Although Naruto remains the strongest property on the Bookscan Top 20 Graphic Novels for May, with both of the top two spots, Viz’s Vampire Knight also had three volumes in the top 20.  The rankings, provided by Nielsen BookScan, track the bestselling U.S. graphic novels in major book chains, mass merchants, online retailers, and some independent bookstores using POS data from April 28th to June 1st.  It’s becoming clear that Vampire Knight is a top tier property that’s growing rapidly in popularity.


 

Top 20 Graphic Novels 4/28 - 6/1/08

 

 

 

Rank

Title

Author

Pub

PubDate

1

NARUTO VOL. 29

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ

5/1/08

2

NARUTO VOL. 28

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ

3/1/08

3

KINGDOM HEARTS II VOL. 2

SHIRO AMANO

TKP

5/1/08

4

ABSOLUTE BOYFRIEND VOL. 6

YU WATASE

VIZ

5/1/08

5

VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 4

MATSURI HINO

VIZ

4/1/08

6

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE

ALAN MOORE

DC

3/1/08

7

TSUBASA VOL. 17

CLAMP

DEL

5/1/08

8

WATCHMEN

ALAN MOORE

DC

4/1/95

9

DEATH NOTE VOL. 1

TSUGUMI OHBA

VIZ

10/1/05

10

CHIBI VAMPIRE VOL. 8

YUNA KAGESAKI

TKP

5/1/08

11

FRUITS BASKET VOL. 19

NATSUKI TAKAYA

TKP

3/1/08

12

D.GRAY-MAN VOL. 9

KATSURA HOSHINO

VIZ

5/1/08

13

DEATH NOTE VOL. 2

TSUGUMI OHBA

VIZ

11/1/05

14

VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 1

MATSURI HINO

VIZ

1/1/07

15

BLACK CAT VOL. 14

KENTARO YABUKI

VIZ

5/1/08

16

SKIP BEAT! VOL. 12

YOSHIKI NAKAMURA

VIZ

5/1/08

17

INDIANA JONES / KINGDOM CRYSTAL SKULL

LUKE ROSS

DHC

5/1/08

18

KITCHEN PRINCESS VOL. 6

MIYUKI KOBAYASHI

DEL

5/1/08

19

NARUTO VOL. 1

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ

7/1/03

20

VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 3

MATSURI HINO

VIZ

10/1/07

 

Just as Naruto was slightly less dominating this month, with only three volumes in the top 20 vs. four in April, (see “Bookscan’s Top 20 Graphic Novels for April”), Viz lost a few slots to its competitors, with 12 of the top 20 compared to 16 in April.  Tokyopop, Del Rey, and Dark Horse all picked up slots. 

 

The latest volume of Kingdom Hearts came in at #3, demonstrating once again the power of videogames in selling graphic novels. 

 

The new hardcover edition of Batman: The Killing Joke was once again the top American book on the list, slipping slightly to #6 from #4.  Watchmen moved up, to #8 from #13.  Dark Horse actually placed an American title that was written in the last twenty years with its adaptation of the new Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, at #17.  American titles had three of the top twenty volumes in May, up one from April. 

 

Over-all, nine volumes repeated from April, eleven were new to the list.