Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon and Vizmanga.com calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, and some way-off analysis of the activity.
New York Times Bestseller List for the week ending May 2, 2015
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Vol 9 ∗
Akame ga Kill! Vol 2 ↓ 1
Noragami Vol 4 ∗
Naruto Vol 69 ↵ 7
Attack on Titan Vol 1 96
Big Hero Six Vol 1 ↓ 3
Death Note Vol 1 ↵ 3
Attack on Titan Vol 15 ↓ 2
Assassination Classroom Vol 1 ↓ 4
Akame ga Kill! Vol 1 ↓
Forget about Titans, it’s the attack of the vol 1s! Half of the list this week is composed of vol 1s. Death Note, Assassination Classroom, and Akame ga Kill! join Attack on Titan and Big Hero Six in holding spots on the list. The top title goes not to a vol 1, but vol 9 as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin gets closer to its end. Noragami Vol 4 is the only other debut manga to make the list this week. Naruto Vol 69 seems to has lost its sheen as it nears its finale. It doesn’t seem to have the same staying power it used to. Maybe losing the drama between Naruto and Sasuke has made fans lose interest as well.
Amazon.com for the week ending May 9, 2015
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ↔
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood Vol 2 ↵
Rosario+Vampire Season II Vol 14 ↓ 1
The Devil is a Part-Timer Novel Vol 1 ∗
Attack on Titan Vol 15 ↑ 1
Berserk Vol 1 ↵
Uzumaki 3-in-1 Deluxe Edition ↵
Sword Art Online Aincrad Novel Vol 2 ↓ 1
Sword Art Online Progressive Novel Vol 1 ↵
Attack on Titan Vol 1 ↓ 7
With the release of the actual volume, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past not only takes the top manga spot at Amazon, it also overtakes Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, an art book that has held #1 for months. So Legend of Zelda takes over from Legend of Zelda. It’s kind of like howAttack on Titan used to be. Yen Press’ new light novel The Devil is a Part-Timer debuts respectably, charting in the top 5. Viz’s re-release of Uzumaki is getting more love, possibly in anticipation of the new Junji Ito manga, Fragments of Horror, set to come out in June.
Nielsen Book Scan Top 20 for the month of April 2015
6. Attack on Titan Vol 15
11. Big Hero Six Vol 1
12. Naruto Vol 69
Manga loses a couple of spots from last month as comic readers prepare for the big summer releases from Marvel mostly. Attack on Titan and Naruto are the titles you would expect to see, but Big Hero Six might slip under people’s radar. The movie did okay here, but fans love it a lot. Wondercon was filled with Big Hero Six cosplay, and being a Disney property gives it a lot of marketing behind it. I expect it hold out next month too.
∗ = New Release
↑ = Title moved up specified # of spots
↓ = Title moved down specified # of spots
↔ = Title didn’t moved from previous week
↵ = Title returned after dropping off list with total # of weeks (when available)