Diamond Distributors released their official numbers for the 2011 year. So just who were the big winners for 2011? DC’s huge gamble with their New 52 relaunch paid off big time with nine of the top ten selling issues of the entire year coming from that event. The best selling single issue of the year was not a surprise with the record breaking ‘Justice League’ #1 taking the top spot. The ninth book in the top ten was Marvel’s ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ #160 that featured the death of Peter Parker.
While DC was rockin’ it out in sales, they didn’t fare as well in the revenue department. Only seven of the top ten grossing titles were from DC with the remainder going to Marvel. That is due to the slightly higher cover prices on some of Marvel’s key issues. Marvel’s highest grossing issue was the aforementioned ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ #160, followed by ‘Fantastic Four’ #600 (with a hefty $8 cover price), and ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #666.
With the higher gross, Marvel also kept the top spot in market share as well. Marvel held a 37.29% dollar share and a 40.93% unit share for 2011. DC followed close behind with a 31.41% dollar and 36.77% unit share.
In the trade paperback department, Image Comics’ ‘The Walking Dead’ ate up the competition taking six of the top ten sales spots, owing in part to the popularity of AMC’s hit television adaptation of the series. Other notable trade collections were Alan Moore’s ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969’ and DC’s Christmas outing ‘Batman: Noel’ which took the #3 and #7 spots respectively.
With these tremendous sales, it’s no surprise that comic sales were up for 2011 over the previous year. With the final numbers in, single comic issue sales were up 3 million over 2010’s, bringing total comic sales to 72.13 million units sold. To put that in perspective, getting sales back over that elusive 70 million mark was a key factor in the turn-around for the comic companies in the early 2000’s.
Check out the complete top 10 lists below for the final tally.
Top 10 Single Issues for 2011:
QtyRank | RetailRank | Title | Price | Publisher |
1 | 1 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 | $3.99 | DC |
2 | 4 | BATMAN #1 | $2.99 | DC |
3 | 2 | ACTION COMICS #1 | $3.99 | DC |
4 | 3 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #2 | $3.99 | DC |
5 | 13 | BATMAN #2 | $2.99 | DC |
6 | 7 | ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #160 | $3.99 | MAR |
7 | 15 | GREEN LANTERN #1 | $2.99 | DC |
8 | 5 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #3 | $3.99 | DC |
9 | 6 | ACTION COMICS #2 | $3.99 | DC |
10 | 17 | DETECTIVE COMICS #1 | $2.99 | DC |
Top 10 Trade Paperbacks for 2011:
QtyRank | DollarRank | Title | Price | Publisher |
1 | 5 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE | $9.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
2 | 1 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 14 NO WAY OUT (MR) | $14.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
3 | 7 | LOEG III CENTURY #2 1969 (MR) | $9.95 | TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS |
4 | 6 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 15 (MR) | $14.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
5 | 10 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US | $14.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
6 | 9 | FABLES TP VOL 15 ROSE RED (MR) | $17.99 | DC COMICS |
7 | 3 | BATMAN NOEL DELUXE EDITION HC | $22.99 | DC COMICS |
8 | 15 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 03 SAFETY BEHIND BARS | $14.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
9 | 18 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 13 TOO FAR GONE (MR) | $14.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
10 | 66 | MORNING GLORIES TP VOL 01 FOR A BETTER FUTURE | $9.99 | IMAGE COMICS |
