Legion sales data: March 2020 (LSH v8 #5)

Sales are still leveling off, with just a 5% drop from issue 4 to issue 5, just 1600 copies. We're starting to get into the region where retailers were able to see what the books were actually selling before ordering new issues, so I'd expect steadier sales in the next few months as retailers get a handle on how much to order. Still, it's DC's 18th highest selling book - consistently in the top 20 - 10 of which were Batman or Superman.

The Legion book came out the last week that books were available for sale before stores closed for the COVID-19 pandemic; it remains to be seen at this writing (April 30) when the next issue will come out, so it'll be a couple of months at least until the new sales data comes out (and then it'll have to reflect not just Diamond but the other two companies doing distribution for who knows how long).

Sales data via Comichron.

Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 8) #5 - May 2020
Issue 5 had two variants on 3/25/20.

LSH volume 8 #5 Standard cover Art by Ryan Sook and Travis Moore	LSH volume 8 #5 Cardstock variant Art by Alex Garner

TL;DR version: LSH #5 sold 29,058 copies (down from 30,675 the previous month) and was the #59 book for the month and the #18 DC book. 

Context:

• Combining both covers, LSH #5 was the #59 book for the month, with total sales of 29,058 (down from 30,675 the previous month). It was the #18 DC book (behind 10 Batman books, 2 Superman books, 2 JLAs, 3 Flash books, 1 Green Lantern, plus specials DCeased, Year of the Villain, and the new Strange Adventures). The #1 book of the month was Spider-Woman #1 with sales of 142,089 (no other book broke 100k sales), while the #1 DC book was Flash #750 with sales of 82,432.
• The $3.99 regular cover was the #78 book for March 2020, with sales of 22,570 (down from 23,075 the previous month). It was the #89 DC book.
• The $4.99 cardstock cover variant was the #101 DC book and the #241 overall book for March, with sales of 6,488 (down from 7,600 the previous month). 
• Still too early to say the point where sales will level off, where the book has found its base, but after the relatively small drop from #2 to #5 (about 18%) I'm going to guesstimate it'll level off around 27,000 or so.
• Digital sales of issues are generally not known to the public, but anecdotally the digital market as a whole is about 10% of the traditional market. This does not necessarily apply to any particular comic from any particular company. Diamond does not report digital sales, and it's the Diamond data going to Comichron.

Color key for tables below:

• Brown = 5 Years Later
• Orange = Reboot
• Green = Threeboot
• Yellow = Retroboot/New 52
• White = Rebirth
• Blue = none of the above

LSH v8 sales and rank 

Issue	Total sales (all covers)	overall #	DC #	#1 book
1	75,611	10	3	138,434
2	35,653	50	17	117,926
3	34,732	44	15	167,377
4	30,675	51	18	190,568
5	29,058	59	18	142,089

Sales drop historical comparison: ongoing series *

Date	Title	#1 to #2	#2 to #3	#3 to #4	#4 to #5
Dec 1989	LSH v4 (5 Years Later)	-33.5%	-10.2%	+2.5%	-3.6%
Dec 2001	The Legion	-14.0%	+0.0%	+0.2%	-0.7%
March 2005	LSH Vol 5 (Threeboot)	-19.0%	-7.7%	-7.0%	-0.1%
Nov 2009	Adventure Comics v3	-16.6%	-6.1%	+91.6%	-29.7%
Aug 2010	LSH v6 (Retroboot)	-22.0%	-7.0%	-5.8%	-5.3%
Dec 2011	LSH v7 (New 52)	-20.2%	-25.9%	-20.4%	-7.9%
Dec 2011	Legion Lost v2	-23.2%	-26.8%	-23.1%	-10.3%
Oct 2019	LSH: Millennium	-18.4%	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dec 2019	LSH v8	-52.8%	-2.6%	-11.7%	-5.3%

* Note: sales data from April 1993 to October 1994 is not publicly available, which coincidentally covers the entirety of the "Legionnaires" title in the Reboot era, so that title is not included in this chart. Also not counting "Valor" or any miniseries except for "Millennium".
** Adventure Comics #4 included a Blackest Night ring promotion

What is the bottom of the sales curve?

Year	Series	Sales at series end	Notes
2000	LSH v4 (Reboot)	17,500	Series cancelled for new Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost v1
2000	Legionnaires (Reboot)	17,200	Series cancelled for new Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost v1
2004	The Legion (Reboot)	23,300	Series cancelled for Threeboot
2009	LSH v5 (Threeboot)	22,300	Series cancelled for Retroboot
2011	LSH v6 (Retroboot)	21,400	Series cancelled for New 52
2011	Adventure Comics (Retroboot)	19,200	Series cancelled for New 52
2013	LSH v7 (New 52)	15,500	Series cancelled due to sales
2013	Legion Lost v2 (New 52)	13,500	Series cancelled due to sales

Not counting miniseries, which are known to have a finite end.

