June 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels

Anime continues to drive manga sales, but there are two interesting exceptions, Chainsaw Man and Deadpool: Samurai, in the top 20 Adult graphic novels in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for June 2022 (5/29/22 – 7/2/22) provided to ICv2.

The best-selling title in June was Volume 11 of Chainsaw Man, the latest release in a series that has consistently topped the charts with each new volume despite not having an anime adaptation yet. (The anime is supposed to premiere later this year, but no date has been announced yet.) Volume 10 also made the chart. This series started the year strong, with seven volumes in the top 20 in January and February of this year and five in March.

The other title that charted without the benefit of an anime was Vol. 2 of Deadpool: Samurai, a joint production between Marvel and Shueisha (see “Marvel and Viz Team Up“). The first volume didn’t make the BookScan chart, although it did show up in the ComicHub top 20 (see “Top 20 Graphic Novels – February 2022“). Volume 2 was one of the top sellers in ComicHub in June as well (see “Top 20 Graphic Novels – June 2022“) and did well enough in the book channel to get into the top 20.

The rest of the titles in the top 20 are all anime-driven.  Since Chainsaw Man’s run early this year, Spy x Family has been the series with the most volumes in the top 20. The anime premiered in April, and six volumes made the top 20 in April and May. In June, all seven volumes were in the top 20, with Volume 1 in second place. Before the anime came out in April, only one volume at a time of this series made the chart, so the anime has clearly made a difference for this series.

Jujutsu Kaisen is another series that’s seeing an anime boost. The latest volume, a June release, is in third place on the chart, with three other volumes further down. The anime streams on Crunchyroll, and the anime film of the prequel was number 2 at the box office when it opened in March (see “‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0’ Opens at #2“). Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the prequel to the series, is in seventh place, and Vols. 1 and 2 are both on the chart, so it’s safe to say that people are still discovering this series.

Volume 6 of Wotakoi is number 5 on the chart; this is the rare josei series that makes it into the top 20. It’s also the only series on the chart whose anime streams on Amazon Prime but not on Crunchyroll (a few are available on both). It’s possible that this series is reaching its target demographic, adult women, on a platform they are more familiar with. New volumes of Wotakoi tend to show up in the top 20 during their release month and then disappear, but the series as a whole has strong sales (see “Most Efficient Manga Series for Retailer Shelves“).

Most of the other volumes in the top 20 are early volumes of older series whose anime stream on Crunchyroll, and it’s a safe bet that many of the readers are sampling the series after watching the anime.

For charts of June 2022 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
June 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
June 2022 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:
June 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
June 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
June  2022 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