Number of Comics in the Top 300, by publisher

Total number of titles in the Diamond Comics Distributors Top 300 by publisher, 1997-2010

Diamond Comic Distributors, the sales agent for most North American comics publishers serving the comics shop "direct market," reports its top-selling comic books by unit sales each month. One means of measuring both publisher output and performance in the comic book shop market is by counting the number of items the publisher has placed across time in Diamond's Top Seller list. The following charts cover everything from the beginning of the Diamond exclusive era, in April 1997, to 2011:

The component data making up the graphic above is summarized here, in a table showing the average number of monthly items each year per publisher. The links lead to the annual year-end charts:

Average Number of Comic Books Ranking in the Top 300 Each Month
as reported by Diamond Comic Distributors

Year	MARVEL	DC	IMAGE	DARK HORSE	IDW
1997	49.9	82.4	38.6	24.3	0
1998	52	76.3	34.7	22.8	0
1999	46	83.4	31.8	24.3	0
2000	48.8	87.3	33.3	22.9	0
2001	45.8	71.9	26.1	16.9	0
2002	53.6	71.1	20.5	14.3	1
2003	58.3	86.8	34.9	18.2	2.9
2004	71.2	89.3	24.8	17.1	7.6
2005	80.6	95.1	30.7	14.5	9.4
2006	88.3	91.8	27.6	11.9	12.8
2007	89	91.9	26.8	16.5	13.4
2008	99.3	90.3	23.9	16.2	19.8
2009	104.1	87.7	18.8	13.8	20
2010	101.6	89	18.5	14	21.8
2011	96.4	84.9	25.5	15	23
2012	77.6	83.5	29.9	20.1	26.6
2013	74.9	83.7	32.5	20.8	30.8
2014	78.9	81.3	39.2	18.5	25.9
2015	79.6	74.9	47.3	17.3	25.8
2016	90.6	76.3	36.1	15.2	25.6
2017	92	81.3	39.8	13.3	22.8
2018	94	76.1	44.8	11.8	23.2
2019	105.5	75.7	34.1	12.8	21.7

Tallies before April 1997 are problematic for Diamond, as Marvel Comics was self-distributing from July 1995 to March 1997. Before July 1995, counts are again possible. December 1993, for example, finds Marvel with 103 items in the Diamond Top 300, DC with 65, Image with 12, and Dark Horse with 17. After June 2020, DC is no longer distributed by Diamond.
 
There are several reasons that the number of entries in the Top 300 is not an ideal measure of publisher performance. The average unit and dollar sales of comics on this table changes from year to year — and of course, it's financially better to have publish Top-10 comic book than two comics near 300th place.

On top of that, comics publishing has evolved. With the rise in importance of trade paperback collections and manga, some publishers maintained — or grew — market share while their item count in the comics list was the same or decreasing.

The Top 300 is also not a perfect indicator of publisher output, particularly in times when high outputs from all publishers cause a number of their releases to place past the 300th place item. In the December 1993 example, Marvel may have had 103 items in the Diamond Top 300 — but at Capital, which ranked every single one of the 681 comics released that month, we see that Marvel released 133 comics that month.

Furthermore, the Diamond lists are not entirely consistent from month to month and year to year when it comes to the treatment of multiple printings of the same item. Diamond generally tries to combine order codes so that like items have their orders combined — but some items slip past. And since 2003, reorders for a comic book can cause it to reappear in the following month or months on the list. The number of entries for all publishers above are, thus, slightly inflated beyond the number of new items that came out. Only consulting shipping lists — or reconciling monthly sales charts to omit repeat appearances — can really insure what items really shipped in which month.

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Still, it does show some interesting general trends in publishing. Immediately apparent are two more consistent trends observable at this level: the continuous increase of copies ranking in the Top 300 by Marvel from 2001 to 2009 and IDW from 2001 to 2010. In Marvel's case, the publisher's line had been much larger in the boom of the early 1990s, collapsing in size during the comics recession (and its own bankruptcy) that followed.

The specific month-to-month counts appear here below. Click here or click on the individual months to see the Top 300 Charts that make them up:

Number of Comic Books Ranking in the Top 300 Each Month as reported by Diamond Comic Distributors

