Anime News

Japanese Manga Anthology Circulation Falling
Date: 1/12/2006
Average circulation down 7%


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J-Magazine has released the 2005 edition of their Guide to Japanese magazines.

The guide includes information on 645 Japanese magazines from 78 companies, including dozens of manga anthologies.

Information on each magazine includes publishing schedule, circulation info, a description of the magazine by its editor, and more.

Based on the circulation info, Japanese website Ultimatum has compiled this table of circulation specs for popular manga anthologies, including Shonen Jump, Ribbon and more...

The table (translated below), show an average decrease in circulation of almost 7% for the anthologies listed. Big losers include Ribon and Morning, which saw their circulation fall by over 26% and 20% respectively.

While still boasting the highest circulation numbers of all manga anthologies, Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump saw its circulation fall yet again this year, but by only 1.4%. Its leading competitor, Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine, saw its circulation plummet by over 13%. The two magazine's have a circulation of 2.95 and 2.37 million copies a week, well ahead of Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump, the third ranked weekly anthology with a circulation of 1.09 million copies a week.

Shogakukan's leading weekly, Weekly Shounen Sunday, was the fourth most circulated weekly magazine with a circulation of 1.08 million copies a week.

The highest circulating monthly manga anthology was Shogakukan's Coro Coro Comics, with a circulation of 1.20 million copies a month.

By contrast, Shonen Jump USA, published by Viz (a subsidiary of Shueisha and Shogakukan) has a circulation of approximately 350,000 copies a month.

In the early 90s, Weekly Shonen Jump boasted a circulation as high as 6 million copies.

Please note, that circulation numbers reflect the number of copies of a magazine printed. A significant percentage of circulated magazines are not sold. In North America, an average of only 33% of magazines circulated at the newstand are sold.
Source: Anime News Network