One Piece has already laid claim to some pretty impressive feats including setting a world record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author" in 2015, but it seems that the pirate manga train has no intention of stopping there! A new report from the publisher Shueisha has revealed that One Piece now has more copies in print around the world than anyone could’ve ever imagined!
One Piece has been running since 1997 and started as a couple of pirate-themed one-shots before exploding onto the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump. Having recently released its 98th volume (which covers chapters 985 to 994, but don't worry because chapter 1,000 will be printed soon), One Piece is sitting pretty on its mountain of accomplishments, though author Eiichiro Oda has confirmed that the series will probably end by 2025.
In the announcement from Shueisha, it was revealed that the series now has almost half a billion (that’s billion with a B) copies in print around the world, making it the first manga title to achieve this feat. The total number is around 480 million with 400 million being in print in Japan and the other 80 million being in print in 42 countries and territories around the world. With a new chapter being released every week, that number is only going to get bigger and bigger until it reaches its climax. To put that into perspective, that’s more books sold than the Game of Thrones series (which has sold approximately 90 million copies) and just barely under the Harry Potter series (which has sold approximately 500 million copies).
One Piece reaching this point is amazing in every sense of the word. It’s hard to imagine what the manga landscape would be like without the influence of Oda and his hit series. Having won the hearts of fans around the world, it’s bizarre to think that this series could go on for many years to come should the author decide to keep going for so long as he pleases. It’s also hard to imagine that fans around the world would complain too much should Oda decide to continue the adventures of Luffy and his crew of loveable pirates until he can no longer hold his drawing implements.
One Piece was recently voted the best manga of all time in a TV Asahi poll which saw 150,000 Japanese residents casting their ballots. It makes one wonder if we’ll ever see another series as popular as this one ever appear again. The odds aren’t likely, but stranger things have happened.