Top selling Legion books, 2004-present (since the start of the Threeboot)

Rank	Cover date	Sales	Series	Issue
1	Jan 2010	85,145	Adventure Comics v3	4
2	Nov 2019	75,611	LSH v8	1
3	Oct 2008	73,914	Legion of Three Worlds	1
4	Dec 2008	64,412	Legion of Three Worlds	2
5	Apr 2009	61,358	Legion of Three Worlds	3
6	Oct 2004	61,047	Teen Titans/The Legion Special	1
7	Feb 2005	59,944	LSH v5	1
8	Feb 2010	59,876	Adventure Comics v3	5
9	Jun 2009	56,888	Legion of Three Worlds	4
10	Oct 2009	56,706	Adventure Comics v3	1
11	Sep 2009	55,970	Legion of Three Worlds	5
12	May 2006	54,826	Supergirl & the LSH	16
13	Mar 2010	53,721	Adventure Comics v3	7
14	Nov 2011	53,285	LSH v7	1
15	Jul 2010	50,106	LSH v6	1
16	Nov 2011	49,952	Legion Lost v2	1
17	Mar 2005	48,584	LSH v5	2
18	Sep 2019	48,389	LSH: Millennium	1
19	Sep 2019	47,857	Superman	15
20	Aug 2019	47,777	Superman	14
21	Jun 2006	47,697	Supergirl & the LSH	17
22	Nov 2009	47,296	Adventure Comics v3	2
23	Feb 2008	45,803	Supergirl & the LSH	37
24	Jul 2006	45,520	Supergirl & the LSH	18
25	Apr 2005	44,824	LSH v5	3
26	Dec 2009	44,431	Adventure Comics v3	3
27	Aug 2006	43,918	Supergirl & the LSH	19
28	May 2005	43,408	LSH v5	4
29	Mar 2010	42,514	Adventure Comics v3	6
30	Dec 2011	42,504	LSH v7	2
31	Sep 2006	41,679	Supergirl & the LSH	20
32	Jun 2005	41,664	LSH v5	5
33	Dec 2006	41,554	Supergirl & the LSH	23
34	Jul 2005	40,970	LSH v5	6
35	Oct 2006	39,852	Supergirl & the LSH	21
36	Oct 2019	39,489	LSH: Millennium	2
37	Apr 2010	39,351	Adventure Comics v3	8
38	Aug 2005	39,155	LSH v5	7
39	Aug 2010	39,102	LSH v6	2
40	Dec 2011	38,385	Legion Lost v2	2
41	Dec 2011	38,248	Legion Secret Origin	1
42	Dec 2011	38,248	Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes	1
43	Jun 2010	37,573	Adventure Comics v3	10
44	May 2010	37,515	Adventure Comics v3	9
45	Sep 2005	37,272	LSH v5	8
46	Nov 2006	36,735	Supergirl & the LSH	22
47	Sep 2010	36,360	LSH v6	3
48	Oct 2005	35,834	LSH v5	9
49	Nov 2005	35,800	LSH v5	10
50	Dec 2019	35,653	LSH v8	2
51	Jul 2010	34,794	Adventure Comics v3	11
52	Jan 2020	34,732	LSH v8	3
53	Aug 2010	34,663	Adventure Comics v3	12
54	Oct 2010	34,239	LSH v6	4
55	Dec 2005	34,100	LSH v5	11
56	Jan 2007	33,985	Supergirl & the LSH	24
57	Jan 2006	33,500	LSH v5	12
58	Feb 2007	33,288	Supergirl & the LSH	25
59	Mar 2008	33,045	LSH v5	38
60	Apr 2009	32,851	Adventure Comics v3	0
61	Feb 2006	32,730	LSH v5	13
62	Mar 2006	32,513	LSH v5	14
63	Nov 2010	32,417	LSH v6	5
64	Mar 2007	32,342	Supergirl & the LSH	26
65	Apr 2006	31,649	LSH v5	15
66	May 2007	31,525	Supergirl & the LSH	28
67	Jan 2012	31,481	LSH v7	3
68	Apr 2007	31,381	Supergirl & the LSH	27
69	Apr 2008	31,123	LSH v5	39
70	Jun 2007	30,906	Supergirl & the LSH	29
71	Sep 2010	30,897	Adventure Comics v3	516
72	Jul 2007	30,767	Supergirl & the LSH	30
73	Jan 2020	30,675	LSH v8	4
74	Aug 2007	30,385	Supergirl & the LSH	31
75	May 2008	30,377	LSH v5	40
76	Dec 2010	30,246	LSH v6	6
77	Sep 2008	29,954	LSH v5	44
78	Sep 2007	29,826	Supergirl & the LSH	32
79	Oct 2007	29,315	Supergirl & the LSH	33
80	Jan 2020	29,058	LSH v8	5