{"id":4513,"date":"2016-01-06T16:26:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T16:26:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-31T19:12:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T00:12:52","slug":"comics-shops-order-579-million-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/06\/comics-shops-order-579-million-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Comics shops order $579 million in comics, GNs in 2015, up 7%; Star Wars, Saga lead Top 10s"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/CCMarvSW1\"The comics market’s growth accelerated in 2015, with a strong finish
\nto the year helping to negate a weaker third quarter, according to
\nComichron’s analysis of end-of-year data released by Diamond Comic Distributors. <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Comics retailers ordered more than $579
\nmillion in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond in
\n2015, beating last year’s total by 7.17% and resulting in the fourth
\nconsecutive growth year for the comic-shop market. 2014’s rate of
\nincrease was just 4%. The year finished slightly better than our
\nNovember projections expected; we’ll see the December 2015 report later
\nin the week, but the month would seem
\nto have beaten the pace set in December 2014.\u00a0 <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Diamond reported that comics retailers ordered more than 98 million comic books in 2015<\/b>,
\nup from 92 million copies in 2014. This is the first time Diamond has
\never released its overall end-of-year unit sales numbers, and it tells
\nus at last how much exists outside the Top 300s each month. In 2014,
\nDiamond’s Top 300 each month accounted for 82.65 million copies, meaning
\nthat about 11% of units exist outside the list each month. That’s
\nreasonably close to our previous projections here. We’ll know 2015’s Top
\n300 figures for sure when December is released, but odds are we’ll be
\nlooking at a similar ratio falling outside the Top 300s.<\/p>\n

If the $3.95 average comic book price seen through November holds, then there’s another estimate we can finally perform: that Diamond’s comic books alone accounted for $387 million in 2015, or 66.8% of its comics-and-graphic-novel sales<\/b>. This is almost exactly the two-thirds figure we’ve estimated at Comichron for a long time.<\/p>\n

Diamond
\nreported that its dollar sales for periodicals grew by 8.99%, a big
\njump from 2014’s growth rate of 4%. That percentage change figure also
\nsuggests 2014’s total for comics was $355 million \u2014 or about 65.7% of
\nthe Diamond’s print sales that year. That again would track: periodical
\ncomics had a better year this year than graphic novels did, relatively,
\nso their share of Diamond’s shipments would likely have grown.<\/p>\n

Going further back, the new information allows for additional new
\nhistorical calculations, once we apply the end-of-year percentage
\nchanges which the distributor first made available in 2010:<\/p>\n

ALL PERIODICAL COMICS SOLD BY DIAMOND<\/b><\/div>\n
2009: 78.4 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $279 million<\/div>\n
2010: 73.8 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $266 million<\/div>\n
2011: 77.2 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $269 million<\/div>\n
2012: 86 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $310 million<\/div>\n
2013: 91.75 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $341 million<\/div>\n
2014: 92 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $355 million<\/div>\n
2015: 98 million copies \u2014 Total retail: $387 million<\/div>\n

We’ll be adding those calculations to our Yearly Sales Data<\/b><\/a> page.<\/p>\n

Back to to 2015. To no one’s surprise, Marvel’s <\/i>Star Wars<\/i> #1<\/b><\/a>,
\nwith dozens of variant covers and more than a million copies shipped,
\nwas the #1 comic book title of the year, having outsold everything in
\nthe last 20 years. Highlighted titles were the top-sellers in their
\nindividual months:<\/p>\n