Month	MARVEL	DC	IMAGE	DARK HORSE	IDW
1997-04	55	79	39	23	0
1997-05	45	80	37	22	0
1997-06	45	76	39	24	0
1997-07	51	82	38	28	0
1997-08	49	84	45	21	0
1997-09	45	83	38	23	0
1997-10	51	82	38	28	0
1997-11	51	82	38	26	0
1997-12	57	94	35	24	0
1998-01	50	77	35	23	0
1998-02	48	74	39	25	0
1998-03	54	76	34	23	0
1998-04	51	71	37	27	0
1998-05	51	80	35	21	0
1998-06	45	75	42	22	0
1998-07	49	87	30	26	0
1998-08	55	85	38	23	0
1998-09	56	75	30	23	0
1998-10	61	72	35	21	0
1998-11	49	69	35	20	0
1998-12	55	74	26	19	0
1999-01	41	73	20	21	0
1999-02	37	79	25	22	0
1999-03	41	86	27	24	0
1999-04	43	76	29	25	0
1999-05	43	75	28	25	0
1999-06	39	82	33	22	0
1999-07	48	82	30	25	0
1999-08	49	85	36	24	0
1999-09	51	94	43	24	0
1999-10	49	86	37	25	0
1999-11	56	89	37	26	0
1999-12	55	94	36	28	0
2000-01	45	84	33	25	0
2000-02	46	84	31	26	0
2000-03	41	98	38	24	0
2000-04	46	80	46	25	0
2000-05	49	99	36	21	0
2000-06	48	89	37	23	0
2000-07	50	87	40	23	0
2000-08	49	98	30	23	0
2000-09	57	87	29	25	0
2000-10	50	85	27	23	0
2000-11	50	80	25	20	0
2000-12	54	76	28	17	0
2001-01	50	71	28	17	0
2001-02	42	73	25	20	0
2001-03	39	70	29	14	0
2001-04	36	69	35	20	0
2001-05	33	69	30	16	0
2001-06	38	70	22	19	0
2001-07	46	69	25	17	0
2001-08	41	80	21	16	0
2001-09	50	69	25	14	0
2001-10	61	78	22	18	0
2001-11	63	76	25	17	0
2001-12	50	69	26	15	0
2002-01	53	74	22	14	1
2002-02	44	69	21	15	0
2002-03	49	65	18	18	0
2002-04	53	65	18	12	1
2002-05	52	69	20	15	0
2002-06	60	68	18	13	1
2002-07	60	69	17	15	0
2002-08	61	79	25	12	2
2002-09	56	73	20	15	2
2002-10	52	67	22	13	2
2002-11	54	76	24	15	2
2002-12	49	79	21	15	1
2003-01	49	76	23	15	2
2003-02	53	90	35	17	3
2003-03	57	87	35	17	4
2003-04	68	80	40	20	1
2003-05	56	83	31	16	1
2003-06	61	87	26	19	4
2003-07	67	90	32	21	1
2003-08	54	95	35	19	2
2003-09	58	91	56	16	3
2003-10	64	86	42	21	5
2003-11	57	92	29	14	4
2003-12	56	84	35	23	5
2004-01	62	78	25	14	6
2004-02	61	88	17	18	5
2004-03	66	83	29	23	8
2004-04	68	82	26	21	8
2004-05	63	88	23	20	10
2004-06	71	85	29	18	10
2004-07	71	95	22	17	7
2004-08	72	96	27	18	7
2004-09	83	93	32	12	7
2004-10	72	96	18	17	8
2004-11	78	93	29	10	7
2004-12	87	94	20	17	8
2005-01	71	99	25	11	6
2005-02	72	96	30	16	8
2005-03	84	90	30	14	12
2005-04	75	100	29	13	11
2005-05	77	104	31	19	9
2005-06	86	98	35	13	12
2005-07	80	98	31	14	6
2005-08	85	97	37	13	14
2005-09	82	100	26	14	8
2005-10	78	91	35	16	8
2005-11	87	93	27	15	7
2005-12	90	75	32	16	12
2006-01	86	86	25	11	12
2006-02	96	91	24	12	11
2006-03	100	83	40	10	15
2006-04	85	100	22	13	13
2006-05	89	102	26	9	16
2006-06	85	92	29	10	10
2006-07	87	88	29	12	11
2006-08	86	86	33	10	18
2006-09	76	95	26	13	11
2006-10	85	85	30	11	10
2006-11	94	97	24	19	14
2006-12	91	97	23	13	12
2007-01	88	98	26	15	16
2007-02	87	91	25	14	16
2007-03	86	91	27	11	11
2007-04	93	91	17	11	15
2007-05	92	85	32	20	11
2007-06	86	75	33	15	11
2007-07	94	82	28	20	15
2007-08	98	94	22	12	9
2007-09	82	93	30	21	10
2007-10	80	107	24	18	21
2007-11	83	100	29	26	10
2007-12	99	96	28	15	16
2008-01	82	97	25	24	18
2008-02	83	88	26	17	18
2008-03	94	86	28	15	23
2008-04	92	86	26	24	24
2008-05	96	89	24	20	20
2008-06	105	85	23	15	22
2008-07	99	97	26	12	21
2008-08	107	88	16	12	22
2008-09	116	87	27	14	15
2008-10	105	94	19	11	18
2008-11	93	92	27	13	20
2008-12	119	95	20	17	16
