ICv2 has posted Diamond’s sales figures for January, and it looks like it was a good month for graphic novels, with sales up 18 percent. (As always, remember that these are sales in the direct market, i.e. local comics shops). They also list the top 100 graphic novels, and since we only care about manga around here, here are the top selling manga (the rank on the overall GN chart is in parentheses, sales for this month are after the title).
1. (12) Berserk, vol. 21 (4,026)
2. (27) Negima, vol. 16 (3,042)
3. (48) Trigun Maximum, vol. 12 (2,550)
4. (51) Oh My Goddess, vol. 28 (2,274)
5. (57) InuYasha, vol. 32 (2,006)
6. (80) Samurai Deeper Kyo, vol. 26 (1,573)
7. (85) My Hime, vol. 5 (1,446)
8. (91) Nana, vol. 8 (1,357)
9. (94) Shaman King, vol. 18 (1,320)
10. (95) Death Jr., vol. 1 (1,312)
11. (99) He Is My Master, vol. 3 (1,282)
This is a much shorter list than usual—while manga don’t necessarily make it into the top ten, the bottom half of the list is generally pretty manga-rich. Perhaps we’re seeing the after-effects of the Naruto wave—no one has any allowance left. With the exception of InuYasha and Nana, the titles on this list seem to skew older and more male than usual, even for the DM. Or maybe people are just buying their manga elsewhere.
I wonder if this list is reflective of the area of the market it takes its numbers from. The direct market seems more like the domain of superhero comics and such – like you say, there’s definitely a few titles in there that seem more appealing to that kind of readership.
But then, there’s titles like Nana and My Hime that challenge that. The lack of Naruto is surprising, nonetheless.