090224070541/http://classic.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/TatWv2_2a.htm
2004
BookScan
https://web.archive.org/web/20050222192051/http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/Bookscan04a.htm
Analysis
https://web.archive.org/web/20090224085612/http://classic.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/Tilting14.htm
2005
BookScan
https://web.archive.org/web/20090224070537/http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Bookscan05.xls
Analysis
https://web.archive.org/web/20080512041419/http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting25.htm
2006
BookScan
https://web.archive.org/web/20070218114820/http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Bookscan06.htm
Analysis
https://web.archive.org/web/20090224070537/http://classic.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting37.html
2007
BookScan
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24818
Analysis
https://web.archive.org/web/20090224085434/http://classic.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting49.html
Thanks. You’re doing pretty amazing detective work pulling all this stuff up. I can’t wait to be less busy in real life so I can do more with it!
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Any chance we get a list for 2015?
Hibbs still writes his column for CBR, so I imagine he’ll post the numbers sometime in early 2016.
2015 books can, sales are up for once
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/tilting-at-windmills-bookscan-2015-analysis
Thanks for the tip. I got the spreadsheet, will update with the according charts at some later point down the line. Apologies for being generally slow as can be lately.
Hi there. I was wondering if we’ll get a list for 2016?
Probably, since I believe the data is out. Don’t know when, though.
Looks like he moved shop:
2016
http://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-257-looking-at-bookscan-2016-more-than-10-million-sold/
http://www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Bookscan-16-Top-750_sheet.htm
archives:
http://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-archive/
This blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something which helped me.
Cheers!
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