The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(January 2023) |
This is a list of some of the highest-selling magazine cover issues. It does not take into consideration centerfolds and posters. It includes any type of magazine and single special editions. Groupings are based on over 3 million newsstands copies and distribution.
Considered "The Greatest Magazine Ever Published" by David Plotz, Life magazine figures sold the most amount for decades, with a weekly circulation of 4 million copies and over 10 million readers in their prime, then-10 percent of U.S population. [1] In recent years, People became weekly's highest-seller, [1] and various single issues reached over 2 million copies. [2]
Date | Publication | Cover title | Cover model(s), Event | Namesake photo | Sales (in million) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 1973 | Family Circle | — | — | — | 9.5 [3] | |
August 1964 | Life | "The Beatles: They're Here Again and What a Ruckus!" | The Beatles | 8.5 | ||
April 1965 | Life | "Drama of Life Before Birth" | — | — | 8 [4] | First-four days copies according to American Society of Magazine Editors [5] |
September 2001 | Time | "Sept.11, 2011 The Day That Shook America" | September 11 attacks | 7.5 [6] | ||
November 1972 | Playboy | — | Lena Söderberg | 7.16 [7] | Playboy's highest-selling issue. [7] | |
December 1994 | Weekly Shōnen Jump | — | Manga characters | 6.53 (in printed) [8] | New Year issue for 1995 [8] Weekly Shōnen Jump's highest-selling issue [8] [9] | |
September 1984 | Penthouse | "Miss America Oh God, She's Nude!" | Vanessa Williams | 5.3 [10] | Penthouse's highest-selling issue [11] | |
September 1985 | Penthouse | "Madonna in the Nude" | Madonna | 5 [12] [13] | ||
September 1985 | Playboy | "Madonna Nude: Unlike a Virgin... For the Very First Time" | Madonna | 5 [13] [12] | ||
March 1989 | Playboy | "Michael's Sister in a Thriller Pictorial" | La Toya Jackson | 5 [14] |
Date | Publication | Cover title | Cover model(s), Event | Namesake photo | Sales (in million) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 2001 | People | "Sept.11, 2011 The Day That Shook America" | September 11 attacks | 4.1 [2] | ||
December 1995 | Playboy | "Farrah Fawcett Holiday Pictorial" | Farrah Fawcett | 4 [15] | Best-selling issue of the decade. [16] | |
July 1955 | Confidential | "Willie Mays' Luckiest Strikeout!" | Various | Various | 3.7 [17] | |
1997 | People | "Diana Princess of Wales 1961—1997" | Diana, Princess of Wales | 3.1 [18] | Tribute to Diana, special edition. |
Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
Life is an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, a monthly from 1978 until 2000, and an online supplement since 2008. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the nation's most popular magazines, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population.
Farrah Leni Fawcett was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she played a starring role in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels.
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. Chapters of the series that run in Weekly Shōnen Jump are collected and published in tankōbon volumes under the Jump Comics imprint every two to three months. It is one of the longest-running manga magazines, with the first issue being released with a cover date of August 1, 1968.
One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled in 108 tankōbon volumes as of March 2024. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, where he explores the Grand Line in search of the mythical treasure known as the "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates.
Collier's was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as Collier's Once a Week, then renamed in 1895 as Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal, shortened in 1905 to Collier's: The National Weekly and eventually to simply Collier's. The magazine ceased publication with the issue dated the week ending January 4, 1957, although a brief, failed attempt was made to revive the Collier's name with a new magazine in 2012.
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, Weekly Shōnen Sunday issues are released on Wednesdays. Weekly Shōnen Sunday has sold over 1.8 billion copies since 1986, making it the fourth best selling manga magazine, only behind Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Young Jump.
A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and often cover smaller territories, such as one or more smaller towns, a rural county, or a few neighborhoods in a large city. Frequently, weeklies cover local news and engage in community journalism.
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940).
Captain Marvel Adventures is a long running comic book anthology series that was publised by Fawcett Comics, starring Captain Marvel during the Golden Age of Comic Books.
Weekly Shōnen Magazine is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high school or college student demographic. According to circulation figures accumulated by the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association, the magazine's circulation has dropped in every quarter since records were first collected in April–June 2008. This is, however, not an isolated occurrence as digital media continues to be on the rise.
Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, music, history, and sports.
Action Comics #1 is the first issue of the original run of the comic book/magazine series Action Comics. It features the first appearance of several comic-book heroes—most notably the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creation, Superman—and sold for 10 cents. It is widely considered to be both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book in the world. Action Comics would go on to run for 904 numbered issues before it restarted its numbering in the fall of 2011. It returned to its original numbering with issue #957, published on June 8, 2016 and reached its 1,000th issue in 2018.
Shonen Jump, officially stylized SHONEN JUMP and abbreviated SJ, was a shōnen manga anthology published in North America by Viz Media. It debuted in November 2002 with the first issue having a January 2003 cover date. Based on Shueisha's popular Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shonen Jump was retooled for English readers and the American audience, including changing it from a weekly publication to a monthly one. It featured serialized chapters from different manga series and articles on Japanese language and culture, as well as manga, anime, video games, and figurines. The premiere issue of Shonen Jump also introduced the first official English translations of One Piece, Sand Land, Yu-Gi-Oh!, YuYu Hakusho, and Naruto.
Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro is a Japanese manga artist. He first gained success with his comedy series Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi! (1997–2002), but is better known for Toriko which was serialized from 2008 to 2016 and has over 25 million copies in circulation. He ranked 14th on Nikkei Entertainment's list of the most successful manga artists between 2010 and 2011.
Bakuman is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for Death Note. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from August 2008 to April 2012, with its 176 chapters collected into 20 tankōbon volumes. The story follows talented artist Moritaka Mashiro and aspiring writer Akito Takagi, two ninth grade boys who wish to become manga artists, with Mashiro as the illustrator and Takagi as the writer. Some characters resemble real authors and editors of Weekly Shōnen Jump, and many manga titles mentioned in Bakuman have actually been published in the magazine.
Nakaba Suzuki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his fantasy series The Seven Deadly Sins (2012–2020), which has over 55 million copies in circulation making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. He began a sequel, Four Knights of the Apocalypse, in 2021.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020, with its chapters collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. It has been published in English by Viz Media and simultaneously on the Manga Plus platform by Shueisha. It follows teenage Tanjiro Kamado, who strives to become a Demon Slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister, Nezuko, is turned into a demon.
Chainsaw Man is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. Its first arc was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2018 to December 2020; its second arc began serialization in Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ app and website in July 2022. Its chapters have been collected in 17 tankōbon volumes as of April 2024.