Demon Slayer is growing faster than some of the best stories that changed the landscape of anime forever. Volume 17 of the series has sold so fast that they were in scarce supply. The series is growing so fast, it could surpass manga giants like Naruto and One Piece.
The new volume has sold over 20 million cumulative copies. Rumors and estimates predict that Demon Slayer has sold more manga volumes this year than the untouchable juggernaut, One Piece. Though, there is nothing confirmed until the data for it is released later this year.
Demon Slayer’s current closest manga in terms of sales would be One-Punch Man. Yusuke Murata, illustrator of One-Punch Man, tweeted the 20th volume cover with a slip-on celebrating its recent 20 million copies sold.
４日にワンパンマン20巻が発売されました！お陰様で累計2000万部突破との事。ありがとうございます！是非お手元に！ pic.twitter.com/ON9ZLyXJs7
— 村田雄介 (@NEBU_KURO) July 5, 2019
Demon Slayer Could Surpass One Piece
For the most popular series, the chart shown (via Crunchyroll) shows us the upwards trajectory of the three biggest sellers and My Hero Academia. In Japan, One Piece has always outsold Naruto and Bleach, but they’ve come close. Of course, sales depend on different times of year and the impact of other series being released at the time.
While One Piece sales exceed the highest sale value of 33 million copies literally, at the initial release of Volume 17 in all the respective series, Bleach selling 18 million copies in 2005, Naruto selling 24 million copies in 2003, and finally My Hero Academia selling 13 million copies in 2018.
Demon Slayer, having a slower rate of growth than the others initially, sky rocketed with the first season of the anime series and has now overtaken where Bleach was in 2005 at 20 million copies sold in Japan. When the anime for Bleach debuted in 2004, the series originally had 14 volumes on sale, which made up the first 10 million total sales for the series. The anime continued uninterrupted until its finale in 2012 at 366 episodes. Bleach would cross the 20 million copies sold mark at volume 18.
When Demon Slayer started airing its anime, the series had 15 volumes of the manga on sale. The total sales of all the printed works up to that point was a seemingly measly 5 million copies. However, the series exploded to 20 million sales mark with volume 17, which went on sale on October 4, 2019.
Now, with the anticipated release of volume 18, let’s see if bookstores can keep their heads this time around. Some reported that Demon Slayer is taking every spot on their top 10 lists.
