As reported here in greater detail on Friday, April’s strong sales continued into May, with the month beating any one from 2017. We’ve now got our estimates for the individual title sales for the month, and they make Amazing Spider-Man #800 the second book in two months to top 400,000 copies. Further, April’s leader, Action Comics #1000, piled up even more sales, passing 500,000 copies in North America, as expected — meaning that both issues have a nearly even dollar value at full retail of around $4 million. Click to see the comics sales charts for May 2018.
We have also updated our running sales tally for 2018, and two books from May made the Top 5: Spidey’s issue, of course, and Venom #1, which shipped more than 225,000 copies.
The influence of the top-sellers resulted in the average weighted price of comics ordered by shops to vault to $4.40, blowing away the previous record of $4.18 set in November 2015. (See other modern-era sales records.) The average cost of comics offered (rather than ordered) was $3.93, about normal for this year.
We have a video walkthrough of the month’s preliminary sales report; be sure to take a look.
The vital statistics for the month:
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in UNITS) |
||
| May 2018 | 6.97 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 7.11 million copies | -2% |
| 5 Years Ago | 6.97 million copies | 0% |
| 10 Years Ago | 7.06 million copies | -1% |
| 15 Years Ago | 5.69 million copies | +22% |
| 20 Years Ago | 6.99 million copies | 0% |
| Top 500 Comics Shipped (Units) | 7.43 million copies | |
| ALL Comics Shipped in Month (Units) |
7.59 million copies | -9% |
| Year To Date | 31.62 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 33.63 million copies | -6 |
| 5 Years Ago | 34.69 million copies | -9 |
| 10 Years Ago | 32.88 million copies | -4 |
| 15 Years Ago | 28.76 million copies | 10 |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Units) |
34.53 million copies | -10% |
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| May 2018 | $30.68 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $28.05 million | +9% |
| 5 Years Ago | $25.4 million | +21% |
| 10 Years Ago | $23.12 million | +33% |
| 15 Years Ago | $15.76 million | +95% |
| 20 Years Ago | $16.97 million | +81% |
| Top 500 Comics Shipped (Dollars) |
$32.64 million | |
| ALL Comics Shipped during Month (Dollars) |
+6% | |
| Year To Date | $128.25 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $128.17 million | 0% |
| 5 Years Ago | $124.88 million | +3% |
| 10 Years Ago | $104.36 million | +23% |
| 15 Years Ago | $80.26 million | +60% |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
+0% | |
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| May 2018 (Top 300 GNs) | $6.09 million | |
| May 2018 (Top 100 GNs) |
$3.63 million | |
| May 2018 (Top 50 GNs) |
$2.33 million | |
| May 2018 (Top 25 GNs) |
$1.5 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$7.29 million | -16% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$7.83 million | -22% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 100) |
$5.06 million | -28% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$2.42 million | -4% |
| Top 500 Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
$7.2 million | |
| ALL Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
-8% | |
| Year To Date | $28.53 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $37.95 million | -25% |
| ALL Graphic Novel Dollars Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-9% | |
| TOP 300 COMICS plus TOP GNs SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| May 2018 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$36.77 million | |
| May 2018 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$34.31 million | |
| May 2018 (including Top 100 GNs) |
$33.01 million | |
| May 2018 (including Top 25 GNs) |
$32.18 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$35.34 million | +4% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$33.24 million | +3% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$28.18 million | +9% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$18.18 million | +95% |
| Top 500 Comics & Top 500 GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
$39.84 million | |
| All Comics & GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
+2% | |
| Year To Date | $156.77 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $166.16 million | -6% |
| ALL Comics & GNs Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-3% | |
| ALL COMICS AND GNs SHIPPED (in Dollars) |
||
| May 2018 | $49,044,800.00 | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$48.16 million | +2% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago |
$45.12 million | +9% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago |
$36.79 million | +33% |
| Year To Date | $209.34 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $215.095 million | -3% |
| TITLE SPECIFICS | ||
| TOP SELLING COMIC BOOK | ||
| Amazing Spider-Man #800 |
411,480 copies at | $9.99 |
| 50th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| X-Men Gold #28 | 35,221 copies at | $3.99 |
| 100th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| You Are Deadpool #4 |
22,956 copies at | $3.99 |
| 150th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #22 |
14,981 copies at | $3.99 |
| 200th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Red Sonja #15 | 9,355 copies at | $3.99 |
| 300th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Back to the Future Time Train #5 |
4,471 copies at | $3.99 |
| 400th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Peek a Boo #3 | 2,119 copies at | $3.99 |
| 500th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| True Believers Thanos The First #1 |
769 copies at | $3.99 |
| NEW RELEASE VOLUME |
||
| New Comics Released |
472 | |
| New Graphic Novels Released |
386 | |
| New Magazines Released |
32 | |
| Total New Print Items Released |
890 | |
| PRICING | ||
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.93 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300, weighted by orders |
$4.40 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 25 |
$4.59 | |
| Median Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.99 | |
| Most Common Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.99 |
Comichron founder John Jackson Miller has tracked the comics industry for more than 25 years, including a decade editing the industry’s retail trade magazine; he is the author of several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books for various franchises.
He is the author of novels including Star Wars: Kenobi, Star Wars: A New Dawn, Star Trek: Discovery – The Enterprise War, and his upcoming release, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The High Country. Read more about them at his fiction site.
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