Marvel Comics’ Amazing Spider-Man #583 was the bestselling comic book title for 2009 based on total unit sales to comic book specialty shops. Driven by massive media attention and demand, the issue topped over a half million copies in sales – and five printings – in 2009.

DC Comics’ Geoff John- penned Blackest Night mini-series was also a big winner, securing six of the ten top spots on the list of the bestselling issues of 2009.

Marvel Comics finished the year as the top publisher, leading both Unit and Retail Dollar Market Shares, with a 46% Unit Market Share, and a 41% Retail Dollar Market Share. DC Comics was the comic book industry’s second leading publisher in 2009 with 32% Unit Market Share, and a 30% Retail Dollar Market Share.

2009’s top-selling graphic novel to comic book specialty shops was the perennially bestselling Watchmen trade paperback, which enjoyed renewed success in the wake of the feature film’s release.  Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen is the only graphic novel to win the prestigious Hugo Award and the only graphic novel to appear on Time’s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. Overall, DC Comics claimed five of the overall top ten spots, with Image Comics’ acclaimed Walking Dead books taking three spots.

“Comic book and graphic novel sales through comic book specialty shops were extremely resilient in 2009, despite a down economy,” remarked Diamond CEO Steve Geppi. “Overall, sales were almost on par with 2008 as publishers took great steps to create books that fans wanted to buy. We’re very optimistic for 2010, with some great projects already scheduled by publishers—and  our annual Free Comic Book Day event on the first Saturday in May already shaping up to be a sales winner.”

Release of the 2009 chart toppers once again received mass media attention with the news reported in the Tuesday, January 12th printed edition of USA Today and on other mainstream news outlets and websites.

2009 TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

 
2009 TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

 
2009 TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

The Top Comic Books Graphic Novels sellers of 2009 were presented in print in the Life section of January 12’s USA Today, along with a call out on the front cover of USA Today picturing Amazing Spider-Man #583.

That printed article was supported by the Comic page of USAToday.com’s Life section, which presented the top 50 comics and graphic novels and encouraged readers to visit PREVIEWSworld.com to find the 2009 Top 500 Comic Books and Top 500 Graphic Novels charts. In addition, to help support comic shops, the article also linked to the Comic Shop Locator Service.

Moving forward, USA Today will also be posting Diamond’s Top 50 Comic Books and Top 50 Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks for each month online as well, giving the comic book industry additional attention on a national level.  

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This information may not be reprinted, reproduced or copied in any format without the express permission of Diamond Comic Distributors.

How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.

Data for Diamond’s sales charts—which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts—are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 3,500 comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. The account base includes brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, Internet merchants, and other specialty stores.  

Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.