Media news website ICv2 reported on Monday that U.S. manga sales have more than doubled in retailers tracked by NPD BookScan in 2021. NPD-tracked accounts listed 24.4 million units of manga sold in 2021, which is about 15 million more units sold – a growth rate of 160% – over the previous year. ICv2 provides a disclaimer that there is a classification issue involving the My Hero Academia manga (pictured right), and it is possible that the actual number of manga units sold was larger for both years.
Viz Media‘s vice president of publishing sales Kevin Hamric told ICv2 in an interview published on Monday that the company is experiencing more sales so far this year than it did in the same time frame in 2021. However, the growth rate is slower compared to last year. He added that manga accounted for 25% of the overall growth of the book industry in the U.S. last year. Retail…
