I haven’t updated the downthetubes page offering some information on UK comic sales in a while, but while doing some research this morning I made a quick check of the ABC data for various titles and was pleasantly surprised to discover The Beano and The Dandy now feature — but sales of The Dandy are a shock.
Simpsons Comics, Doctor Who Adventures and In the Night Garden are among the best-selling titles.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations website provides free access to the circulation, distribution and attendance data for ABC certified Magazines, Newspapers, Exhibitions and Directories within the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Not every magazine is ABC rated, so several titles do not feature in the quick list below.
The data covers the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007. The figure listed is I believe the average sale per issue.
Humour
The Beano (DC Thomson): 74,419
The BeanoMAX (DC Thomson): 51,431
The Dandy (DC Thomson): 28,550
Toxic (Egmont): 54,049
The Simpsons Comics (Titan): 133,086
Simpsons Comics Presents (Titan): 90,005
Spongebob Squarepants (Titan): 45,297
Adventure
Doctor Who Adventures Magazine (BBC): 154,989
Power Rangers (Egmont): 52,588
Spectacular Spider–man (Panini): 45,595
Transformers Comic (Titan): 45,092
Taken as a whole unit the “DC Thomson Children’s Entertainment Package (Boys)“, which might include Commando, would appear to sell an average 154,400 copies per month
Junior
Disney and Me (Egmont): 46,638
Scooby Doo (Panini): 54,167
Girls
Animals and You (DC Thomson) 38,441
Barbie (Egmont): 55,018
Bratz (DC Thomson): 64,279
Disney Fairies (Egmont): 30,053
Disney’s Princess (Egmont): 69,023
The “DC Thomson Children’s Entertainment Package (Girls)” which includes Shout, etc., sold an average 131,272 copies per month.
Pre-School
Balamory (BBC): 36,555
Bob The Builder (BBC): 57,139
CBeebies Weekly (BBC): 65,179
Charlie & Lola (BBC): 54,937
Dora The Explorer (BBC): 54,000
Fireman Sam (BBC): 41,001
Fun to Learn – Friends (Redan): 84,340
Fun to Learn – Favourites (REdan): 55,344
In The Night Garden (BBC): 110,350
Lazy Town (Titan): 52,226
Noddy Magazine (Egmont): 30,044 – now published by Titan
Play and Learn – Thomas and Friends (Egmont): 40,386
Teletubbies (BBC): 42,895
Thomas and Friends (Egmont): 40,773
Toybox (BBC): 82,607
Tweenies (BBC): 32,909
Adult
Viz (Dennis) 88,165
While some comic sales are down, there’s still plenty of life in the sector yet. Intriguingly, girls comics/magazines are still a popular buy if you get the mix right (girls comics always used to outsell boys, I’m told) and of course the pre-school sector continues to boom by most standards.
It’s a shame not every title reveals its sales figures but this snapshot of the industry would seem to indicate continued health, for now.
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News