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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Is 3rd Manga to Sell Over 1 Million Copies of 1 Volume in 1st Week

Koyoharu Gotouge's 19th Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga volume sold an estimated 1.378 million copies to rank #1 on Oricon's weekly print sales chart for the February 3-9 week. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is the third manga series to have a single print volume sell more than 1 million copies in its first week, after One Piece (45 times) and Attack on Titan (two times). The last manga volume to sell 1 million copies in a week was the 94th volume of One Piece last October. This is the second consecutive week that a Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba volume has topped the ranking, and the series' third volume overall to top the ranking.

Nine other volumes of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba also ranked in the top 10 in the same week, making this the second consecutive week that the manga series occupied the entire top 10 — and only the second time any manga series has occupied the entire top 10 since Oricon began posting rankings in 2008. From top 1 to 10, the highest-selling volumes on the chart are the 19th, 11th, 10th, ninth, second, first, 14th, third, 12th, and 13th volumes.

Oricon estimates the franchise as whole earned 1.5268 billion yen (about US$13.90 million) from physical print publications, CDs, Blu-ray Discs, and DVDs in just that week.

As of the February 4 debut of the 19th manga volume, the franchise as a whole (including print and digital releases) has 40 million copies in circulation.

The series' novels, Shiawase no Hana (Flower of Happiness) and Kataha no Chō (One-Winged Butterfly), have also rose to #2 and #3, respectively, in the Oricon weekly book ranking in the same week. This is Shiawase no Hana's 15th week in the top 10, and seventh week in a row. This is also Kataha no Chō's 16th week in the top 10, and 10th week in a row. Oricon estimates that Shiawase no Hana has now sold a cumulative total of 507,000 copies. Both books will collectively have 1.16 million copies in circulation after a planned reprint on February 19, making the books the fastest franchise novels in Shueisha's "Jump j Books" novel label to reach 1 million copies in circulation.

Shueisha revealed last November that the series was the company's second highest-selling manga in 2019, second only to Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba sold 10.8 million manga volumes in the period from November 19, 2018 to November 17, 2019. Meanwhile, One Piece sold 12.7 million manga volumes during the same time period. Shueisha did not specify if these numbers include digital sales.

Gotouge launched Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba in Weekly Shonen Jump in February 2016. Viz Media is publishing the manga in English digitally and in print.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered last April, and aired its 26th and final episode last September. Aniplex of America has licensed the series and is streaming the show on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and FunimationNow. Adult Swim's Toonami programming block premiered the television anime last October. The anime will receive a sequel anime film.

Source: Oricon