New Global License Ranking Reveals Lucrative Dragon Ball’s Toei Animation Is

Anime fans are willing to put their money where their bragging rights goes. For years, the fandom has been one of most passionate online, and it experienced explosive growth in the last five years. Franchises like Dragon Ball and One Piece are partially to thank for this boom, and it turns out the company behind the two series is thriving.

After all, License Global just put out its top-grossing brands, and Toei Animation is high on the chart.

As you can see here, the latest issue of License Global breaks down the Top 150 brands in the world. At the top spot is The Walt Disney Company with a huge $54.7 billion retail sale under its belt, but Toei Animation ranks 33 globally with retail sales of $1.9 billion.

For fans, this kind of clout is impressive to say the least. Toei Animation is one of the biggest production studios in Japan, so it never surprises netizens when its quarterly reports come in hot. However, it is another thing for fans to see how well Toei Animation is doing against other big global brands.

For instance, Toei Animation came in above the NFL Players Association, BBC Studios, The Coca-Cola Company, WWE, and more. Not even The LEGO Company could outdo Toei Animation as the anime studio overcame these brands on the licensing list.

In fact, there are only a few Japanese entertainment brands which managed to overtake Toei Animation. For instance, Sanrio came in the Top 15 with its 12th place ranking, and The Pokemon Company International made bank in the 23rd spot. So if Toei Animation is really keen on upping its spot next year, maybe it’s about time news came around of a Dragon Ball Super continuation…?

Are you surprised to hear the kind of cash Toei Animation pulled in last year? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!