There’s usually a lot of manga on the chart, but in January 2021, there was only one title that originated in North America: the George Takei memoir They Called Us Enemy, at #4.
The least surprising thing about this chart is the top title: Volume 26 of My Hero Academia, which was released on January 5. On the other hand, Volume 1, which has been in the top five since November 2019, and was the #1 title in November and December 2020, is way down the list at #15. With 7 volumes in the top 20, My Hero Academia is still going strong, but in January, manga readers picked up a bunch of new series: In addition to My Hero Academia, there were six first volumes on the chart, plus a couple of Volume 2s. All these are shonen or seinen series, and none of them are new.
Jujutsu Kaisen launched in December 2019 and has not made the BookScan Adult Top 20 before this, although the second volume popped up in the last spot on the manga chart in November. It’s not clear what launched the first volume to the #2 spot in January 2021, but the release of the prequel (Jujutsu Kaisen 0, #6 on the chart) may have inspired some readers to pick up the series. Jujutsu Kaisen is a Shonen Jump series, as are The Promised Neverland, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Death Note, and My Hero Academia.
Attack on Titan, the only non-VIZ Media title on the list, may be getting some extra interest because the series is winding down (see "‘Attack on Titan’ Manga to End").
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels – January 2021 (1/3/21 - 1/30/21) |
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|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 26 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
2 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
3 |
THE PROMISED NEVERLAND VOL. 1 |
KAIU SHIRAI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
4 |
THEY CALLED US ENEMY |
GEORGE TAKEI |
TOP SHELF PROD. |
|
5 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
6 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN 0 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
7 |
ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1 |
HAJIME ISAYAMA |
KODANSHA COMICS |
|
8 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 24 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
9 |
DEATH NOTE BLACK EDITION VOL. 1 |
TSUGUMI OHBA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
10 |
THE PROMISED NEVERLAND VOL. 2 |
KAIU SHIRAI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
11 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 25 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
12 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
13 |
UZUMAKI HC |
JUNJI ITO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
14 |
TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1 |
SUI ISHIDA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
15 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
16 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
17 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 4 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
18 |
THE PROMISED NEVERLAND VOL. 18 |
KAIU SHIRAI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
19 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 3 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
20 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 2 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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For charts of January 2021 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
January 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
January 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels
For the charts with the actual sales numbers from NPD BookScan, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
January 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
January 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
January 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero 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."