2009-01	92	93	19	12	21
2009-02	110	78	27	16	20
2009-03	99	79	20	13	26
2009-04	111	89	17	10	22
2009-05	105	83	18	13	20
2009-06	119	81	18	13	21
2009-07	98	89	17	14	22
2009-08	97	100	20	16	18
2009-09	111	97	16	12	14
2009-10	98	96	17	14	22
2009-11	98	82	18	21	17
2009-12	111	85	18	11	17
2010-01	89	88	17	15	22
2010-02	104	79	24	11	18
2010-03	106	85	13	11	26
2010-04	95	87	20	13	24
2010-05	108	90	17	9	20
2010-06	112	95	16	13	19
2010-07	102	93	18	12	22
2010-08	104	81	24	17	21
2010-09	106	84	21	19	25
2010-10	93	102	17	17	23
2010-11	97	91	20	13	21
2010-12	103	93	15	18	20
2011-01	82	76	30	11	30
2011-02	99	78	26	14	25
2011-03	114	85	23	12	20
2011-04	104	73	30	18	28
2011-05	96	68	35	15	24
2011-06	100	87	23	15	21
2011-07	92	90	27	11	22
2011-08	103	94	19	14	20
2011-09	104	68	27	18	20
2011-10	84	129	16	17	18
2011-11	90	86	25	19	22
2011-12	89	85	25	16	26
2012-01	80	84	31	18	22
2012-02	81	85	24	18	31
2012-03	74	93	28	19	27
2012-04	76	81	30	24	23
2012-05	94	78	28	17	25
2012-06	80	85	34	18	24
2012-07	74	81	29	24	25
2012-08	84	85	24	20	26
2012-09	77	82	26	18	31
2012-10	80	85	29	18	26
2012-11	68	81	34	25	29
2012-12	63	82	42	22	30
2013-01	85	84	34	17	28
2013-02	77	73	34	20	37
2013-03	83	78	37	19	28
2013-04	74	74	34	21	33
2013-05	74	79	31	23	30
2013-06	76	70	30	25	32
2013-07	79	80	26	23	28
2013-08	67	80	32	24	32
2013-09	63	128	27	15	22
2013-10	77	88	35	20	29
2013-11	72	78	36	19	35
2013-12	72	92	34	24	36
2014-01	76	74	43	16	29
2014-02	69	76	38	23	26
2014-03	74	75	42	22	28
2014-04	80	69	45	19	27
2014-05	75	76	41	21	27
2014-06	80	70	40	23	27
2014-07	91	83	36	16	23
2014-08	80	75	42	20	27
2014-09	80	115	30	15	18
2014-10	86	90	35	16	24
2014-11	79	82	42	18	28
2014-12	77	90	36	13	27
2015-01	79	80	38	16	27
2015-02	79	83	47	16	17
2015-03	81	75	44	18	32
2015-04	103	77	47	13	23
2015-05	81	68	49	21	24
2015-06	80	64	53	20	24
2015-07	81	72	45	17	28
2015-08	73	68	46	18	27
2015-09	79	69	52	17	25
2015-10	68	75	45	20	28
2015-11	71	76	53	19	27
2015-12	80	92	48	13	27
2016-01	89	78	46	17	24
2016-02	81	79	42	14	27
2016-03	88	78	33	14	29
2016-04	94	77	34	15	23
2016-05	102	68	25	14	29
2016-06	107	66	37	9	29
2016-07	94	77	38	15	22
2016-08	100	71	35	16	25
2016-09	77	76	39	18	25
2016-10	86	82	41	14	24
2016-11	84	82	33	17	26
2016-12	85	81	30	19	24
2017-01	91	85	29	22	22
2017-02	102	82	33	10	22
2017-03	88	87	37	18	29
2017-04	92	77	38	16	19
2017-05	101	81	44	11	26
2017-06	99	82	40	13	22
2017-07	91	74	39	15	22
2017-08	104	75	42	9	19
2017-09	88	76	44	12	21
2017-10	79	81	52	10	25
2017-11	84	92	43	8	24
2017-12	85	84	37	15	22
2018-01	84	103	40	4	21
2018-02	85	90	45	9	18
2018-03	89	85	38	9	22
2018-04	94	81	40	9	29
2018-05	100	76	47	13	21
2018-06	100	78	46	14	12
2018-07	95	62	46	12	34
2018-08	95	72	41	15	26
2018-09	104	65	44	18	21
2018-10	97	79	51	9	22
2018-11	84	68	50	13	27
2018-12	101	54	49	16	25
2019-01	100	87	36	13	20
2019-02	97	65	43	18	16
2019-03	93	60	41	17	23
2019-04	118	66	34	9	20
2019-05	124	59	26	11	25
2019-06	111	53	38	15	21
2019-07	106	85	31	11	25
2019-08	97	65	41	15	29
2019-09	107	83	28	16	19
2019-10	115	102	26	9	21
2019-11	85	98	36	12	23
2019-12	113	85	29	8	18
2020-01	109	96	27	9	17
2020-02	95	101	29	10	17
2020-03	102	83	30	8	23

 

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