Naruto Vol. 28 held the top spot in the monthly Top 20 Graphic Novel rankings for April.  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 March 31st to April 27th.  The over-all popularity of the Naruto property dropped a bit in April, however, from overwhelming (six Naruto titles in the Top 20 last month, see "Bookscan's Top 20 Graphic Novels for March") to merely dominating (four Naruto titles in the Top 20 in April). 

 

Manga maintained its share of the Top 20, with 18 out of the top 20 titles.  Viz Media had 16 of those 18 manga slots, behind Naruto (four volumes), Death Note (three), Vampire Night (three), Pokemon (one), and several other properties.  Tokyopop (Fruits Basket) and Del Rey (Fairy Tail) each had one manga volume in the Top 20.


Top 20 Graphic Novels 3/31 - 4/27/08
Rank

Title

 Author Pub PubDate
1 NARUTO VOL. 28 KISHIMOTO MASASHI VIZ 3/1/08
2 VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 4 HINO MATSURI VIZ 4/1/08
3 FRUITS BASKET VOL. 19 TAKAYA NATSUKI TKP 3/1/08
4 BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE MOORE ALAN DC 3/1/08
5 HANA-KIMI VOL. 23 NAKAJO HISAYA VIZ 4/1/08
6 DEATH NOTE VOL. 1 OHBA TSUGUMI VIZ 10/1/05
7 VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 1 HINO MATSURI VIZ 1/1/07
8 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST VOL. 16 ARAKAWA HIROMU VIZ 3/1/08
9 DEATH NOTE HOW TO READ VOL. 13 OHBA TSUGUMI VIZ 2/1/08
10 NARUTO VOL. 27 W/ STICKER KISHIMOTO MASASHI VIZ 12/1/07
11 DEATH NOTE VOL. 2 OHBA TSUGUMI VIZ 11/1/05
12 NARUTO VOL. 26 KISHIMOTO MASASHI VIZ 12/1/07
13 WATCHMEN MOORE ALAN DC 4/1/95
14 VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 3 HINO MATSURI VIZ 10/1/07
15 FAIRY TAIL VOL. 1 MASHIMA HIRO DEL 3/1/08
16 VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 2 HINO MATSURI VIZ 5/1/07
17 NARUTO VOL. 1 KISHIMOTO MASASHI VIZ 7/1/03
18 I.O.N TANEMURA ARINA VIZ 4/1/08
19 THE BEST OF POKEMON ADVENTURES: RED KUSAKA HIDENORI VIZ 10/1/06
20 TAIL OF THE MOON VOL. 10 UEDA RINKO VIZ 4/1/08

 

The biggest “new” American title on the list was Batman: The Killing Joke, a new hardcover edition of the Alan Moore and Brian Bolland story.  It charted at #4, joining Alan Moore’s Watchmen as another 20 year-old example of how great stories continue to sell.  Marvel had no Top 20 titles in April. 

 

Eleven volumes from six properties (Naruto, Fruits Basket, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Watchmen, and Pokemon) repeated in the Top 20 from March.  Nine volumes from six properties, Vampire Knight, The Batman: Killing Joke, Hana-Kimi, Fairy Tail, I.O.N. and Tail of the Moon, were new to the Top 20 in April.