Summary

• Jujutsu Kaisen and other manga series dominate the NYT bestseller list, with One Piece taking a top spot.
• Due to negative reactions from the community, the New York Times reintroduced the “Graphics, Comics and Manga” category in 2019.
• The popularity of manga continues to grow in the USA; they are characterized by diverse narrative and drawing styles.

Several manga series will be released in August 2024 New York Times bestseller listincluding Jujutsu Kaisennearing the end of the series. Roughly every week, the NYT’s News Surveys department compiles a sales list. The list doesn’t just include one genre or media format, however. Business books, young adult paperbacks, and audiobooks all get a spot on the bestseller list. This month, August 2024, 3 manga made it onto the list, taking up a fifth of the 15 available spots.

Anime has taken the world by storm in recent years. While manga has always been popular in Japan, there seems to be a new appreciation for comics in the United States. In February 2017, The New York Times removed the Graphics, Comics and Manga category from its bestseller list. The category was initially introduced in 2009 as an experiment, but was later removed to make room for other content. However, due to backlash from the illustrated content community, the list was reinstated in November 2019 for the first time in two years.

My Hero Academia was the first manga to make it into the top 3 of the newly introduced listwhose 21st volume is ranked 3rd. This month, August 2024, manga continues to make history on the NYT bestseller list with series like Jujutsu Kaisen, Berserker, and more.

The NYT Manga Bestsellers for August 2024 include an old classic and a modern masterpiece

Three manga series made it into the top 10 of the monthly bestseller list for graphic novels and manga in August 2024

Primarily A piece has has secured its rightful place in the top 5 of the New York Times bestseller list, with the 106th volume coming in at number 4. Since Oda’s iconic manga series is one of the world’s best-selling literary works of all time, it’s only logical that it would take one of the top spots.

Just under the top 5 is the first volume of a new deluxe edition of Kentaro Miura’s classic, Berserkerin 6th place. And last but not least, it should come as no surprise that Jujutsu Kaisen, Volume 1 made it to number 13 on the NYT list after the explosive second season of the anime series.

What makes a New York Times bestseller

The New York Times has been compiling rankings of US literary sales since 1931

The reports come from select samples of independent and chain bookstores, as well as wholesalers, across the United States. The New York Times claimed that the list did not include wholesalers, but this has yet to be confirmed. Once the data is analyzed, the top 15 best-selling books will be published on the New York Times website.

Each group lists the 15 most popular series or individual books, and the list is updated every month. To make the New York Times bestseller list, it is estimated that a book must sell between 1,000 and 10,000 copies per week.

With the reintroduction of the New York Times’ Graphics and Manga category in 2019 Manga will certainly continue to appear on the list every month. The popularity of anime and manga, especially in recent years, is unprecedented but well-deserved. Manga artists and writers are some of the best storytellers in the world, combining complex illustrations with emotional stories of all genres.

While A piece still dominates the global market, and the inclusion of Berserker proves the enduring popularity of this series, because the first volume of Jujutsu Kaisen on the NYT bestseller list shows that the relatively new series has taken the world by storm. Jujutsu KaisenPopularity will only increase now that the manga’s impending end has been announced and fans will want to buy it in volume form, so it’s safe to assume that Gege Akutami’s masterpiece will be on the NYT list for many months to come.

Sources: NYT Monthly Graphic Books & Manga List; The New York Times: Bestseller List