Full July 2011 comics sales estimates now online

Following the initial report here on July 2011 comics orders, the full data is now out from Diamond Comic Distributors. Click to see the Comics Chronicles estimates.

As expected, Amazing Spider-Man #666 landed in the 130s, and there were two more titles in the 90,000-copy range, which is an improvement on some of the more anemic months this year. The market didn’t have as much depth, though, with the 300th-place title landing around 3,500 copies. That is much higher than in past years, just not as high as some recent months.

The aggregate totals:

July 2011: 5.89 million copies
Versus 1 year ago this month: -1%
Versus 5 years ago this month: -20%
Versus 10 years ago this month: -6%
YEAR TO DATE: 37.9 million copies, -7% vs. 2010, -19% vs. 2006, +4% vs. 2001

ALL COMICS UNIT SALES
July 2011 versus one year ago this month: -0.52%
YEAR TO DATE: -6.46%

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July 2011: $20.29 million
Versus 1 year ago this month: -5%
Versus 5 years ago this month: -10%
Versus 10 years ago this month: +16%
YEAR TO DATE: $131.53 million, -8% vs. 2010, -8% vs. 2006, +31% vs. 2001

ALL COMICS DOLLAR SALES
July 2011 versus one year ago this month: -4.27%
YEAR TO DATE: -7.26%

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July 2011: $5.94 million
Versus 1 year ago this month: -22%
Versus 5 years ago this month, just the Top 100 vs. the Top 100: -8%
Versus 10 years ago this month, just the Top 25 vs. the Top 25: +49%
YEAR TO DATE: $38.33 million, -11% vs. 2010

ALL TRADE PAPERBACK  SALES
July 2011 versus one year ago this month: -10.1%
YEAR TO DATE: -6.58%

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July 2011: $26.23 million
Versus 1 year ago this month: -9%
Versus 5 years ago this month, counting just the Top 100 TPBs: -10%
Versus 10 years ago this month, counting just the Top 25 TPBs: +16%
YEAR TO DATE: $169.86 million, -9% vs. 2010

ALL COMICS AND TRADE PAPERBACK  SALES
July 2011 versus one year ago this month: -6.17%
YEAR TO DATE: -7.04%

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July 2011: approximately $33 million (subject to revision)
Versus 1 year ago this month: -9%
Versus 5 years ago this month: -6%
YEAR TO DATE: $221.68 million, -7% vs. 2010

It’s worth noting that while the unit sales performances versus with five years ago are starting to look pretty bad,  there’s an excellent reason for that: we’re beginning to climb the real sales peak for comics in the 2000s. July 2006 saw the release of Civil War #3 — at 290,000 copies in its first month, it was the #3 best-selling comic book of the entire decade — and the previous issue was #2! Diamond moved 7.4 million copies in the month, on its way up to a 21st-century record of 7.96 million copies in November 2006. So as we make our comparisons heading into DC’s relaunch, it is worth remembering that, while the one-year comparatives for the market aren’t particularly high hurdles, the five-year numbers are way up there. (The ten-year unit sales comparatives, which had been very close to current performance, are starting to climb, too, as the market recovery of 2001 was underway by this time of year.)

The drop in trade paperbacks is attributable in some large part to tough comparatives from the previous year: July 2011 saw a new Scott Pilgrim edition and high Pilgrim sales in advance of the film, a Walking Dead volume, and the Blackest Night hardcover. But the “long tail” makes up for quite a bit: just comparing the Top 300 trades, this July was off $2.4 million, or 22%. The gap shrinks to 10% when the rest of Diamond’s trades are added in.