One Piece Set to Overtake Batman’s Sales Record

On the release date of One Piece’s 92nd tankobon volume in Japan, it was announced that fantasy-action manga has just put out a whopping 450 million copies worldwide! Of this number, 380 million came from Japan while overseas markets contributed the remaining 70 million. This impressive feat now sets One Piece on track to beat the sales record of DC Comics’ Batman, which has sold 474 million copies to date.

For added perspective, One Piece has released under 1,000 chapters since its 1997 debut. On the other hand, Batman has already amassed 16,000 issues since its publication in 1939. These numbers then make One Piece’s feat pretty impressive, don’t you think?

One Piece was first released in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in July 22, 1997. Written by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy who gained the ability of stretching his body like rubber after accidentally eating a Devil Fruit. Together with his band of pirates named the Straw Hat Pirates, he explores the Grand Line in search of the “One Piece”, hailed as the greatest treasure in the world and the key to become the next Pirate King. Since its publication, Oda’s magnum opus has enjoyed critical and commercial success in Japan and abroad, even setting a Guinness World Record in 2015 for “most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author”. In 1999, Toei Animation has adapted his work into a TV anime and has been running ever since, enjoying great popularity as well.

Source: Comicbook, Crunchyroll