{"id":4485,"date":"2016-02-08T17:17:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-31T19:07:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T00:07:02","slug":"january-2016-comics-sales-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/08\/january-2016-comics-sales-estimates\/","title":{"rendered":"January 2016 comics sales estimates online: The difference five years makes"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The final sales report for January is out from Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a>, and as reported here<\/b><\/a> on Friday,
\nthe first month of the year was slightly off versus the same month in
\n2015, when statistics for several categories of that month were inflated
\nby Loot Crate sales of Star Wars<\/i> #1<\/b>. Click to see the sales estimates for comics ordered in January 2016<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/CCWD150\"<\/div>\n

While
\nthe comparatives were part of the story, looking at the internals makes
\nthis January look less impressive than at first glance. We can now see
\nthat while graphic novel wholesale dollars were off 7.77% overall,
\naccording to Diamond,
\nthe total retail value of the Top 300 was actually up 20%. That points
\nto something we can see by looking at the dollar rankings: there was heavy<\/i> discounting of graphic novels in the month.<\/p>\n

Many
\nMarvel graphic novels in the Top 300, for example, had dollar volume
\nrankings far lower than their unit rankings: Diamond does dollar
\nrankings based on money it receives from retailers. This is a common
\nenough occurrence, but in this month these sales accounted for a
\ndisproportionate share of the market.<\/p>\n

January often tends
\nto have a punier release slate than other months, meaning lower-selling
\ntitles make the Top 300; this month’s 300th place title sold 4,028
\ncopies, the lowest sum since June 2012. Click to see the sales of 300th-place titles across time<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, some perspective: Five years ago, January 2011 was the pits<\/b><\/a>.
\nThe Top 300 comics sold 4.4 million copies, likely the lowest sum since
\nthe 1930s. There were a couple of reasons: it was the bottom of the
\ncomics slump pre-DC reboot, but it was also a month where publishers
\nshipped extremely few titles to market.<\/b><\/a>
\nThe market ordered more than 2 million more comics this January, and
\npublishers are releasing more, now, too: 719 new comics and graphic
\nnovels versus 555 five years ago. That shows a market with more breadth.<\/p>\n

And eight titles had six-figure sales this January, led by Walking Dead<\/i> #150<\/b><\/a> with orders topping 156,000 copies. Compare that with one title in six figures five years ago<\/b><\/a>, and that at 115,000 copies. Back then, that one book was the only one above 73,000 copies; this January, there were 11. And the 300th place book had sales of 1,291 copies \u2014 less than a third of what today’s title at that level sold!<\/p>\n

[Update:<\/b> Reading one of my comments at one of my own links above, I’m reminded that January 2011 had an additional strike against it: Diamond had switched all publishers so their books would arrive on Tuesday, and a number didn’t meet the logistical demands and their books slid into February. That in part led to how few titles were out. That said, the February figure was only 5.17 million copies, so it’s likely the sales of a January 2011 where everything went right still would have been between 4 and 5 million.]<\/i><\/p>\n

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

TOP 300 COMICS UNIT SALES<\/b><\/span>
\nJanuary 2016<\/a>: <\/b>6.49 million copies
\nVersus 1 year ago this month<\/b><\/a>: -6%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +46%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +15%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +22%
\nYEAR TO DATE: 6.49 million copies, -6% vs. 2015, +46% vs. 2011, +15% vs. 2006, +23% vs. 2001
\nALL COMICS UNIT SALES<\/b>
\nJanuary 2016 versus one year ago this month: -4.09%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -4.09%<\/b><\/p>\n

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

January 2016: $24.7 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -9%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +58%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month: +47%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month: +69%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $24.7 million, -9% vs. 2015, +58% vs. 2011, +47% vs. 2006, +69% vs. 2001
\nALL COMICS DOLLAR SALES<\/b>
\nJanuary 2016 versus one year ago this month: -3.86%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -3.86% <\/b><\/p>\n

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

January 2016: $7.96 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: +20%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +73%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month, just the Top 100 vs. the Top 100: +19%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month, just the Top 25 vs. the Top 25: +24%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $7.96 million, +20% vs. 2015
\nALL TRADE PAPERBACK SALES<\/b>
\nJanuary 2016 versus one year ago this month: -7.77%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -7.77%<\/b><\/p>\n

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

January 2016: $32.66 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -4%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +43%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month, counting just the Top 100 TPBs: +29%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month, counting just the Top 25 TPBs: +81%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $32.66 million, -4% vs. 2015
\nALL COMICS AND TRADE PAPERBACK SALES<\/b>
\nJanuary 2016 versus one year ago this month: -5.1%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -5.1%<\/b><\/p>\n

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

January 2016: approximately $41.52 million (subject to revision)
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -5%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +64%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month: +62%
\nYEAR TO DATE: $41.52 million, +5% vs. 2015<\/b>
\nRELEASES<\/b><\/span>
\nNew comic books released: 450<\/b>
\nNew graphic novels released: 269<\/b>
\nNew magazines released: 59<\/b>
\nAll new releases: 778<\/b><\/p>\n

The
\naverage comic book in the Top 300 cost $3.79; the average comic book
\nretailers ordered cost $3.86. The median and most common price for
\ncomics offered was $3.99. These are some of the lowest prices we’ve seen
\nin a while, and that also contributed to the month looking the was it
\ndid. Click to see comics prices across time.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final sales report for January is out from Diamond Comic Distributors, and as reported here on Friday, the first month of the year was slightly off versus the same month in 2015, when statistics for several categories of that month were inflated by Loot Crate sales of Star Wars #1. Click to see the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4486,"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-4485","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\/4485","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=4485"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6379,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485\/revisions\/6379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}