Award-Winning Square Enix Series Beats One Piece by Nearly 100,000

Eiichiro Oda’s legendary action-adventure series, One Piece, remains the top-selling manga in history. However, Monkey D. Luffy has temporarily lost the weekly top spot.

Data from the Japanese statistics and media tracking platform Oricon highlights the nation’s best-selling manga volumes for the week spanning July 27 to August 2, 2026. During this period, Volume 17 of Natsu Hyuga’s mystery-drama hit, The Apothecary Diaries, dominated the charts with roughly 121,378 copies sold—outperforming every rival title by a margin of at least 84,000 units.

By comparison, One Piece moved 28,809 copies throughout the same timeframe. The complete top ten breakdown can be found below.

The Apothecary Diaries Outpaces One Piece in Weekly Oricon Manga Charts

Jinshi and Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries manga

The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 17 — 121,378 copies
Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You Vol. 9 — 36,518 copies
Space Brothers Vol. 46 — 33,913 copies
Tokyo Aliens Vol. 13 — 29,799 copies
One Piece Vol. 115 – 28,809 copies
Medalist Vol. 15 — 25,008 copies
Bride of the Barrier Master Vol. 8 — 20,566 copies
Hunter x Hunter Vol. 39 — 19,850 copies
Chiikawa: Something Small and Cute Vol. 8 — 19,664 copies
The Transfer Destination Was a World With Few Pharmacists — 13,663 copies

The newest installment of The Apothecary Diaries achieved roughly six times the sales volume of One Piece for the week—an impressive feat given the newer footprint of the franchise. The property originated as an online web novel written by Natsu Hyuga, which launched on the self-publishing platform Shosetsuka ni Naro back in October 2011.

In contrast, Oda’s sweeping adventure began publication in Weekly Shonen Jump in July 1997. The shonen staple celebrated its silver anniversary in 2022, prompting a wave of high-profile merchandise collaborations with companies like Seiko and Bandai.

Manga cover of The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) features Maomao. — Manga cover of The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) features Maomao

Writer Itsuki Hanao collaborated with Hyuga and artist Nekokurage to adapt the story into a manga published by Square Enix in May 2017. Set in a fictional empire reminiscent of Tang-dynasty China, the narrative follows Maomao, a sharp-witted young herbalist working in a pleasure district. Her life takes a sudden turn when she is abducted and sold into indentured servitude at the imperial palace.

Assigned to the Rear Palace—the residence of the emperor’s consorts—Maomao attempts to keep a low profile. However, when infant heirs begin falling fatally ill, her extensive expertise in medicine and toxicology leads her to uncover an intricate assassination plot.

After her investigative talents come to the attention of Jinshi, a high-ranking eunuch administrator, she is appointed as his personal poison taster and tasked with solving further mysteries within the inner court. Combined sales for the light novels and manga put the franchise well past 45 million circulating copies worldwide. A massive surge in popularity followed the premiere of the anime adaptation by Studio OLM (Pokémon) and Toho Animation, which helped drive sales from 24 million to 33 million copies in a span of just six months.

Additionally, The Apothecary Diaries secured the top spot in Oricon’s “Overall Recommended Manga Ranking” for 2026. The series edged out both Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and One Piece, capturing 1,200 votes compared to the latter’s 5th-place finish with 557 votes.

English editions of both the original light novels and Nekokurage’s manga adaptation are available through Square Enix Manga & Books, while VIZ Media handles the English release of One Piece.

Reference