{"id":3481,"date":"2020-01-23T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T23:45:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-30T15:38:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T20:38:31","slug":"the-2019-two-thousand-look-at-1000-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/23\/the-2019-two-thousand-look-at-1000-top\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2019 Two Thousand: A look at the 1,000 top-selling comics and graphic novels ordered by comics shops"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With the release of the December sales charts from\u00a0Diamond Comic Distributors<\/a>,<\/b>\u00a0Comichron<\/b>\u00a0has drawn upon that information to project estimates for the\u00a0Top Thousand Comics and the Top Thousand Graphic Novels for 2019<\/b><\/a>. The tables are on the page just beneath the image links to individual months.<\/p>\n

This year’s charts have our sorting and searching features implemented, as now do our previous 28 years of annual charts,\u00a0going back to\u00a01991<\/b><\/a>. You can find the links to them, along with updated comparatives for how the market as a whole did across that time, by viewing our\u00a0Yearly Comics Sales<\/b><\/a>\u00a0page.<\/p>\n

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Led by\u00a0Detective Comics<\/i>\u00a0#1000<\/a>,\u00a0the\u00a0Top Thousand Comics\u00a0<\/b>accounted for around 50.43\u00a0million copies; we don’t yet know how many copies Diamond sold altogether. (We’ll see that when the December data comes out.) This is an increase of 1.5% in units over what the Top Thousand sold in 2017.<\/p>\n

Here are the totals for the Top Thousand Comics from the past few years. Diamond did not release figures for 2016, but we calculated\u00a0minimum values for the Top Thousand<\/a><\/b>\u00a0based on known orders and reorders from that year:<\/p>\n

2010:<\/a>\u00a045.3 million copies
\n2011:<\/a>\u00a047 million copies
\n2012:<\/a>\u00a053.43 million copies
\n2013:<\/a>\u00a052.21 million copies
\n2014:<\/a>\u00a052.07 million copies
\n2015:<\/a>\u00a058.59 million copies
\n2016:<\/a>\u00a059.8 million (minimum, probably slightly higher)
\n2017:<\/a>\u00a049.68 million copies
\n2018:<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>50.43 million copies
\n2019: 49.88 million copies<\/b><\/p>\n

As you can see, 2019’s figure comes in under 2012’s \u2014 but we know that Diamond sold more comics in 2017 than in 2012, so it may have done so in 2019, too. This is a consequence of the Top Thousand representing a smaller portion of the distributor’s volume. In full retail dollars, the Top Thousand Comics likely sold for $225.54 million,<\/b> a 6% jump over the previous year, when the 2018’s Top 1000 sold for $213.3 million. That total was itself a big 11% leap over 2017’s $190.6 million, so the trend is continuing: the top sellers are more expensive, and $8 and $10 price tags are not seemingly impediments to big sales.<\/p>\n

Almost everything in the Top 1000 had “multiple order codes” at Diamond, meaning there were variant covers or reprints combined into one entry; sometimes it’s not a simultaneous variant, but rather a reprint with a different cover.<\/p>\n

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Breaking down unit sales \u2014 and again employing our estimated minimums for 2016 \u2014 we see little movement in the higher tiers in 2019, but significant declines in the 25,000 to 50,000 tier; that’s likely a response to smaller slates from DC<\/b> and Image<\/b>, as well as the fact that DC’s cardstock program broke up many of its midrange sellers into multiple entries in Diamond’s Top Thousand chart.<\/p>\n

The first chart shows what’s in each bracket; the second is a cumulative measure:<\/p>\n

\n
NUMBER OF COMIC BOOK ISSUES SELLING\u00a0<\/b>THIS MANY COPIES DURING YEAR<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\n200,000+<\/th>\n100,000+<\/th>\n75k-100k<\/th>\n50k-75k<\/th>\n25k-50k<\/th>\n10k-25k<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2009<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n260<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n209<\/td>\n652<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n42<\/td>\n44<\/td>\n257<\/td>\n641<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n63<\/td>\n66<\/td>\n274<\/td>\n697<\/td>\n1150<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n114<\/td>\n212<\/td>\n738<\/td>\n1302<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n293<\/td>\n794<\/td>\n1158<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>\n21<\/td>\n74<\/td>\n72<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n799<\/td>\n1114<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016*<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n83<\/td>\n111<\/td>\n261<\/td>\nn.a.<\/td>\nn.a.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n46<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n233<\/td>\n834<\/td>\n1200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n44<\/td>\n77<\/td>\n179<\/td>\n763<\/td>\n1104<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n47<\/td>\n71<\/td>\n192<\/td>\n686<\/td>\n1272<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
NUMBER OF COMIC BOOK ISSUES SELLING
\nAT LEAST<\/span>\u00a0THIS MANY COPIES DURING YEAR<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\n200,000+<\/th>\n100,000+<\/th>\n75,000+<\/th>\n50,000+<\/th>\n25,000+<\/th>\n10,000+<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\n
2009<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
39<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
119<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
379<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
n.a.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
0<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
26<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
94<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
303<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
955<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2011<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
3<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
42<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
86<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
343<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
984<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2012<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
5<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
63<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
129<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
403<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1100<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2250<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2013<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
6<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
64<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
178<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
390<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1128<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2430<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2014<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
4<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
40<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
108<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
401<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1195<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2353<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2015<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
21<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
95<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
167<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
367<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1166<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2280<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2016*<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
11<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
94<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
205<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
466<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
n.a.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
n.a.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2017<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
3<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
49<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
99<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
332<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1166<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2366<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2018<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
11<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
55<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
132<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
311<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1074<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2178<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
2019<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
8<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
55<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
126<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
318<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1004<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2276<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Every year we also add a number of items to our lists for the\u00a0Top Comics of the Decade<\/a><\/b>\u00a0and the\u00a0Top Comics of the Century<\/a><\/b>\u00a0(…So Far<\/b>, in the latter case). The final year of the decade added a large number of new entrants, 33, to the Top 300. That’s one more than the previous year, and the fourth most all decade.<\/p>\n

