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Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine's Print Circulation Falls Below 1 Million Copies for 1st Time

The Japan Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA) reported on Wednesday that print circulation for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine fell to an average of 985,000 copies from April to June this year, marking the first time the magazine has fallen below 1 million copies in circulation for a given quarter since the JMPA began posting circulation numbers in 2008.

With the fall in circulation numbers, the JMPA noted that there are now no magazines at all in Japan that have more than 1 million copies in circulation.

The latest drop continues a steady decline in circulation Weekly Shonen Jump has undergone in at least the last 12 years. The magazine had 1,290,417 copies in circulation in April-June 2022.

Weekly Shonen Jump's print circulation dipped below two million in 2017 to 1,915,000. The print circulation dipped below 1.6 million during the period of January to March 2020 to 1,572,833, and then fell below 1.5 million to 1,475,000 during the period of October to December 2020.

The magazine's record circulation was 6.53 million in 1994, when it was serializing Dragon Ball, Slam Dunk, and other manga. 

In the same April-June 2026 quarter, Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine had a print circulation of 281,000, and Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine had a print circulation of 120,000.

The All Japan Magazine and Book Publishers and Editors Association's (AJPEA's) Research Institute for Publications reported in March earlier this year that the manga magazine market shrunk by 12.7% in 2025, now amounting to 39.2 billion yen (about US$249 million). The print numbers combined amount to 165.2 billion yen (about US$1.04 billion yen), a reduction from 2024's 192.1 billion yen (about US$1.22 billion in current conversion). The print market has overall shrunk every year since 2017, when it amounted to 258.3 billion yen (about US$1.64 billion in current conversion). Sales of printed compiled manga book volumes shrunk by 14.4% year-on-year, now amounting to 126 billion yen (about US$801 million).

The AJPEA's report on the overall publishing industry in Japan for 2025 showed a decline of 1.6% for the publishing market as a whole in 2025, to a total market value of 1.6305 trillion yen (about US$9.82 billion). The digital market rose 2.7% to 581.5 billion yen (about US$3.69billion), and the print market decreased 4.1% to 964.7 billion yen (about US$6.13 billion), the first time in fifty years (1976) it has been below 1 trillion yen in value. Digital publications currently take up 37.6% of the market share.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Yaraon!