[Press Release] — (January 6, 2016) — Star Wars returned to Marvel Comics in January with the million-selling Star Wars #1 from Jason Aaron and John Cassaday, kicking off a blockbuster year of Star Wars success that climaxed with Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattering box office records worldwide, earning Marvel not only the best-selling comic book published in 2015 but the best-selling single issue in over two decades with Star Wars #1, based on total unit sales to comic book specialty retailers, according to Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop-culture merchandise.
Written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by John Cassaday, Star Wars #1 debuted in January, 2015 and each subsequent issue has consistently been a monthly top five bestselling title for Marvel Comics. The entire Star Wars comic book publishing line was a success in 2015, with Star Wars: Vader Down #1 (#6), Darth Vader #1 (#9), and Princess Leia #1 (#10) joining Star Wars #1 in the Top-10.
Overall, comic books and graphic novels continued their positive trends, with 2015’s annual sales increasing 7.17% over the previous year; comic book sales specifically were up 8.99%, while graphic novel sales rose by 3.14%. Over 98 million comic books were sold to comic book specialty stores in 2015, an increase of 6 million units over 2014, with just over 8 million graphic novels units shipped.
Marvel Comics finished the year as the comic book specialty market’s top publisher, leading in both Dollar and Unit Market Shares, with a 38.74% Dollar Market Share and a 41.82% Unit Market Share. Marvel Comics had seven of the year’s top ten comics; in addition to the four Star Wars titles, Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s Secret Wars #1, Spider-Gwen #1 (a spin-off from Spider-Verse), and Invincible Iron Man #1 (the launch title for the All-New All-Different Marvel relaunch) were among the top ten. On the year, Marvel had 78 titles placed in the top 100 best-selling comics.
DC Entertainment was the comic book specialty market’s number two publisher in 2015 with a 25.75% Dollar Market Share and a 27.35% Unit Market Share. DC Entertainment’s top comic book, Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1 by Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello, John Romita., Jr., and Klaus Janson charted at #5 for the year, while perennial graphic novel bestseller, Batman: The Killing Joke HC, charted as the #5 graphic novel for the year. Several issues of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman run and the Convergence main issues from Jeff King contributed to a strong showing for DC among the top 100 comics for the year.
Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ science fiction epic, Saga from Image Comics dominated the top ten graphic novels chart and solidified Image Comics as the year’s third largest comic book publisher, with a 9.93% Dollar Market Share and a 10.70% Unit Market Share. Image Comics took seven of the top ten graphic novel spots, including all five collections of Saga as well as two volumes from Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead series. The best-selling comic book for the year from Image was another Brian K. Vaughn bestseller, We Stand on Guard #1, at #124 for the year.
IDW Publishing’s was the comic book specialty market’s fourth largest publisher, propelled by its licensed titles such as My Little Pony, Star Trek, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among others. The company’s Dollar Market Share was 5.59% for the year. Based upon the hit BBC America show, Orphan Black #1 was IDW’s top-selling comic book landing at #4 for the year.
Dark Horse Comics’ creator-owned titles helped the company to be the fifth leading comic book publisher to the comic book specialty market in 2015 with a 3.79% Dollar Market Share. Dark Horse’s top comic book for the year was Fight Club 2 #1 at #129, a sequel to the cult-classic movie penned by writer Chuck Palahniuk.
2015 TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
| PUBLISHER | DOLLAR
SHARE |
UNIT
SHARE |
| MARVEL COMICS | 38.74% | 41.82% |
| DC ENTERTAINMENT | 25.75% | 27.35% |
| IMAGE COMICS | 9.93% | 10.70% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 5.59% | 4.87% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 3.79% | 3.10% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 2.28% | 2.46% |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 1.99% | 1.79% |
| TITAN COMICS | 1.03% | 0.95% |
| EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS | 0.94% | 0.20% |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0.93% | 0.35% |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 | 9.00% | 6.41% |
2015 TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | STAR WARS #1 | $4.99 | AUG158711-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 2 | SECRET WARS #1 | $4.99 | JUL158548-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 3 | BRAVEST WARRIORS: TALES FROM HOLO JOHN #1 | $4.99 | MAR151109-M | BOOM! STUDIOS |
| 4 | ORPHAN BLACK #1 | $3.99 | DEC140468-M | IDW PUBLISHING |
| 5 | DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #1 | $5.99 | SEP150179-M | DC COMICS |
| 6 | STAR WARS VADER DOWN #1 | $4.99 | SEP150827-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 7 | DARTH VADER #1 | $4.99 | AUG158716-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 8 | SPIDER-GWEN #1 | $3.99 | APR158276-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 9 | INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 | $3.99 | JUL150696-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 10 | PRINCESS LEIA #1 | $3.99 | JAN150733-M | MARVEL COMICS |
2015 TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | SAGA VOLUME 4 TP (MR) | $14.99 | OCT140644 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 2 | SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR) | $9.99 | AUG120491 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 3 | SAGA VOLUME 5 TP (MR) | $14.99 | JUL150565 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 4 | CIVIL WAR TP | $24.99 | JAN072436 | MARVEL COMICS |
| 5 | THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 23: WHISPERS INTO SCREAMS TP | $14.99 | FEB150545 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 6 | BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION HC | $17.99 | NOV070226 | DC COMICS |
| 7 | SAGA VOLUME 2 TP (MR) | $14.99 | APR130443 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 8 | THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP | $14.99 | NOV128157-M | IMAGE COMICS |
| 9 | SAGA VOLUME 3 TP (MR) | $14.99 | JAN140556 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 10 | STAR WARS VOLUME 1: SKYWALKER STRIKES TP | $19.99 | MAY150811 | MARVEL COMICS |
2015 NUMBER OF TITLES SHIPPED
| PUBLISHER | COMICS | GRAPHIC NOVELS | MAGAZINES | TOTAL |
| MARVEL COMICS | 917 | 390 | 2 | 1309 |
| DC ENTERTAINMENT | 963 | 331 | 6 | 1300 |
| IMAGE COMICS | 773 | 187 | 0 | 960 |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 527 | 265 | 0 | 792 |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 378 | 234 | 0 | 612 |
| BOOM ENTERTAINMENT | 385 | 94 | 0 | 479 |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 301 | 68 | 0 | 369 |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0 | 270 | 0 | 270 |
| TITAN COMICS | 120 | 67 | 35 | 222 |
| EAGLEMOSS | 0 | 0 | 152 | 152 |
| OTHER | 1157 | 1518 | 315 | 2990 |
How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.
Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which includes the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from sales made to thousands of comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. Additional sales made to online merchants and other specialty stores may be included as well.
Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during January to December 2014, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.
The New Titles Count Chart includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during 2014. Variant edition comic books and graphic novels at the same price point count as a single SKU. Variant edition comic books, lenticular covers, digital combo packs, and graphic novels at different price points count as separate SKUs for each edition.
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Source: Diamond Comics