October 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels

There’s a bit of a shift in the top 20 Adult graphic novels in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for October 2021 (10/3/21-10/30/21) provided to ICv2.

The Adult Top 20 is all manga once again, after three months of 19 manga plus one other title. In terms of publishers, though, it’s a diverse list, with four different publishers making the top 20 and three of them getting more than one title on the chart.

VIZ Media, of course, dominates, with 14 titles; Kodansha Comics has three; Yen Press has two; and Dark Horse Comics has one.

That’s a much more diverse lineup than usual, at least in terms of publishers.  When manga took over the top 20, earlier this year, almost all the titles were VIZ series, but over the year other publishers have made the chart.  The first volume of Yen Press’s Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun has been on the chart for over a year, and in October the latest volume charted as well.  Sales of the first volume of Kodansha’s Attack on Titan picked up when the final season of the anime started streaming earlier this year, so it’s usually on the chart, and Vol. 34 is the final volume of the series (see “‘Attack on Titan’ Manga to End“).  The other Kodansha title, Wotakoi is a rom-com about adult nerds, so it’s very different from Attack on Titan.  New volumes often appear on the chart in their release month, as is the case here.

In fact, eight of the titles on the chart are October releases.  It’s pretty typical for the latest volume of a particular series to sell well enough to make the chart, but that’s typically four or five titles, not eight.  That means there are more different series represented on the chart than usual, and this may be the first time that both Kodansha and Yen Press have had a volume debut on the same chart.

For charts of October 2021 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
October 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
October 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels

For the charts with the actual sales numbers from NPD BookScan, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
October 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
October 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
October 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales

NPD BookScan collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more.  NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market.  The ranks on this chart are based on piece sales.  Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we’ve removed those titles from the ranking above.

For past BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the “BookScan Top 20 GN Index.”

Source: ICV2