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Weekly Shonen Jump's Circulation Drops Below 2 Million
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA) reported on Tuesday that Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump dipped in circulation below two million. The verified average circulation number for the January-March 2017 period was 1,915,000.
The manga magazine's circulation fell by about 91,000 from the October-December 2016 period when it was 2,005,833. The average circulation number for the July-September period was less than one third of the magazine's record circulation of 6.53 million in 1994.
Circulations of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazines also fell for the January-March 2017 period. Weekly Shōnen Magazine's circulation dropped about 22,000 from the previous period to 964,158. Weekly Shonen Sunday's circulation dropped about 3,600 to 319,667.
JMPA reported in 2015 that circulation in all three magazines had dropped by more than 10% in the previous year. Although JMPA reported that Weekly Shonen Jump rose slightly in circulation in 2009 and 2010, Japan's manga magazine circulation has been reported as falling since at least 2006. Weekly Shōnen Magazine's circulation dropped below two million in and below one million last year. JMPA previously noted that each company is putting effort into digital publication, which may account for part of the decrease in print circulation.
The chart below shows the circulation numbers for all three magazines beginning with the January-March 2014 period.
| Period | Weekly Shōnen Magazine | Weekly Shonen Jump | Weekly Shonen Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|
| January-March 2014 | 1,277,500 | 2,715,834 | 461,250 |
| April-June 2014 | 1,245,417 | 2,677,500 | 445,500 |
| July-September 2014 | 1,211,750 | 2,665,834 | 428,417 |
| October-December 2014 | 1,192,267 | 2,605,000 | 411,250 |
| January-March 2015 | 1,156,059 | 2,422,500 | 393,417 |
| April-June 2015 | 1,127,042 | 2,395,000 | 388,417 |
| July-September 2015 | 1,107,840 | 2,376,667 | 369,231 |
| October-December 2015 | 1,085,110 | 2,321,667 | 356,584 |
| January-March 2016 | 1,038,450 | 2,238,333 | 345,667 |
| April-June 2016 | 1,015,659 | 2,168,333 | 369,833 |
| July-September 2016 | 995,017 | 2,161,667 | 330,000 |
| October-December 2016 | 986,017 | 2,005,833 | 323,250 |
| January-March 2017 | 964,158 | 1,915,000 | 319,667 |
Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, Mr. Oshawott
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history