Japan’s No. 1 Manga Series For January 2026 Has Been Revealed (It’s Not One Piece)

The manga industry in Japan is absolutely massive, and it has picked up traction all around the world over the last decade as anime and manga are starting to become mainstream. With that being said, while anime viewership has always captivated many, manga sales are usually what truly showcase the success of a series. Every month, new numbers of the most sold manga in Japan are released, and with 2026’s first month now well over, the results are officially out, thanks to Oricon.

Much to the surprise of many, the best-selling manga for January 2026 isn’t One Piece. Instead, another series took the number one spot. This series is the legendary long-running Seinen known as Kingdom, which is a competitor for Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece. Kingdom starts off the year strong, and it could keep on dominating the charts moving forward as well.

Japan’s No. 1 Most Sold Manga For January Is Kingdom

A Legendary Long-Running Seinen Series

Every month, Oricon releases the best-performing manga series of the month. Fans were definitely excited to see which manga series came out on top for January 2026, as it would go on to set the tone for the rest of the year. Surprising to some, January 2026’s best-performing manga series was none other than Kingdom. Kingdom is an iconic series that first started its serialization in Weekly Young Jump all the way back in 2006.

This incredible politically heavy series based in ancient China has been able to keep fans hooked for decades now, something that is not easy to achieve. Kingdom is always one of the best-selling manga series every year, and that is despite its many disadvantages.

Why Kingdom Topping January Sales Chart Is Huge

One of Kingdom’s biggest disadvantages is the fact that it has yet to be fully serialized outside of Japan. Indeed, despite its large success in Japan, no English publisher has fully picked it up yet for quite a few reasons, one of which is how long this manga series already is. Serializing it could be a daunting task, and some publishers believe it would not appeal to overseas readers.

Kingdom’s second major disadvantage is its anime adaptation. Kingdom has a subpar anime adaptation, and its first few seasons, which are the most important, were quite bad. Kingdom definitely does not experience amazing anime releases that popularize its manga like series such as Jujutsu Kaisen or Frieren do. Despite all of that, Kingdom is still dominating, which goes to show just how exciting its true story is. In January 2026, it achieved 466k copies in circulation. In large part, this is thanks to its latest volume release on January 19, 2026.

Frieren, Jujutsu Kaisen, Blue Lock, and Chainsaw Man Make It Into The Top 5

The Rest of the Top 10 Features Other Exciting Series Such as Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo

While Kingdom was on top, the remaining top 20 were also revealed, and the top five specifically featured some of the most exciting Shonen series of the last few years. The Second most sold manga after Kingdom was Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, with 437k in sales — a very close figure to the number one spot. It’s unsurprising to see Frieren this high, given that Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End season 2 is currently airing and it is a major hit both in Japan and overseas, on top of getting a recent volume release. The number 3 best-selling manga at the moment is Jujutsu Kaisen. Jujutsu Kaisen ended in 2024, yet it keeps on being one of the best-selling manga. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 is also airing right now, which boosted sales. This month, it did 362k in numbers.

At Number 4 is Blue Lock, an ongoing Weekly Shonen Jump hit. Blue Lock doesn’t have a great anime adaptation, but it has still proven to be one of the most popular series at the moment. Finally, Chainsaw Man took number 5. Chainsaw Man part 2 is currently serializing and the major success of the Reze Arc movie has definitely boosted its sales over the last few months. The rest of the top 10 includes exciting series, including newer successes like Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo, Kagurabachi, and Dandadan, among many other beloved series.

One Piece Doesn’t Make The Top 20 In January 2026

The latest One Piece volume was released all the way back in December 2025

The new March volume should help the series pick up

With Oricon’s release of the Top 20 best-performing manga of January 2026, fans were shocked to see Japan’s best-selling manga of all time not being included in this list. Usually, One Piece is always one of the top-selling series. After all, the manga is still ongoing, and right now, its Elbaf arc is especially popular among the fans.

One Piece’s sales are definitely not at their peak at the moment, and there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, One Piece has not had a new volume release in a while. The latest volume release was One Piece Vol. 113, which came out in December 2025. Two months shouldn’t be enough for a series like One Piece to vanish from the top 20, but it explains the drop. Another major issue with the One Piece series at the moment is its TV anime being on a hiatus. This break started on December 28, 2025, and affected the overall popularity of the series.

One Piece’s numbers are definitely low at the moment, but the series is going to get a major boost next month, in March 2026. One Piece’s next volume is fast approaching and is scheduled to drop on March 4, 2026. With the release of One Piece Volume 114, the manga will definitely reach the top once again. To add to that, the One Piece anime also returns two months from now, in April 2026. This is another factor that should massively boost manga sales, especially for the current ongoing Elbaf arc.

All that said, fans also need to be aware of the fact that there is a general decline in sales for the One Piece series. One Piece sales have slowly been dropping since its peak, which was the Summit War Saga. The Summit War was One Piece’s height, sales-wise, and it never quite achieved those kinds of numbers again. The Final Saga has seen a steeper drop in sales, even though Elbaf has helped it pick up a bit. One Piece may not reach peak numbers until the Final War officially begins.

One Piece is available to read on MagaPlus and Shonen Jump, through Viz Media.

Source: X (Formerly Twitter)