May 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels

New readers drove Spy x Family sales, classic manga returned to the chart, some in new forms, and webtoon collections continued to show their strength in May, based on the chart of the top 20 Adult graphic novels in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for May 2022 (5/1/22 – 5/28/22) provided to ICv2.

Driven by the anime, which debuted in April (see “April 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels“), new readers are thronging to the Spy x Family series, with the first volume of this seven-volume series the top seller in the book channel in May. It was also the top property on the chart, with six of the seven volumes placing.  The only volume missing is Volume 3, which is presumably out of stock at the publisher, as the only availability on Amazon is from third-party sellers, at above cover price. Note the image above, which shows the Spy X Family endcap at Kinokuniya in Manhattan in May, a sign of the volume this single store is doing in this title.
 

Classic manga also showed up on the chart, some in new guises: Death Note Short Stories, a collection of new material set in the world of a series that’s 15 years old but has never stopped selling well; and Volume 1 of Sailor Moon, in the new, affordable version of the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition (see “Kodansha Comics Announces New Licenses and Editions for 2021“).

Both these series are good reads, but the publishers have also continually re-released them in new editions, with fancier versions that appeal to nostalgic fans (Death Note: Black Edition, Sailor Moon Eternal Edition), as well as keeping them available in affordable formats for newcomers. Both these volumes, incidentally, are May releases and also made this month’s ComicHub Top 20 (see “Top 20 Graphic Novels – May 2022“).

Any discussion of classic manga would not be complete without this title: let’s tip our hat to One Piece: Volume 99, which made the May chart, the first time this title has showed up in the top 20 in months.

Webtoon collections continued to thrive in May. Volume 4 of Solo Leveling, the Korean webtoon-based comic published by Yen Press, was the first time in 2022 that a property that was not manga made it onto the Top 20 chart.

In other notable sales trends, the chart includes a manga volume published by Square Enix, the first time the publisher has placed in the Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels since it started publishing in the U.S. in 2020 (see “ICv2 Interview: Masaaki Shimizu“). The title was My Dress-Up Darling, by Shinichi Fukuda. The anime adaptation has been simulcast by Crunchyroll as it debuted this year. The Square Enix title means there are five different manga publishers on the chart, another first.

For charts of May 2022 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
May 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
May 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels

For the charts with the actual sales numbers from NPD BookScan, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
May 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
May 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
May 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales

NPD BookScan collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more. NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market. The ranks on this chart are based on piece sales. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we’ve removed those titles from the ranking above.

For past BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the “BookScan Top 20 GN Index.”