The chart of the top 20 books of 2020 holds few surprises for those who have been following along. Graphix dominates the chart, with 16 titles, and Dav Pilkey dominates the Graphix slice, with 10 titles, including his brand-new Cat Kid Comic Club, which appears in third place for the year despite just coming out on December 1.
Pilkey shares the top half of the chart with two other Graphix titles, Raina Telgemeier’s Guts and Jerry Craft’s New Kid, both of which have also been in the top 20 for the past year. Three other Telgemeier titles also appear in the top 20, but her 2020 book Smile didn’t make the cut. Similarly, Craft’s Class Act, which came out in October, isn’t on the chart.
Two Baby-Sitters Club books round out the Graphix assortment, Karen’s Witch, which is a Baby-Sitters Little Sister title, and Boy-Crazy Stacey, the seventh volume in the main series. Again, looking at what’s not on the chart, the second Baby-Sitters Little Sister book, Karen’s Roller Skates, fell short of the top 20, although it sold well enough in July to bump Dog Man out of the top spot—the first time this has happened in three years (see "July 2020 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels").
While the graphic adaptations of Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire novels have also done well for Graphix, none of them sold enough copies over the course of the year to make the final top 20.
Besides New Kid, the other three non-Graphix titles are FGTEEV Presents: Into the Game, which was on the chart every month from January through September; The Last Kids on Earth, which charted every month except July; and Best Friends, which didn’t make the chart every month but still sold well enough all year long to make the top 20.
One final observation: The full-year list skews slightly toward younger readers. Pilkey’s books are targeted at the 7-9 set, as is Baby-Sitters Little Sister, while the other books are for ages 8-12.
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels – Full Year 2020 (1/5/20 - 1/2/21) |
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|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
DOG MAN: GRIME AND PUNISHMENT HC |
PILKEY, DAV |
GRAPHIX |
|
2 |
DOG MAN: FETCH-22 HC |
PILKEY, DAV |
GRAPHIX |
|
3 |
CAT KID COMIC CLUB HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
4 |
DOG MAN: FOR WHOM THE BALL ROLLS HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
5 |
GUTS |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
6 |
DOG MAN: BRAWL OF THE WILD HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
7 |
DOG MAN HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
8 |
NEW KID |
JERRY CRAFT |
HARPERCOLLINS |
|
9 |
DOG MAN: LORD OF THE FLEAS HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
10 |
DOG MAN UNLEASHED HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
11 |
DOG MAN AND CAT KID HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
12 |
DOG MAN: A TALE OF TWO KITTIES HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
13 |
FGTEEV PRESENTS: INTO THE GAME! HC |
FGTEEV |
HARPERCOLLINS |
|
14 |
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH HC |
MAX BRALLIER |
VIKING BOOKS |
|
15 |
DRAMA |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
16 |
BABY-SITTERS LITTLE SISTER VOL. 1: KAREN'S WITCH |
KATY FARINA |
GRAPHIX |
|
17 |
SISTERS |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
18 |
BEST FRIENDS |
SHANNON HALE |
FIRST SECOND BOOKS |
|
19 |
GHOSTS |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
20 |
THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB VOL. 7: BOY-CRAZY STACEY |
GALE GALLIGAN |
GRAPHIX |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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For charts of Full Year 2020 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
Full Year 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
Full Year 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
For the charts with the actual sales numbers from NPD BookScan, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
Full Year 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
Full Year 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
Full Year 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
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."