The 15th volume of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Soso no Frieren), authored by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, maintains its stronghold at the summit of Billboard Japan’s Book Hot 100 for the week of January 8.
The Japan Book Hot 100 serves as a holistic metric, synthesizing physical retail sales, digital editions, library circulation, subscription platform data, and social media engagement. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Vol. 15 continues to dominate both brick-and-mortar and e-book sectors. Despite a 14th-place showing in e-commerce sales, the title successfully secured the No. 1 position for its third consecutive week.
Ascending to the No. 2 spot is In the Megachurch by Ryo Asai, which climbed significantly from its previous No. 13 ranking. The narrative, told through three distinct perspectives, explores the intricate subculture of “oshi-katsu” (ardent fan support). The novel gained substantial momentum following year-end highlights from major retailers and individual critics. Furthermore, visibility for the 36-year-old author peaked following an appearance on TV Asahi’s Reiwa Roman no Goraku Gatari on January 3.
Securing the No. 3 position, Mina Miyajima’s Naruse wa Tenka wo Toriniiku jumped five places from last week’s No. 8. The momentum extended to the series finale, Naruse wa Miyako wo Kakenukeru, which surged from No. 11 to land at No. 5.
The following rankings represent the top-performing titles on the Japan Book Hot 100 for the tracking period of December 29, 2025, through January 4, 2026.
JAPAN BOOK HOT 100: Top 10
(Metric rankings in parentheses represent physical retail, e-commerce, e-books, subscriptions, and social media activity within the top 20. English titles provided where applicable.)
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Vol. 15) – Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe (1・14・1・-・-)
- In the Megachurch – Ryo Asai (-・-・-・-・1)
- Naruse wa Tenka wo Toriniiku – Mina Miyajima (19・-・-・1・2)
- Human Specimens (Ningen Hyouhon) – Kanae Minato (8・-・-・-・11)
- Naruse wa Miyako wo Kakenukeru – Mina Miyajima (10・-・-・-・4)
- The Summer Hikaru Died (Vol. 8) – Mokumokuren (2・-・19・-・-)
- Bomb (Bakudan) – Katsuhiro Go (-・-・-・16・8)
- Hakobune – Haruo Yuki (-・-・-・-・3)
- BUTTER – Asako Yuzuki (-・-・-・7・6)
- Strange Maps (Henna Chizu) – Uketsu (5・-・-・-・-)
