Japan Officially Confirms The Best Manga Of 2025

2025 is now officially over, and with that, total sales for manga series throughout the year have become more apparent. 2024, the year before, was the year of Jujutsu Kaisen. With JJK coming in its climax, its sales skyrocketed. But with the manga now done, an old series has retaken its spot as Japan’s best-selling manga, and it’s none other than One Piece.

Fans know One Piece as the best-selling manga series of all time, but it has definitely been facing some sales drops in the last few years. Nevertheless, the manga is now recovering, and is on the rise again, thanks to the beloved Elbaf arc. With other big series having concluded as well, One Piece is left with little competition. Until the new series blows up, One Piece will be at the top of sales charts for the next few years and rebuild the streak it lost in 2019 to Demon Slayer.

One Piece Retakes Its Throne in 2025 As Japan’s Number 1 Manga

The Popularity Of The Elbaf Arc Keeps Skyrocketing

Oda Hopes For A Bigger 2026

2025 was a very successful year for One Piece as a whole, and that’s quite clear for the fans to see through the sales estimates that have now become apparent.

Surprisingly or not, One Piece came out on top in 2025, and became Japan’s best-selling manga of the year, with around 4.2 million copies sold. This is massive for the series, especially looking back at the last few years. One Piece achieved this number with the Elbaf arc, spanning over 3 volumes in total. This was also thanks to some backlog sales from previous arcs, especially Egghead.

Nevertheless, while One Piece was number 1, Jujutsu Kaisen was a close second. JJK was 2024’s best-selling manga series, and even in 2025, it did amazingly well. Despite not having any new volume released in 2025, Jujutsu Kaisen went on to amass a total of 3.9 million sales. This is shocking and goes to show the extent of the popularity of the series.

Being able to compete with ongoing manga despite being over is very impressive, and will likely continue still into 2026, even if less significant. Meanwhile, its sequel, Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo, will continue strong as well.

Another series that did very well in 2025 includes Dandadan, a manga that blew up thanks to its new anime adaptation. Blue Lock has also been a high-selling series, despite its terrible anime. Blue Lock was even 2023’s best-selling manga. Kingdom, Blue Box, and Sakamoto Days made up the rest of the top 7, all garnering over 2 million sales this year.

One Piece Lost Its Streak in 2019 When Demon Slayer Blew Up

Fans were surprised to see One Piece retake its spot as the best-selling manga series in Japan this year. After all, the series has not won this title since 2019. Indeed, before 2019, One Piece not being Japan’s best-selling manga was a shocker, and a rare event. But in 2019, One Piece was surpassed by Demon Slayer, and the rest is history.

In subsequent years, the One Piece manga would go on to be surpassed by Demon Slayer again, and by other series, such as Blue Lock and Jujutsu Kaisen. Fans could clearly see a loss in sales for One Piece, and a slight decrease in popularity as well.

Of course, One Piece is a very long series, and fatigue comes with that. It goes without saying that One Piece is still incredibly popular, and 2025’s new records prove that. Even when One Piece wasn’t the #1 best-selling manga, it was always among the best.

One Piece Will Be Dominant For The Next Few Years Again

With the current state of manga, One Piece doesn’t have much competition

New Jump series must come to rival One Piece

2025 hasn’t been the strongest year for manga. After all, huge hits, such as Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia, ended in 2024. And moving forward, more manga series will come to an end, such as Sakamoto Days.

This is definitely not the best of times for Weekly Shonen Jump and other magazines. For now, One Piece, and other big reliable series, like Kingdom, will be dominating, at least for a while. Until new series blow up, One Piece will remain on top as the best-selling manga in Japan, and that’s great for all the fans of the story, but it also means that a new big series will come soon.

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece focuses on the journey of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates as they sail the seas to lay claim to the grand treasure known as the One Piece. The manga is currently in its Final Saga. One Piece will be featured in this week’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1170 is January 4, 2026. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday, which is 11:00 AM EST, or 8:00 AM PT. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus and the Shonen Jump apps. Doing so will ensure that fans always support the author.

Source: X (Formerly Twitter)