US Book Reading Falls and Manga Sales Follow the Same Curve
The literacy data and the post-2020 manga sales chart point to the same structural headwind: a population that finds sustained reading harder to do.
Reporting from 1 sources: Japan Powered.
Gallup data shows American adults read fewer books on average, dropping from 15.6 in 2016 to 12.6 in 2022. A 2023 federal study found 56 percent of US adults read below a proficient level. The same forces that cut book reading appear to be pulling down manga sales, which have declined steadily from a pandemic-era peak driven by Demon Slayer.
Books are losing the attention battle. The average American adult read 12.6 books in 2022, down from 15.6 six years earlier. A separate federal study placed 56 percent of adults at literacy levels that make moderately complex texts difficult. The author, a former librarian, compiled estimated top-10 manga sales from 2019 through 2024 and found a slow decline after the Demon Slayer spike of 2020. The pattern matches what publishers have been saying privately: kids and teens are reading less manga, just as adults are reading fewer books overall. Screen reading habits, shallower comprehension on digital devices, and competition from passive entertainment all get cited as contributors.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Japan Powered Manga and Book Reading’s Decline in the US