In 2021, the government generalized the Pass Culture in France. An important initiative that offered all 18-year-olds a “gift voucher” of 300 euros to allow them to have fun in the cultural field. However, if this Pass (valid for 24 months) could be spent on cinema tickets, concert tickets, admission to museums or music lessons, it has above all allowed the young generation to have fun …in pounds.
What kind of books? Whether it’s personal development with books like Burn after writing by Sharon Jones et Always more by Léna Situations, fiction with The Bridgerton Chronicle of Julia Quinn or useful for studies such as copies of the Code Civil or Glossary of legal terms 2021-2022, the teenagers were particularly open.
The Top 50 best-selling comics/mangas
Despite everything, there is one genre that has had more success than the others and it is, without much surprise, that of comics and manga. As just revealed Weekly Books, this universe experienced an exceptional year in 2021 with nearly 9.5 million books sold, an increase of 89.2% in volume and 65% in value! To fully understand the magnitude of these figures, be aware that 7 titles surpassed 200,000 sales in 2021 when there were none in 2020. Similarly, the title that was placed 50th in the Top 50 best sellers in previous years had accumulated around 50,000 copies when, in 2021, the last in the ranking sold at 124,787 copies. For comparison, this score was that of the 10th title in 2020.
And to the question, “which comics or mangas” sold the most in 2021, the answer is… Japanese works. Still according to Livres hebdo, if it is Asterix and the griffin (Volume 39) which is at the top of the ranking, far ahead of everyone, with 1,547,576 copies sold, 28 manga titles rank in the Top 50 and thus represent 58% of the whole! A real feat when you know that Franco-Belgian comics are an institution in our country, and which gives rise to totally crazy figures and results.