Top manga for March

ICv2 lists Diamond’s top 300 graphic novels for March, and manga makes a pretty respectable showing, accounting for one-fifth of the titles and four of the top ten sellers, which is unusual. The thing that always interests me about these charts is that they give the total number of copies sold (and remember, comics stores can’t return comics they get through Diamond, so these are final sales, albeit at a deep discount). ICv2’s analysis of first quarter sales has a glass-is-half-full ring to it; sales of periodical comics were down 6% compared to the first quarter of 2008, but graphic novel sales were up, so the combined market only dropped 5%. The strength in the graphic novel market was due overwhelmingly to the Watchmen trade, though; the chart usually drops off pretty sharply from the first place to the tenth, but it was particularly lopsided this month, with 32,132 copies of Watchmen, 14,460 of something that Diamond calls STAND CAPTAIN TRIPS PREM HC BERMEJO ED—sorry I have no clue what that is—and 4,976 copies of Jack of Fables, with the numbers evening out quite a bit after that. It is true, though, that the Naruto-love was spread over several volumes; when there is just one in the chart, sales are usually strong, but I’m sure that the total number sold is higher this way.

If comics stores were the only sales channel for manga, these numbers would be pretty scary, but of course most people are still picking up their Naruto and Furuba fixes in chain bookstores, and I would guess a lot of the mature titles do well online.

Here’s the graphic novel chart with everything but manga pulled out. The first number in parentheses is the book’s ranking on the overall GN chart, the second number in parens is the number of units sold through Diamond.

1. (5) Fruits Basket, vol. 22 (3,961)
2. (7) Naruto, vol. 40 (3,856)
3. (8) Naruto, vol. 38 (3,852)
4. (9) Naruto, vol. 41 (3,836)
5. (12) Naruto, vol. 39 (3,666)
6. (13) Bleach, vol. 26 (3,609)
7. (20) Berserk, vol. 28 (3,194)
8. (31) Naruto, vol. 36 (2,704)
9. (50) Naruto, vol. 37 (1,932)
10. (61) Naruto, vol. 35 (1,696)
11. (67) Tsubasa: Those With Wings, vol. 1 (1,546)
12. (75) Ben Ten Alien Force: Ben 10 Returns, vol. 1 (1,445)
13. (80) Claymore, vol. 14 (1,361)
14. (81) Oh My Goddess, vol. 11 (1,352)
15. (98) Nana, vol. 15 (1,159)
16. (108) Black Cat, vol. 19 (1,080)
17. (115) The Gentlemen’s Alliance +, vol. 9 (994)
18. (119) Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, vol. 3 (987)
19. (124) Samurai Deeper Kyo, vol. 33 (949)
20. (131) A Drifting Life (913)
21. (133) Shaman King, vol. 21 (897)
22. (135) Appleseed: Promethean Balance, vol. 4 (880)
23. (136) Naruto, vol. 1 (872)
24. (144) Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, vol. 2 (809)
25. (164) Kurohime, vol. 10 (723)
26. (165) Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, vol. 2 (718)
27. (175) Hunter x Hunter, vol. 25 (691)
28. (177) Skip Beat, vol. 17 (687)
29. (178) Sayonara, Zetsubo Sensei, vol. 1 (686)
30. (182) Suzuka, vol. 11 (670)
31. (185) S.A., vol. 9 (654)
32. (188) Bakugan Battle Brawlers, vol. 2 (651)
33. (190) Black Jack, vol. 4 (649)
34. (197) Enchanter, vol. 10 (624)
35. (198) Peace Maker Kurogane, vol. 1 (622)
36. (200) Wild Ones, vol. 6 (620)
37. (206) High School Debut, vol. 8 (607)
38. (207) Black Jack, vol. 3 (605)
39. (211) Hikaru no Go, vol. 14 (597)
40. (213) Dragonball, VizBig edition, vol. 3 (593)
41. (222) Captive Hearts, vol. 3 (569)
42. (226) Lunar Legend Tsukihime, vol. 6 (563)
43. (240) Love*Com, vol. 11 (516)
44. (242) Emma, vol. 8 (515)
45. (246) Love Attack, vol. 6 (509)
46. (249) NG Life, vol. 1 (504)
47. (250) Prince of Tennis, vol. 30 (504)
48. (251) Gin Tama, vol. 11 (494)
49. (258) Mamotte Shugogetten, vol. 4 (488)
50. (259) Yu Gi Oh GX, vol. 2 (486)
51. (260) Shinobi Life, vol. 2 (485)
52. (271) Rurouni Kenshin, VizBig Edition, vol. 5 (455)
53. (276) Star Trek Ultimate Edition (448)
54. (282) Live for Love (440)
55. (285) Monkey High, vol. 5 (437)
56. (289) Mixed Vegetables, vol. 2 (432)
57. (292) Love Knot (431)
58. (296) Way to Heaven (427)
59. (297) Honey and Clover, vol. 5 (426)
60. (300) Clan of the Nakagamis, vol. 2 (421)