Novels also rank at #1, #2 in Oricon weekly book ranking

Oricon reported on Friday that Koyoharu Gotouge's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga occupied the entire top 10 of Oricon's weekly comic chart for the full month of February. The manga's reign began with the January 27-February 2 week and continued through the February 24-March 1 week. The manga's 19th volume (seen right) once again ranked #1 in the February 24-March 1 week.

The series' novels, Kataha no Chō (One-Winged Butterfly) and Shiawase no Hana (Flower of Happiness) , also ranked at #1 and #2 respectively in the Oricon weekly book ranking in the same week. The last time that two books from a single franchise were #1 and #2 in the ranking was last May, with two books from the Butt Detective (Oshiri Tantei) franchise. Kataha no Chō sold 33,179 copies during the week, and Shiawase no Hana sold 32,689 copies. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba novels collectively have 1.16 million copies in circulation after a reprint on February 19, making the books the fastest franchise novels in Shueisha's "Jump j Books" novel label to reach 1 million copies in circulation.

Oricon estimated that the franchise as whole earned 917.2 million yen (about US$8.82 million) from physical print publications, CDs, Blu-ray Discs, and DVDs last week.

All 19 volumes of the manga occupied the entire top 19 of Oricon's weekly print sales chart for the February 10-16 week, with the 19th volume at #1. It was the first time since Oricon launched its weekly print sales chart in 2008 that a single manga series has occupied the top 19 ranks,

As of the February 4 debut of the 19th manga volume, the franchise as a whole (including print and digital releases) has 40 million copies in circulation.

Shueisha revealed last November that the series was the company's second highest-selling manga in 2019, second only to Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba sold 10.8 million manga volumes in the period from November 19, 2018 to November 17, 2019. Meanwhile, One Piece sold 12.7 million manga volumes during the same time period. Shueisha did not specify if these numbers include digital sales.

Gotouge launched Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba in Weekly Shonen Jump in February 2016. Viz Media is publishing the manga in English digitally and in print.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered last April, and aired its 26th and final episode last September. Aniplex of America has licensed the series and is streaming the show on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and FunimationNow. Adult Swim's Toonami programming block premiered the television anime last October. The anime will receive a sequel anime film.

Source: Oricon via Hachima Kikō