Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece just beat Batman in the all-time sales of comics. Batman who is sitting with over 480 million copies sold worldwide just got taken over by One Piece. As of yet, One Piece has sold over 490 million copies collected in volume which makes it the second highest-selling comic book series of all time. It is now only behind Superman that has sold approximately about 600 million copies.
It truly is a fascinating achievement considering the length of the series. While running for as low as only 22 years, One Piece has certainly created a history. So how did a comic about a pirate boy achieved some success? Let’s find out as we discuss One Piece’s global sales figure and its future.
One Piece Beats Batman – Numbers Game
One Piece has already been highest selling manga series of all time from the past decade. When it surpassed Dragon Ball (sold approximately 250 million), it already became the most sold manga in history. Right now it has more than 490 million copies in circulation and this number is likely to grow in the future.
Batman has sold over 480 million copies had occupied the 2nd spot for quite some time. It was only beneath Superman. But now with One Piece’s achievement, it has slid into 3rd spot. Before Batman, One Piece has also taken over Marvel’s Spider-Man in sales. The rate at which One Piece is selling out certainly has the potential to surpass Superman. However, there are still blockheads awaiting it.
Can One Piece Beat Superman?
One Piece can beat Superman in sales, but there are a lot of factors we need to consider. Since One Piece is created by a single person, it’s short in length compared to the likes of Superman and Batman. It’s been running for over 22 years now and most likely run for few more years. On the other hand, we have Superman which first started publication in 1937, and it’s still selling.
The author for Superman comics keeps on changing so it’s highly unlikely that they will ever stop its publication. Oda has stated in the past that One Piece will continue for more than 5 years. If that happens then One Piece will surely get close to Superman. However, that doesn’t guarantee it overtaking Superman. The sales of One Piece are constantly declining for the past few years.
Even though 490 million is still a large number, but if trends were to continue the same, it will be bad for One Piece. Fans have a lot of faith in Oda and they believe that he’s capable of writing stories that will pull more audience and multiply the sales of his manga.
Can Any Other Manga Beat One Piece?
Records are made to be broken and One Piece will likely find someone who overtakes it. However, from the ongoing manga series, it doesn’t look like anything could come close to. Demon Slayer sold like crazy for the past year, however, its serialization also ended. Right now, no manga series can catch up to One Piece’s achievement.
My Hero Academia is a contender for One Piece but it depends on how long it runs. Horikoshi has commented in the past that he wants to surpass Eiichiro Oda. But the length of BNHA is of concern. From the looks of it, BNHA seems to be approaching its end. So it will be difficult for it to surpass One Piece.
In the future, we may see one series from Weekly Shonen Jump or any other publication rise to the occasion. Who knows we may very well see One Piece’s record being broken in the next few decades.
Do you think One Piece will be able to surpass Superman? Let us know down below. For more One Piece, make sure to follow us on social media. One Piece is available to read on Viz Media and Mangaplus.
