Archie Sales Figures for 2008

It’s that time of year again. Due to the way they mail subscriptions, Archie Comics are required to file Statements of Ownership, Management, and Circulation in their publications. So I collect the figures to see how an often-overlooked comic franchise is doing.

These are the Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation figures that Archie files with the government. The first number is the Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months; the second is No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date. (My thanks to Mike Sterling for his assistance compiling these.)

Sonic X ended in December with issue #40, to be replaced with Sonic Universe, which began at the end of February. For comparison, here are last year’s figures.

Here are the titles in order of best- to worst-selling based on average sales (the first number).

1. Betty & Veronica Double Digest
2. Archie’s Double Digest
3. Jughead’s Double Digest
4. Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals Double Digest
5. Archie Digest
6. Betty & Veronica Digest
7. Tales From Riverdale Digest
8. Jughead and Friends Digest
9. Sonic the Hedgehog
10. Archie
11. Betty & Veronica
12. Jughead
13. Archie & Friends
14. Betty & Veronica Spectacular
15. Betty
16. Veronica
17. Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Well, now we know why Sabrina ended with #100. It’s not just that its sales put it last, but that it wasn’t showing any growth. Note that the two titles closest to it demonstrate a double-digit percent change from Average to Most Recent numbers.

This list is in roughly the same order as last year, with the digests selling better than Sonic, which beats the Archie titles. (And the bigger digests sell better than the smaller ones.) The top-selling digest does more than 100K, while Sonic is in the 30,000 range. The top-selling Archie comic is around 13,000, with declines from there. Pals’n’Gals (which contains the latest “new look” gimmick story) swapped places with Jughead’s Double. The only other changes come in the last six books on the list. Archie & Friends (which is now doing continued stories) and Betty & Veronica Spectacular climbed; Sabrina and Veronica (which, in my opinion, has no distinct purpose or approach) dropped.

Now, let’s order them in terms of percentage change:

1. Jughead — sales almost tripled
2. Betty
3. Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals Double Digest
4. Betty & Veronica Digest
5. Veronica
6. Jughead’s Double Digest
7. Betty & Veronica
8. Sonic the Hedgehog
9. Archie & Friends
10. Archie Digest
11. Jughead and Friends Digest
12. Betty & Veronica Spectacular
13. Tales From Riverdale Digest
14. Archie’s Double Digest
15. Betty & Veronica Double Digest
16. Archie
17. Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I don’t really believe that Jughead figure, and I can think of no reason for it. The interesting thing about this list is that last year, four titles declined. This year, everything shows growth except for the last two books on the list.