Frieren Just Officially Dethroned One Piece in a Totally Unexpected Metric

Image: Madhouse/Crunchyroll

While One Piece remains an undisputed titan of the manga world, fresh industry data from Oricon indicates that a new guard is increasingly poised to disrupt its long-standing reign. According to sales figures tracked between November 2025 and May 2026, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has ascended to the top of the Japanese charts, edging out One Piece by a margin of roughly 20,000 units.

On the surface, this shift appears to be a seismic upset for one of Weekly Shonen Jump’s legendary “Big Three”—the historical triumvirate of Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece. However, the contest remains exceptionally tight, with Frieren moving 1.618 million copies against One Piece’s 1.598 million. What makes Frieren’s rise truly remarkable is that it achieved these figures despite a significantly smaller library of volumes and frequent publication pauses, standing in stark contrast to the relentless pace of Eiichiro Oda’s sprawling maritime saga.

One Piece has long cemented its status as a permanent industry fixture, even with its established schedule of periodic breaks. Oda’s rhythm of taking time off every few chapters has become a predictable, normalized feature of the series after nearly three decades. In contrast, Frieren has grappled with several lengthy hiatuses during its relatively short run, including an ongoing suspension initiated in October 2025 due to the creators’ health requirements.

The explosive trajectory of Frieren is largely fueled by its masterful anime adaptation. Since the show’s debut, the manga’s global circulation doubled from 10 million to 20 million copies. The premiere of its second season in January 2026 provided the necessary momentum to carry the series to the top of Oricon’s half-year tracking period.

Ultimately, Frieren’s surge signifies a broader evolution in the manga landscape since the debut of One Piece in 1997. While the Japanese market faces its own unique pressures, success today is often driven by massive bursts of cultural visibility—cultivated through elite-tier animation, social media reach, and accessible digital back-catalogs—rather than sheer longevity alone. Frieren joins a growing cohort of modern hits, such as Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Blue Lock, that have successfully challenged the old guard during their own windows of peak popularity.

Yet, these shifting rankings do little to erode the historical foundation of One Piece. With over 600 million copies in circulation, the franchise has transcended the status of a seasonal bestseller to become a cultural institution. While Frieren currently claims the crown, One Piece remains the architecture upon which the modern manga era was built.

Source: Polygon