A look at the best selling manga all time telling you all you need to know about the popularity of One Piece. As of May 3rd of this year, the Elichiro Oda penned manga sits comfortably on the top spot. In 77 collected volumes, the manga has sold a collective 380 million copies worldwide. Number 2 is the original Dragon Ball series. With over 42 volumes, it has sold 230 million copies. Here is a look at the top 5 best selling manga of all time...
1. One Piece 380 Million copies sold
2. Dragon Ball 230 Million copies sold
3. Naruto 205 Million copies sold
4. Golgo 13 200 Million copies sold
5. Black Jack 176 Million copies sold
The numbers don't lie. Last year, for the sixth year in a row, One Piece topped the best seller list, despite only offering only three new volumes. Manga sales have been in gradual decline for a long but One Piece has propped up the numbers and made them not so pathetic looking. For example, in 2011, Oda's manga sold 40 million copies in Japan alone, roughly 6% of the overall manga sales in Japan.
Whether One Piece is unique in the chord it has struck in readers or it is a last relic of a bygone era when manga was done properly is very difficult to say. Certainly, it has struck a chord with readers and continues to do so. Maybe not in the mass volume that it once did, but there is still a lot of life left in the old dog.
Of course, when trying to figure out One Piece's popularity, it may be as simple as Elichiro Oda. The universe and voice he imbues his characters with appeal to a wide range of readers. The evidence is in the numbers.
