'My Hero Academia' Sales Reveals Its Insane Popularity

These days, My Hero Academia is the series to beat when it comes to anime and manga. Big titans like One Piece haven't been knocked from their perch, but Kohei Horikoshi's hero-centric series is giving lots of other titles a run for their money. Both Japan and the US are embracing all things My Hero Academia, and you only have to look at some numbers to see that's true.

After all, the franchise is killing it with manga sales.

Not long ago, NPD BookScan revealed its Top 20 list for best-selling graphic titles in February 2018. The list, which compiles sales from Barnes & Nobles as well as other book chains, confirms My Hero Academia is selling well. The series' eleventh volume landed at the top spot before other manga titles such as RWBY, Tokyo Ghou:re, One Piece, and Dragon Ball Super landed on down the list (via ANN).

For manga readers, this new accolade is symptomatic of the series' overall success. My Hero Academia debuted a few years back, but the popularity of its anime has rocketed its fame exponentially. Foreign audiences are embracing the heroes-in-training at UA Academy, and Japanese readers are eating the manga up too.

Last year, Japan revealed its top-selling titles, and the shonen-heavy list did not overlook My Hero Academia. Giants like One Piece, Attack on Titan, and Kingdom headed up the list, but Horikoshi's title came in fourth. My Hero Academia sold over 5.5 million sales in Japan last year, a number which overtook series like Tokyo Ghoul and Haikyu!!

When it comes to manga sales in the US, the industry is making a comeback from its notorious fall in the early 2000s. Viz Media presented at New York Comic Con last fall to share its growth, and reporter Heidi MacDonald let fans know about the company's important stats. While comic publishers have Viz Media beat with issue publications, the manga licensor is dominating in book sales. When it comes to graphic novels, Viz Media is the biggest publisher with 23% of the market share compared to DC (14%) and Marvel (10%). The company stressed much of this growth is due to younger audiences purchasing titles and online retailers such as Comixology. So, here's to hoping My Hero Academia will sell even more in 2018.

Are you caught up with My Hero Academia's manga? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!