Demon Slayer beats One Piece and Chainsaw Man in huge manga milestone

Demon Slayer has hit a big accomplishment in manga, overtaking none other than One Piece in doing so.

There’s truly no stopping Demon Slayer. After spawning the highest-grossing movie ever in Japan, the anime show is about to take things up a notch in the Hashira Training Arc, where Tanjiro starts working towards becoming a Hashira.

Away from the screen, the Demon Slayer manga continues accrue milestones. It’s been revealed that Demon Slayer was the highest-selling manga of 2023, beating Chainsaw Man in single volume sales and narrowly outdoing One Piece in overall numbers.

Demon Slayer Vol 1 managed to stave off Denji with 148,468 copies sold, versus Chainsaw Man Vol 1’s 140,106. Both landed in the top 20 comics off the year, at 12 and 17, respectively.

A fan totted up available data across all manga sales — combing through the top 750 books — to generate a ballpark ranking of the biggest franchises of 2023. Demon Slayer sits at number one, with over 2,000,000 books shifted, over One Piece, whose 103 volumes come to around 1,900,000 copies sold.

A big victory for the Demon Slayer Corps over the Straw Hats, though staggering numbers from both. Not unexpected either, since Demon Slayer is in an easier position for new fans versus One Piece, where there are now 103 volumes of manga and over 1100 episodes of television.

If you’re considering taking a jaunt to the high seas, check out our breakdown of the One Piece sagas. We can tell you how to watch The Hashira Training as well, so you’re up to speed on Demon Slayer.