One Piece Loses Its Short-Lived #1 Spot in New Fiscal Rankings for 2024 (2024)

How can Monkey D. Luffy become "King of the Pirates" if he can’t hold on to the title of "King of Anime Sales?" A new financial report indicates that the One Piece series has lost its brief lead as the highest-earning anime franchise for Toei Animation.

A social media user who goes by the name of Schaewn Frost (@/Schaewn) posted Toei Animation's financial results of the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. This information is publicly available on the official Toei Animation website and deals with the Q1 period of April 1, 2024-June 30, 2024. According to Toei Animation’s financial report, the One Piece anime series sunk back to the #2 spot with 5.54 billion yen. Reclaiming the throne was the Dragon Ball anime series at 5.67 billion yen.

Dragon Ball Is Back on Top in Toei Animation's New 2024 Financial Report

Although One Piece losing its brief financial lead over Dragon Ball after snatching the crown in May might come off as disappointing news, the sales difference between the two franchises isn't as severe as one might think; a relatively small sales gap of 130 million yen stopped One Piece from retaining its top ranking as the highest-earning anime by Toei Animation. One Piece is also anything but a money sinker. In Bandai Namco Entertainment’s financial report for the fiscal year of 2024 (April 1, 2023-March 31, 2024), One Piece crossed the 100 billion yen threshold for the first time at 112.1 billion yen.

Meanwhile, Dragon Ball fans fearing that the Bandai Namco report -- which placed the series below the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise -- was the beginning of the end for Dragon Ball’s dominance can breathe a sigh of relief thanks to the new Toei Animation report. With Dragon Ball celebrating its 40th anniversary with new collaboration projects for fans worldwide and the new Dragon Ball Daima anime TV series launching in October, the franchise is looking stronger than ever before. That’s not even accounting for new video games, like the highly anticipated release of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero or the just-announced Dragon Ball: Project Multi.

One Piece's 25th Anniversary Year for the Anime Comes With Exciting New Announcements

Of course, the One Piece franchise is celebrating an important anniversary this year as well. The first episode of the One Piece anime series, which aired on Oct. 20, 1999, will turn 25 years old in 2024. This momentous occasion was celebrated at this year’s One Piece Day event in Japan on Aug. 10 and 11. Exciting announcements regarding the current anime TV series and its remake by Wit Studio were made during the two-day event, which included the release of the show's first batch of concept artwork.

The One Piece and Dragon Ball anime series are available on multiple streaming services, such as Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu. Both series are also available to read on the Viz Media and the Manga Plus app.

One Piece (1999)

TV-14

Animation

Action

Adventure

Follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew in order to find the greatest treasure ever left by the legendary Pirate, Gold Roger. The famous mystery treasure named "One Piece".

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Creator(s)

Eiichiro Oda

Cast

Mayumi Tanaka , Akemi Okamura , Laurent Vernin , Tony Beck , Kazuya Nakai

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Eiichirô Oda

Production Company

Toei Animation

Number of Episodes

1K+

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Hulu , Funimation , Adult Swim , Pluto TV , Netflix

Source: Toei Animation via X (formerly Twitter)