One Piece Officially Outsells Every Single Batman Comic Ever… Combined

It was hard for One Piece, the best-selling manga in history, to break even more records, and yet the grand tale of adventure created by Eiichiro Oda 25 years ago just did that: One Piece has sold over half a billion copies worldwide, becoming one of only two literary works in history to achieve that (the other being Harry Potter). In the process, One Piece outsold the second best-selling American comic book character, Batman.

One Piece tells the story of Luffy, a young boy who dreams of becoming the Pirate King in a world that is mostly encompassed by seas with small islands scattered throughout. Pirates are adventurers who value freedom more than anything else and usually oppose the tyrannical World Government and its military arm, the Marine. To become the Pirate King, Luffy has to reach the hidden island of Laugh Tale and retrieve the mysterious treasure known as One Piece, left there by the previous King, Gol D. Roger. The manga started being serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in July of 1997 and quickly gained popularity thanks to its blend of action, adventure, comedy, and mystery. Oda was able to create a huge world that is incredibly deep in terms of lore, history, and characters, which resonated with fans creating a huge following worldwide.

In July of 2021, sales reports for One Piece volumes worldwide reached over 490 million, making it the best-selling manga series and the best-selling comic series printed in book volumes in history. Now, updated sales numbers show that One Piece has surpassed half a billion copies in circulation, meaning that it can compete not just with manga or comics printed in book volumes, but also with the most popular American comic books, including the two best-sellers Superman and Batman. The comparison is a bit tricky, however. The so-called “American comic book format” consists of thinner periodicals stapled together, not volumes. Additionally, Superman and Batman (like most superheroes) are written and drawn by different creative teams over the years, and their sales figures mostly encompass periodicals, not volumes. However, there is still an argument to be made that One Piece has beaten DC’s two powerhouses, as shown by a thread from Twitter user and One Piece expert Artur – Library of Ohara:

First of all, Batman was clearly surpassed, as the reported sales for all its comic books (starting from his first appearance in 1939), “only” get to 484 million. While Superman is still ahead, with more than 600 million approximate sales, if one were to account for the sales of Weekly Shonen Jump for each year that One Piece has been featured on it, the numbers would be much closer. Still, beating the Dark Knight in terms of sales is no small feat, considering that the character has been around for 83 years, and he is one of the most recognized popular culture icons in the world.

Leaving the comparison with other comic books aside, the fact that One Piece has become one of the two literary works in history to achieve half a billion copies of circulation is an incredible landmark. This would put One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda in the top ten best-selling authors of human history, even if it is almost impossible to track the sales of the oldest writers. What is certain is that One Piece‘s status as the most successful manga of all time (outselling even Batman) is a tribute to the passion of its author and to the dedication of its millions of fans worldwide.

Source: Artur – Library of Ohara

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