The decade’s bestsellers break down by year as follows:<\/p>\n

2010: 8
\n2011: 23
\n2012: 40
\n2013: 27
\n2014: 15
\n2015: 55
\n2016: 44
\n2017: 24
\n2018: 32
\n2019: 33<\/p>\n

Detective Comics <\/i>#1000<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>was the big one, of course, placing second in both the decade and century behind 2015’s\u00a0Star Wars<\/i>\u00a0#1<\/a><\/b>. The best performance by another comic was Spawn<\/i> #300<\/a><\/b>, which landed at 34th in the decade and 42nd in the century.<\/p>\n

2019 overall added 17 comics to the 300 bestselling comics of the 21st Century.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Top Thousand<\/b>\u00a0Graphic Novels,<\/b>\u00a0led by Watchmen<\/i><\/b> (for the third time in the last 30 years!)\u00a0went for $58.2 million. This is a small drop from 2018’s total, less than half a percent. It’s a far cry from 2018’s major 20% drop.<\/p>\n

2011: $58.4 million
\n2012: $71.4 million
\n2013: $79.03 million
\n2014: $81.19 million
\n2015: $81.46 million
\n2016: $69.48 million (minimum, likely a good deal higher)
\n2017: $73.19 million
\n2018: $58.2 million
\n2019: $57.94 million<\/b><\/p>\n

Accounting for the difference once again this year: a lot of money was tied up in comics, and the\u00a0Walking Dead\u00a0<\/i><\/b>factor appears to have faded from what it was in previous years.\u00a0It’s also more the case that retailers today are buying graphic novels from more sources than Diamond.<\/p>\n

Overall graphic novel sales were reported by Diamond to be down 2.1%, so the Top Thousand fared relatively better than the long tail.<\/p>\n

Combined, the Top Thousand Comics and Top Thousand Graphic Novel lists account for more than half of all the orders by dollars Diamond received for print products in 2019.<\/p>\n

Who published the Top Thousand Comics this year? Here’s the breakdown:<\/p>\n

Marvel: 597\u00a0<\/b>(+62)<\/div>\n
DC: 351 <\/b>(-48)<\/div>\n
Image: 27 <\/b>(-25)
\nBoom: 8<\/b>\u00a0(+5)<\/div>\n
Dynamite: 6<\/b>\u00a0(+5)
\nIDW: 6<\/b>\u00a0(+3)<\/p>\n
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Dark Horse: 3\u00a0<\/b>(unchanged)
\nValiant: 1<\/b>\u00a0(-1)
\nArchie: 1\u00a0<\/b>(unchanged)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
\n
DC<\/b>‘s line cutbacks in the first half of the year impacted it, as did the fact that its cardstock cover program meant many of its titles were broken up into multiple entries. Image\u00a0published many fewer comics in 2019 and saw a significant, with gains to\u00a0Marvel<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Boom<\/b>. Dynamite<\/b> owed four of its newly gained spots to Vampirella.\u00a0Oni<\/b>\u00a0dropped out of the list.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And here’s the publisher breakdown of the Top Thousand Graphic Novels. Those with 10 or more entries:<\/div>\n
Marvel: 292 <\/b>(-20)<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

DC: 248<\/b>\u00a0(-29)<\/p>\n

Image: 199 <\/b>(+9)<\/div>\n
\u00a0Viz: 79<\/b>\u00a0(+21)
\nDark Horse: 70 <\/b>(+20)<\/p>\n
\n
Boom: 23<\/b>\u00a0(+7)<\/div>\n

IDW: 18<\/b>\u00a0(+4)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Oni\/Lion Forge:<\/b>\u00a013<\/b>\u00a0(-1)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Another big move this year for\u00a0Viz <\/b>\u2014 and a significant one as well for Dark Horse<\/b>.\u00a0<\/b>Marvel lost entries but stayed ahead of DC, which lost 29 entries for the second year in a row.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the release of the December sales charts from\u00a0Diamond Comic Distributors,\u00a0Comichron\u00a0has drawn upon that information to project estimates for the\u00a0Top Thousand Comics and the Top Thousand Graphic Novels for 2019. The tables are on the page just beneath the image links to individual months. This year’s charts have our sorting and searching features implemented, as … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,21],"class_list":["post-3481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2019-sales","tag-diamond-annual-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6159,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions\/6159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}