Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba breaks all-time single-week Oricon manga sales record

2020’s biggest anime/manga hit finishes strong with series’ final volume.

A unique aspect to the Japanese comics industry is that the chapters for a manga first appear serialized in anthology magazines alongside other series, with an individual title’s chapters not being published in a collected volume until some time. So while the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga wrapped up back in May, fans had to wait until this month to get their hands on the series’ 23rd and final volume.

The series has only grow in popularity in the time since, bolstered by word of mouth from preexisting fans, newcomers looking for entertainment during the pandemic, and a phenomenally successful theatrical anime adaptation. So publisher Shueisha was no doubt expecting big things from the conclusion to 2020’s biggest manga, and Demon Slayer wasted no time delivering once it went on sale December 4.

During its first week, Volume 23 sold 2,855,000 copies, the highest single-week sales ever on the Oricon manga sales charts (which go back to April of 2008). It’s unclear whether or not that gives the final Demon Slayer volume the best single-week manga sales of all time, but it’s at least the best in over a decade, and considering the growth of the otaku media industry since the start of the new millennium, it’s an impressive feat.

What’s even crazier is that more than 2,855,000 copies of Volume 23 were actually sold. That figure is for stand-alone purchases of the book, but Volume 23 is also being offered in a special collector’s bundle with a Demon Slayer figure, and sales for that edition were an additional 576,000, which was good enough to secure third place on the weekly manga charts.

Oh, and in second place? A Demon Slayer side story collection titled Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Gaiden, with 859,000 copies sold, meaning it’s yet another sales podium sweep for the series.

Source: Oricon News via Yahoo! Japan News via Otakomu
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