{"id":4443,"date":"2016-06-13T16:21:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T16:21:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-31T19:00:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T00:00:44","slug":"may-2016-comics-sales-estimates-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/13\/may-2016-comics-sales-estimates-online\/","title":{"rendered":"May 2016 comics sales estimates online; DC Rebirth tops 235k in orders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Comics
\nretailers in North America ordered nearly 236,000 copies of DC Universe Rebirth<\/i> #1<\/b><\/a> in May 2016, according to Comichron’s
\nanalysis of data released by Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a>.
\nThe figure, certain to increase with figures from later months, gave
\nthe $2.99 issue the top slot in the charts for May \u2014 but more money was
\nearned by the second-place finisher: Marvel’s $4.99 Civil War II<\/i> #0<\/b><\/a>, with
\norders of more than 177,000 copies. Click to see the sales estimates for
\ncomics ordered in May 2016<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Four comic books posted sales of more than 100,000 copies, down from 10 last year \u2014 confirming our Friday view<\/b><\/a>
\nthat most of the difference between this May’s and last May’s
\nperformance comes from a lack of blockbusters. Last year had the launch
\nof Secret Wars<\/i><\/b> with over half a million
\ncopies sold of #1 and more than 200,000 copies sold of #2 \u2014 and the
\ncharts also included the last of the Loot Crate-charged titles, Bravest Warriors: Tales from the Holo John<\/i> #1<\/b>,
\nwhich added half a million comics to the unit sales totals. There was also Convergence<\/b><\/i> in the mix back then.
\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/CivilWarII0\"<\/div>\n

May
\n2016’s top-sellers simply didn’t have the same high volumes. In total,
\nthe Top 300 comics sold 6.37 million copies in the month, down 20% from
\nalmost exactly 8 million last May \u2014 but really, that should be down 15%
\nfrom 7.5 million, since the Loot Crate copies were never part of the
\nDirect Market. That leaves a deficit of 1.13 million copies, which is
\nalmost entirely explained by softer sales in the Top 100.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, all
\ncomics in 140th through 300th places outsold those in the corresponding
\nrankings on the list from last year<\/b>; this month’s 300th place title
\nsold 4,986 copies, which is a very respectable number. (Click to see the
\nsales of 300th-place titles across time<\/b><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So
\nwhy are the midlist and low-end entries doing better? One reason is
\nthat they’re more likely to be Marvel titles this year as opposed to
\nlast year. Marvel placed 102 titles in the Top 300 this May; last May,
\nthere were only 81. There are fewer comics coming from the middle-tier publishers this year<\/b><\/a>,
\nso if Marvel is taking those spots on the list, its generally higher
\nvolumes would have an impact. To be clear, we’re describing the relative
\nperformance of titles at the same rank on the charts, not the
\nperformance of specific ongoing titles over time. But it is another example of the shape of the comics sales chart evolving. Depth continues, even if the bestsellers aren’t reaching the same heights.<\/p>\n

The aggregate changes are as follows:<\/p>\n

TOP 300 COMICS UNIT SALES<\/b><\/span>
\nMay 2016<\/a><\/b>: 6.37 million copies
\nVersus 1 year ago this month<\/b><\/a>: -20%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +24%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: -16%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +32%
\nYEAR TO DATE: 31.51 million copies, -15% vs. 2015, +21% vs. 2011, -3% vs. 2006, +26% vs. 2001
\nALL COMICS UNIT SALES<\/b>
\nMay 2016 versus one year ago this month: -17.60%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -14.01%<\/b><\/p>\n

TOP 300 COMICS DOLLAR SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

May 2016: $25.24 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -24%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +42%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month: +7%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month: +94%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $125.61 million, -14% vs. 2015, +39% vs. 2011, +26% vs. 2006, +86% vs. 2001
\nALL COMICS DOLLAR SALES<\/b>
\nMay 2016 versus one year ago this month: -14.34%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -9.23% <\/b><\/p>\n

TOP 300 TRADE PAPERBACK DOLLAR SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

April 2016: $7.07 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -3%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +26%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month, just the Top 100 vs. the Top 100: +23%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month, just the Top 25 vs. the Top 25: -7%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $39.76 million, +13% vs. 2015
\nALL TRADE PAPERBACK SALES<\/b>
\nMay 2016 versus one year ago this month: +4.52%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: +4.80%<\/b><\/p>\n

TOP 300 COMICS + TOP 300 TRADE PAPERBACK DOLLAR SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

May 2016: $32.31 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -20%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +27%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month, counting just the Top 100 TPBs: +7%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month, counting just the Top 25 TPBs: +94%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $164.75 million, -9% vs. 2015
\nALL COMICS AND TRADE PAPERBACK SALES<\/b>
\nMay 2016 versus one year ago this month: -9.05%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -5.11%<\/b><\/p>\n

OVERALL DIAMOND SALES (including all comics, trades, and magazines)<\/b><\/div>\n

May 2016: approximately $44.46 million (subject to revision)
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -9%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +43%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month: +18%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $221.58 million, -5 vs. 2015<\/b><\/p>\n

RELEASES<\/b><\/span>
\nNew comic books released: 479<\/b>
\nNew graphic novels released: 271<\/b>
\nNew magazines released: 23<\/b>
\nAll new releases: 773<\/b><\/p>\n

As noted, the average comic book in the Top 300 cost $3.89; the average comic book
\nretailers ordered cost $3.96. The median and most common price for comics offered was $3.99. Click to see comics prices across time.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comics retailers in North America ordered nearly 236,000 copies of DC Universe Rebirth #1 in May 2016, according to Comichron’s analysis of data released by Diamond Comic Distributors. The figure, certain to increase with figures from later months, gave the $2.99 issue the top slot in the charts for May \u2014 but more money was … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54,17],"class_list":["post-4443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2016-sales","tag-diamond-monthly-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443","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=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6369,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions\/6369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}