Top comic books of 2015<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nComic
\nBook<\/td>\n		Price<\/td>\nPublisher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nStar Wars #1*<\/a><\/td>\n$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nSecret Wars #1<\/a><\/td>\n$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nBravest Warriors:
\nTales From Holo John #1*<\/td>\n		$4.99<\/td>\nBoom<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nOrphan Black #1*<\/a><\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nIDW<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nDark Knight III: The Master Race #1<\/a><\/td>\n$5.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nStar Wars Vader Down
\n#1<\/td>\n		$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nDarth Vader #1<\/td>\n$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nSpider-Gwen #1<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nInvincible Iron Man #1<\/a><\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nPrincess Leia #1<\/a><\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The asterisks refer to comics that had
\noutsized boosts from external repackagers whose books were shipped to
\nthem through Diamond. Star Wars #1<\/i> was boosted by a Loot Crate<\/b><\/a> version but would likely have topped the list in any event; Bravest Warriors: Tales from Holo John #1 <\/i>and Orphan Black #1<\/i> would not have made the list, had their Loot Crate copies not been included.
\n
\n<\/a>
\n\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/CCSagaV4\"According
\nto Comichron’s sources, other publishers are following DC’s lead of sending
\ntheir comics directly to Loot Crate and similar repackagers, so Loot
\nCrate’s outsized impact on the Diamond charts may finally be done,
\nexcept where it appears in comparisons with the past. Comichron’s
\nanalysis of the wholesale dollar sales rankings suggest that handling Loot Crate
\nissues couldn’t have been earning Diamond much money at all, if any\u2014so
\nthe removal of these copies from direct market calculations ultimately
\ndoesn’t mean a lot for the distribution side of things.<\/p>\n

Diamond’s
\ngraphic novel dollar sales were up by 3.14%<\/b> in 2015; that represents a
\nslowdown from 2014’s 5.18% category increase. Diamond reported an
\nend-of-year unit figure here, too, of just over 8 million graphic novels
\nshipped. It’s harder to convert that back into dollars because of the
\nwide range of graphic novel prices \u2014 but there’s $192 million left over
\nfor graphic novels and magazines, and graphic novels would take the
\nlion’s share of it. And \u2014 again as we’ve suggested often here \u2014 at least
\nhalf of graphic novel sales by volume come from the titles below the
\nTop 300 each month.<\/p>\n

The top graphic novels list<\/b> includes several familiar titles:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Top graphic novels of 2015<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nGraphic
\nNovel<\/td>\n		Price<\/td>\nPublisher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nSaga Vol. 4<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nSaga Vol. 1<\/td>\n$9.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nSaga Vol. 5<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nCivil War<\/td>\n$24.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nThe Walking Dead Vol.
\n23: Whispers Into Screams<\/td>\n		$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nBatman: The Killing
\nJoke Special Edition HC<\/td>\n		$17.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nSaga Vol. 2<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nThe Walking Dead Vol.
\n1: Days Gone Bye<\/td>\n		$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nSaga Vol. 3<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nStar Wars Volume 1:
\nSkywalker Strikes<\/td>\n		$19.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

That’s all five Saga<\/b><\/i><\/a> volumes in the Top 10 \u2014 and this is the seventh year in a row that Walking Dead Vol. 1<\/b><\/i> has made the Top 10.<\/p>\n

On to the market shares:<\/p>\n

Comic-shop market market shares, 2015<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nDollar
\nshare<\/td>\n		Unit share<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marvel<\/td>\n38.74%<\/td>\n41.82%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DC<\/td>\n25.75%<\/td>\n27.35%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Image<\/td>\n9.93%<\/td>\n10.70%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
IDW<\/td>\n5.59%<\/td>\n4.87%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dark Horse<\/td>\n3.79%<\/td>\n3.10%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boom<\/td>\n2.28%<\/td>\n2.46%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dynamite<\/td>\n1.99%<\/td>\n1.79%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Titan<\/td>\n1.03%<\/td>\n0.95%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eaglemoss<\/td>\n0.94%<\/td>\n0.20%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Viz<\/td>\n0.93%<\/td>\n0.35%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n9.00%<\/td>\n6.41%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
The order of the top five are unchanged, with Marvel picking up four dollar share points and DC shedding three. Image<\/b> picked up less than a percentage point and Dark Horse<\/b> <\/b>dropped by a slightly larger amount in its first year without Star Wars<\/i> comics. IDW<\/b> was little changed. Boom<\/b> passed Dynamite<\/b> to take sixth; Dynamite lost about half a point. The highest new entry in the top 10 this year was Titan<\/b><\/i>, which added the Doctor Who<\/i><\/b> license. Avatar<\/b> and Random House<\/b> dropped out of the Top 10, while toy magazine publisher Eaglemoss<\/b> and manga publisher Viz<\/b> returned to the list. See last year’s report here<\/b><\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Finally, Diamond released the tally of new releases for the year. This
\naccounting includes titles invoiced for the first time in the year:
\nvariant covers at the same price point count as the same book, while
\nvariants at different prices are counted separately.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n