There are a lot of early volumes on the list of the Top 20 Manga in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for January (1/3/21-1/1/22) provided to ICv2.

Readers started a lot of series in 2021: The top seller of the year is Volume 1 of Attack on Titan, and six other first volumes make the chart, along with four Volume 2s and three Volume 3s.  It looks like a lot of readers were picking up series and staying with them.

In terms of which series were most popular, there were seven volumes of My Hero Academia on the chart, four of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and three each of Attack on Titan and Chainsaw Man.

This chart mirrors the 2020 full-year chart in several respects (see "Full Year 2020 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, Superhero Graphic Novels"): The top title in 2020 was also Volume 1 of My Hero Academia, and that series also had the most volumes on the chart (11); Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, came in second with four volumes.  Absent from that chart were Chainsaw Man, which launched in late 2020, and Attack on Titan, which launched in 2012 and had dropped in popularity until the anime, and the end of the manga series, revved up interest once more.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – 2021 (1/3/21 - 1/1/22)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

2

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

3

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

4

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 1

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

5

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

6

TOILET-BOUND HANAKO-KUN VOL. 1

AIDAIRO

YEN PRESS

7

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

8

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 28

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

9

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 2

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

10

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 26

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

11

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 27

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

12

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 29

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

13

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

14

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 23

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

15

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 3

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

16

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 2

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

17

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 2

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

18

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 3

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

19

DEATH NOTE BLACK EDITION VOL. 1

TSUGUMI OHBA

VIZ MEDIA

20

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 34

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan


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."