Circulation of popular weekly manga magazine falls below 1 million for 1st time
The circulation of a popular Japanese weekly manga magazine has fallen below one million for the first time. Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump once boasted a circulation of 6.5 million copies.
Data released by the Japan Magazine Publishers Association show the title’s average print circulation stood at 985,000 copies per issue for the three-month period through June.
The figure was still the largest among domestic magazines. But it is the first time for Weekly Shonen Jump to slip below one million since the association began data-taking in 2008.
It means there are no longer any print magazines in Japan with a circulation of over one million.
Since its debut in 1968, Weekly Shonen Jump had enjoyed increasing demand with its succession of popular manga series.
Its peak came in 1994 at 6.53 million copies. But, like other magazines, its print circulation has declined in recent years.
The association cites the widespread adoption of e-books, which let people read publications on smartphones and other digital devices, as one of the reasons for the decrease.
