{"id":4493,"date":"2016-01-11T16:59:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T16:59:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-31T19:08:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T00:08:19","slug":"the-2015-two-thousand-sales-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/11\/the-2015-two-thousand-sales-estimates\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2015 Two Thousand: Sales estimates for 2015’s Top 1,000 comics and Top 1,000 graphic novels"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

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 2015<\/b> comics sales<\/b><\/a> now posted \u2014 Comichron has drawn upon that information to project estimates for the Top Thousand Comics and the Top Thousand Graphic Novels for 2015<\/b><\/a>. The tables are on the page just beneath the image links to individual months.<\/p>\n

This completes a quarter century of information, as there are 24 other years of Diamond annual reports on the site<\/b><\/a>, going back to 1991<\/b><\/a>. You can also find updated comparatives for how the market as a whole did across that time by viewing our Yearly Comics Sales<\/b><\/a> page.<\/p>\n

Led by Star Wars<\/i> #1<\/b><\/a>, the Top Thousand Comics<\/b>
\naccounted for around 58.59 million copies; Diamond reported it sold 98
\nmillion copies altogether, so that’s nearly three-fifths of all copies.
\nThe figure is up from 52.07 million copies in 2014 and represents a big
\nrebound. The totals from the past six years:<\/p>\n

2010: 45.3 million copies
\n2011: 47 million copies
\n2012: 53.43 million copies
\n2013: 52.21 million copies
\n2014: 52.07 million copies
\n2015: 58.59 million copies<\/b><\/p>\n

In full retail
\ndollars, the Top Thousand Comics sold for $239.05 million, a huge increase over 2014’s $201.03 million. (See the 2014
\narticle here<\/b><\/a> and charts here<\/b><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Every
\nsingle comic book in the Top 100 had “multiple order codes” at Diamond,
\nmeaning there were variant covers or reprints combined into one entry;
\none did not, but we believe that to be an error.<\/p>\n

Noticing
\nthe trend, yet? The top-selling books were accounting for fewer copies
\nsold in recent years than they had been, with books further down the
\ncharts accounting for more. But in 2015, that changed \u2014 and if you
\ncompare this year’s titles with last year’s titles, from 1st to 1,000th
\nplace, you see it in action.<\/p>\n

In the first graphic above
\n(click to enlarge) the Top 10 titles for the year are off the charts at
\nthe top, mostly above 250,000 copies. But then the titles through about
\n300th place had sales considerably higher in 2015 than in 2014.<\/p>\n

Running
\nthe same kind of analysis shows us how much the quantities have
\nincreased in the last five years. The second graphic, below, compares
\nTop 1000 comic sales by rank in 2010, the bottom of the last comics
\nrecesssion, with sales in 2015. Issues at every single ranking in 2015
\noutsold equivalently ranked comics in 2010.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Depicting the same information another way, we find the following breakdowns for unit sales:<\/p>\n

\n
NUMBER OF COMIC BOOK ISSUES SELLING
\nAT LEAST THIS MANY COPIES DURING YEAR<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
200,000+<\/b><\/td>\n100,000+<\/b><\/td>\n75,000+<\/b><\/td>\n50,000+<\/b><\/td>\n25,000+<\/b><\/td>\n10,000+<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2009<\/b><\/td>\n2<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n119<\/td>\n379<\/td>\nn.a.<\/td>\nn.a.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010<\/b><\/td>\n0<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n94<\/td>\n303<\/td>\n955<\/td>\nn.a.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/b><\/td>\n3<\/td>\n42<\/td>\n86<\/td>\n343<\/td>\n984<\/td>\nn.a.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/b><\/td>\n5<\/td>\n63<\/td>\n129<\/td>\n403<\/td>\n1100<\/td>\n2250<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/b><\/td>\n6<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n178<\/td>\n390<\/td>\n1128<\/td>\n2430<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/b><\/td>\n4<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n108<\/td>\n401<\/td>\n1195<\/td>\n2353<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/b><\/td>\n21<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n167<\/td>\n367<\/td>\n1166<\/td>\n2280<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
What this table answers is: where does the 100,000-copy level start on
\nthe chart? In 2010, every book above 26th place sold that in the six figures; in 2015, six-figures went out to 95th place.<\/div>\n

As<\/p>\n

you can see, the upper tiers, above 75,000 copies, soared dramatically
\nfrom 2014 to 2015, reversing a dip from the previous year.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The
\nTop Thousand<\/b> Graphic Novels,<\/b> led by Saga Vol. 4<\/i><\/a>,<\/b> went for $81.46 million, just barely up from $81.19 million in 2014. For the last five years, that comes to…<\/p>\n

2011: $58.4 million
\n2012: $71.4 million
\n2013: $79.03 million
\n2014: $81.19 million
\n2015: $81.46 million <\/b><\/p>\n

Combined,
\nthe Top
\nThousand Comics and Top Thousand Graphic Novel lists account for about
\n55% of all the orders by dollars Diamond received for print products in
\n2015. That’s again another increase, after several years where the
\ntop-selling books were accounting for less of a growing pie.<\/p>\n

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

Marvel: 517 <\/b>(+5 from 2014)<\/div>\n
DC: 381<\/b> (-26 from 2014)<\/div>\n
Image: 62<\/b> (+5 from 2014)<\/div>\n
Dark Horse: 10<\/b> (-4 from 2014)
\nIDW: 10<\/b> (+9 from 2014)<\/div>\n

\nOni: 6<\/b> (+6 from 2014) <\/b>
\nArchie: 5 <\/b>(+4 from 2014)
\nValiant: 4<\/b> <\/b>(+3 from 2014)
\nTitan: 2<\/b> (-1 from 2014)
\nBoom: 2 <\/b>(+2 from 2014)
\nDynamite: 1 <\/b>(unchanged from 2014)<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n

Boom<\/b> reappeared on the list and Oni<\/b> was added, thanks to Invader Zim<\/b><\/i> and Rick & Morty<\/b><\/i>. IDW<\/b> recovered from the drop-off in 2014, while DC<\/b> lost 26 entries.<\/p>\n

And here’s the publisher breakdown of the Top Thousand Graphic Novels. Those with 10 or more entries:<\/p>\n

DC: 341 <\/b>(-52 from 2014)<\/p>\n
Marvel: 287<\/b> (+36 from 2014)<\/p>\n
Image: 166 <\/b>(+51 from 2014)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dark Horse: 60<\/b> (-28 from 2014)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
IDW: 35 <\/b>(-1 from 2014)<\/div>\n
\u00a0Viz: 18 <\/b>(+1 from 2014)
\nBoom: 14<\/b> <\/b>(-5 from 2014)<\/div>\n

Dynamite:<\/b> 14<\/b> (+12 from 2014)
\nRandom House: 13<\/b> (-12 from 2014)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last year Marvel lost a lot of entries and DC gained them; the reverse happened this year. Image’s increase was huge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the release of December comics orders from Diamond Comic Distributors \u2014 and our subsequent analysis of and estimates for December 2015 comics sales now posted \u2014 Comichron has drawn upon that information to project estimates for the Top Thousand Comics and the Top Thousand Graphic Novels for 2015. The tables are on the page … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[66,21],"class_list":["post-4493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2015-sales","tag-diamond-annual-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493","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=4493"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6381,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493\/revisions\/6381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}