Which Weekly Shonen Jump issue sold the most copies?

The biggest selling issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, and of any manga magazine on record, is the combined No.3-4 issue for 1995, released on December 20, 1994. Its circulation was 6.53 million copies, with a total readership in the era estimated at 18 million, since every copy passed through many hands.

What was inside explains the number. The issue carried 22 stories, with Slam Dunk in colour, and Dragon Ball and JoJo Bizarre Adventure both running. It landed at the exact summit of the golden age: Dragon Ball had months left to run, Slam Dunk was at full power, and the magazine had climbed from 2.55 million in 1982 through six million in the early 1990s.

The fall after it is part of the record. Dragon Ball ended in 1995 and Slam Dunk in 1996; by 1998 circulation was 4.15 million, and that year Weekly Shonen Magazine passed Jump as the top selling shonen magazine for the first time in 24 years. The certified print average fell below two million in 2017 and below one million, at 985,000, in the April to June 2026 quarter. None of that dims the peak: Shueisha chose this issue, alongside the 1968 first issue, to open its 50th anniversary reprint packs in 2017, precisely because it is the summit.