With anime and manga more mainstream than ever before, it is no surprise to know that competition among the top manga and anime series has been more heated than ever before this year. In Japan, fans have been doing all they can to support their favorite series and see it rank high in the monthly Oricon sales chart, with the main goal of seeing their favorite series on top at the end of the year and being crowned as the most popular and highest-selling series.
In 2025, One Piece took the crown as Japan’s most popular manga and highest-selling manga series with a total of 4.2 million copies sold. So far in 2026, however, One Piece has not managed to claim the top spot. Thanks to immense support from the fans, Japan has officially crowned Freiren: Beyond Journey’s End as the best-selling and most popular shonen series of 2026 so far. But, with half a year still to go, these rankings are likely to change drastically.
Oricon Sales Data For 2026’s First Half Confirms Frieren As Best Performing Shonen Right Now
Oricon, a Japanese company, is the most reliable when it comes to delivering accurate sales charts for various forms of media, including Japanese manga. Among them, Shonen series often tend to top the list. 2020 was no different in that regard, and it was Shonen stories that dominated the Oricon charts. The first half of 2026, spanning over the first six months of the year, saw Japanese fans support Frieren brilliantly and see to it that it gets crowned as the most popular Shonen in the country.
Speaking of official numbers, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has officially monopolized the top spot with a total of 1.61 million copies sold in the first six months of the year. This number is likely to go even higher with more time. In doing so, Frieren has beaten One Piece, which finished second with 1.598 million copies sold, lagging behind by only a few thousand. In third place, Jujutsu Kaisen managed to impress us all heavily with 1.43 million copies sold, and that is despite not even having a manga series ongoing at the moment.
What’s even more surprising is that Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo also impressed by claiming the sixth spot with 1.13 million sales. Put together, the Jujutsu Kaisen franchise would technically be Japan’s most popular Shonen franchise out there, but as far as individual series go, both Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo rank away from the top. With Frieren Season 2 having aired, the series received a significant boost in terms of popularity, and the manga sales increased as well, which was certainly nice to see.
Frieren Season 2 Helped Manga Backlog Sales Significantly
Frieren Season 2 officially began airing on January 16, 2026, and ended its 13-episode run on March 27, 2026. At the same time, Frieren Season 3 was already announced and is set to air in October 2027. With Frieren set to continue its sensational run, its popularity as a major new-gen shonen is only going to grow further in Japan. The second season was remarkably successful, and it certainly aided the manga in selling more copies and establishing its dominance at the top as the most popular shonen.
Not only is Frieren the most popular shonen at the moment in Japan, but its influence outside of the country is also clear to see. On popular forums like MyAnimeList, Frieren continues to assert its dominance and hold on to the top spot as the highest-rated anime series of all time, with a score of 9.26/10, which is not an easy feat to achieve. Clearly, Frieren continues to show immense dominance, and in the second half of 2026, its sales are going to grow consistently. Whether it will come out on top and beat One Piece for the entire year, however, remains to be seen.
Why One Piece Will Beat Frieren In 2026’s Second Half And Claim The Top Spot
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End certainly did wonders by becoming Japan’s best new shonen series of 2026 in the first half of the year. However, expecting it to top the chart by the end of the year is an unrealistic expectation. This is because Frieren’s manga is currently on an indefinite hiatus, and we don’t know when it will return. At the same time, Frieren’s anime series, which ended its run on March 27, 2026, has given it all the backlog boost that it possibly could have. There is not going to be any significant increase in backlog sales for Frieren, and with no new manga volume being sold in Japan in the second half of 2026, it is also not going to receive any significant sales boost in that area either.
On the other hand, One Piece is going to continue to grow in terms of sales with new volume releases. One Piece Volume 115 is already scheduled to be released in Japan on July 3, 2026. This new volume is likely to rack up at least a million sales, just as every other volume, and then fans will also get to see another release in Fall 2026 for One Piece Volume 116. In total, One Piece will have three volume releases, and with all the sales combined, One Piece is expected to cross 4 million sales, just as it did in 2025.
After 5 Years, One Piece Is Officially Giving Sanji The Devil’s Power
One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda is finally giving Sanji the full power of the Demon God Ifrit in the climax of the Elbaf arc.
Frieren, while offering tough competition in the first half due to its own volume sales, is not going to be able to put up with these figures without a new volume of its own. If Frieren were off its hiatus, it would have been crowned as Japan’s biggest new shonen series of 2026 based on the rate of sales that it was displaying. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen while the hiatus is still ongoing, and we can only hope that the manga goes off its break soon enough. For now, One Piece is likely to grow even further in terms of sales and popularity and claim its top spot once again in the upcoming few months. Still, if Frieren manages to finish in the #2 spot at the end of the year, it’d still be incredibly impressive for a series with no volume releases in the whole year, and only a short anime boost. Despite everything, Frieren’s popularity in Japan is clear to see, and in some ways, it’s even higher than One Piece at the moment.
All episodes of One Piece and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End are available to watch on Crunchyroll.
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