Blue Lock Is This Year’s #1 Manga, Topping Oricon’s 2023 Best-Selling Manga List

Blue Lock is 2023’s best-selling manga over the period December 5, 2022, to November 27, 2023, according to Oricon. The anime which debuted last year in October was credited by many fans for introducing the series but Blue Lock‘s quality and international appeal speak for itself. The series represents Kodansha’s first title to top the list since Oricon started counting in 2003. The full best-selling manga of 2023 is below:

Blue Lock: 10,527,146
Jujutsu Kaisen: 8,541,411
One Piece: 7,197,532
Oshi no Ko: 5,413,091
Chainsaw Man: 5,348,618
Slam Dunk: 4,968,484
Spy x Family: 4,326,425
My Hero Academia: 3,528,423
Tokyo Revengers: 3,218,117
Kingdom: 3,207,691

The best-selling manga by title and volume for the first half of 2023 was reported earlier this year. Blue Lock‘s chart-topping performance is hardly a surprise when you consider the series led its competition by almost double in the first half of 2023. One Piece has also made an impressive effort, moving from 5th to 3rd position. The 2023 list means that Jujutsu Kaisen is dethroned as 2022’s top-selling manga, having scored 12mn last year. Overall, it was only Blue Lock that passed the 10mn mark this year, with 2022 having seen 4 cross the mark.

Blue Lock anime — *Blue Lock* main character, Yoichi Isagi

For those yet to read, Blue Lock is published by Kodansha, with a story by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and art by Yusuke Nomura. The series has been collected into 26 volumes as of August 2018, spawning the spin-off manga Blue Lock: Episode Nagi, and an anime series. The upcoming Blue Lock: Episode Nagi movie adaptation recently released a new trailer. A second season of the main story was also announced.

Kodansha USA licenses the series for North America and describes the plot as:
Japan’s team struggles to regroup. But what’s missing? An absolute Ace Striker, who can guide them to the win. The Japan Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, and who can be the decisive instrument in turning around a losing match…and to do so, they’ve gathered 300 of Japan’s best and brightest youth players. Who will emerge to lead the team…and will they be able to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in their way?