The physical format in the manga industry has just received a historic shock marking the end of an era of absolute dominance in print. According to the latest quarterly reports from the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association, the legendary Weekly Shonen Jump recorded an average circulation of just 985,000 copies per volume between April and June. This is the first time, since the current metric system was implemented nearly two decades ago, that the legendary magazine from publisher Shueisha has fallen below the one million printed copies mark.

To put the severity of this consumption shift in perspective, look at the publication’s golden age. By late 1994, driven by genre-defining titans, the magazine hit a historic record of 6.53 million copies in a single double issue. However, the mass migration of readers to digital platforms has taken its toll. The decline of Shonen Jump is not isolated; its direct competitors are far lower: Weekly Shonen Magazine averaged just 281,000 copies, and Weekly Shonen Sunday plummeted to 120,000, leaving Japan without a single weekly manga magazine that exceeds one million physical prints today.

Despite these numbers, which measure the printed run and not the global reach of its works, the platform remains the undisputed cradle of the planet’s most successful franchises. The community continues to consume its stories weekly, keeping pillars like One Piece and Hunter x Hunter at the top. These giants are joined by modern gems currently carrying the magazine’s weight, such as the relentless action of Sakamoto Days and Kagurabachi, the captivating world of rakugo in Akane-banashi, and recent bets like the fantasy of Ichi the Witch and the nighttime comedy of Someone Hertz.

Given that it’s now infinitely easier, faster, and eco-friendly to read chapters directly from a phone screen via official apps, do you think major publishers will eventually abandon the print magazine format this decade to become fully digital companies?