{"id":4062,"date":"2018-01-15T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T23:36:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-30T17:56:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T22:56:20","slug":"the-2017-two-thousand-look-at-1000-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/15\/the-2017-two-thousand-look-at-1000-top\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2017 Two Thousand: A look at the 1,000 top-selling comics and graphic novels ordered by comic shops"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With the release of December comics orders from Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a> \u2014 and our subsequent analysis of<\/b><\/a> and estimates for<\/b> December 2017<\/b> comics sales<\/b><\/a> now posted \u2014 Comichron<\/b> has drawn upon that information to project estimates for the Top Thousand Comics and the Top Thousand Graphic Novels for 2017<\/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 26 years of annual charts,\u00a0going back to 1991<\/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 Yearly Comics Sales<\/b><\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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Led by Marvel Legacy<\/i> #1<\/a><\/b>,\u00a0the Top Thousand Comics<\/b>
\naccounted for around 49.68 million copies; Diamond reported it sold 89.44 million copies altogether, so that’s about 55% of all copies.
\nThat fraction is down from around three-fifths two years ago, and underscores the degree to which the charts have gotten less top-heavy. It’s also a reason why Diamond shifted to reporting the Top 500 comics monthly; the market is fragmented such that more sales are outside the top portions of the charts.<\/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> based on known orders and reorders from that year:<\/p>\n

2010:<\/a> 45.3 million copies
\n2011:<\/a> 47 million copies
\n2012:<\/a> 53.43 million copies
\n2013:<\/a> 52.21 million copies
\n2014:<\/a> 52.07 million copies
\n2015:<\/a> 58.59 million copies
\n2016:<\/a> 59.8 million (minimum, probably slightly higher)
\n2017:<\/a> 49.68 million copies<\/b><\/p>\n

As you can see, 2017’s figure comes in under 2012’s \u2014 but we already know that Diamond sold more comics in 2017 than in 2012, so this is again a consequence of the Top Thousand representing a smaller portion of the distributor’s volume. In full retail
\ndollars, the Top Thousand Comics likely sold for $190.6 million, just a smidge under the 2012 figure; the same observation applies.<\/p>\n

Almost everything in the Top 100 had “multiple order codes” at Diamond,
\nmeaning there were variant covers or reprints combined into one entry;
\nsometimes it’s not a simultaneous variant, but rather a reprint with a different cover. Very standard, by now.<\/p>\n

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Breaking down unit sales \u2014 and again employing our estimated minimums for 2016 \u2014 we see clearly the troubles\u00a0in the higher tiers in 2017. The first chart shows what’s in each bracket; the second is a cumulative measure:<\/p>\n

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

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