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Media news website ICv2 recently put out a report detailing manga sales in the US via NPD BookScan throughout 2021. The report's conclusion claims that 2021 manga sales were more than double what they were in 2020 throughout the United States.
The total number of manga units sold was 24.4 million, a 160% increase equating to 15 million copies over last year’s totals. Attached to these figures is a disclaimer that says the My Hero Academia manga may have sold more units than counted in 2021 and 2020.
Follow along as this article breaks down the full report detailing manga sales in the US throughout 2021.
Manga sales in the US grew 160%, North American comic market valued 1.28 billion USD
ICv2 report details
As aforementioned, media news website ICv2 is reporting that manga sales in the US grew 160% from 2021 to 2022. This number could potentially be even higher, with ICv2 reporting that My Hero Academia manga sales in the US may have been undercounted for both years.
Viz Media vice president Kevin Hamric also told ICv2 via interview that the company is seeing much higher manga sales in this timeframe of 2022 compared to that of 2021. He added that the growth rate is slower, however, adding that manga accounted for a quarter of the overall book industry growth in the US.
Hamric also stated that the company is expecting supply chain issues to continue through the rest of the year, likely due to the state of Japan as it relates to the Covid pandemic. ICv2 reports that backlogged box sets and individual volumes factored strongly into this year's sales.
ICv2 attributes the increased demand in manga volumes to increased anime streaming throughout the pandemic. The new peak of manga purchases surpassed the 2007 record for manga sales in the US.
Hamric had previously reported in March 2021 that Viz Media saw 70% growth in their US market during 2020, alongside a 43% overall increase in manga sales for the same year.
ICv2 further reports that NPD BookScan’s April 2021 report showed a 29% overall increase in print book sales for the United States. This was also the highest volume of print book sales since NPD’s BookScan was introduced in 2004.
The report showed a particularly high growth of 4 million units in graphic novels compared to the April 2020 report, with 80% of that growth coming from manga volumes.
In summation
ICv2’s report clearly shows a growing trend in manga sales in the US over the last two years. Furthermore, much of this growth is attributed to an increase in anime streaming, indicating that the anime industry is performing as intended stateside.
The growth presented could be even higher, with My Hero Academia manga sales being undercounted for both years. Even if this isn’t the case, the increase in US manga sales over the pandemic era has been astonishing.
What’s clear is that manga sales in the US seem to be showing no signs of slowing down, especially if early 2022 Q1 trends are any indication.
