There are fewer manga titles than usual on the chart of the top 20 Adult graphic novels in the book channel, based on Circana (formerly NPD) BookScan data for May (4/30/23-5/27/23) provided to ICv2.

That’s another way of saying that there are more other types of graphic novels on the chart, but none of the three non-manga books, TMNT: The Last Ronin, Volume 6 of Solo Leveling, and They Called Us Enemy, are new, so it’s more like manga is retreating than some other category is surging.

Manga is looking pretty healthy, in fact, with the new volume of My Hero Academia topping the chart, and Volume 25 of One Punch Man, another May release, at number 5.  Three April releases, Volume 102 of One Piece, Volume 6 of Kaiju No. 8, and Volume 6 of Blue Lock, are back for another month, and that’s unusual for all three series, suggesting that they are picking up steam.  And of course, the backlist remains robust, with plenty of first volumes in the Top 20, so readers are still picking up new series.

Last month’s chart had a lot of variety, with 15 different manga series (see "April 2023 Circana BookScan"). The May chart has 10 different manga series, plus three other titles, so there’s still a lot of variety, especially compared to May 2022, when there were six volumes of Spy x Family in the Top 20 (see "May 2022 NPD BookScan").  That was definitely driven by the anime; at the moment, there is no new anime with that kind of power.

Circana BookScan Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels – May 2023 (4/30/23 - 5/27/23)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 34

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

2

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

3

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 1

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

4

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 1

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

5

ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 25

ONE

VIZ MEDIA

6

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 9

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

7

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 2

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

8

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

9

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 2

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

10

ONE PIECE VOL. 102

EIICHIRO ODA

VIZ MEDIA

11

KAIJU NO. 8 VOL. 6

NAOYA MATSUMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

12

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN HC

KEVIN EASTMAN

IDW PUBLISHING

13

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 2

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

14

BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 1 HC

KENTARO MIURA

DARK HORSE COMICS

15

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 6

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

16

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

17

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 19

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

18

DEMON SLAYER COMPLETE BOX SET: INCLUDES VOL. 1-23 W/ PREMIUM

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

19

BLUE LOCK VOL. 6

MUNEYUKI KANESHIRO

KODANSHA COMICS

20

THEY CALLED US ENEMY

GEORGE TAKEI

IDW PUBLISHING

Source: Circana

For charts of May 2023 graphic novel sales from Circana:
May 2023 Circana – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
May 2023 Circana – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels

For the charts with the actual sales numbers from Circana, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
May 2023 Circana – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
May 2023 Circana – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
May 2023 Circana – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales


Circana collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more.  Circana 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 Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "Top 20 GN Index."