One Piece officially beats Dragon Ball in Toei sales

Toei Animation Studio has been at the forefront of some of the biggest anime franchises in Japan. Founded in 1948, this studio has brought to life some of the biggest IPs in the world today, such as Eiichiro Oda's magnum opus. One pieceAkira Toriyama Dragon Balland Naoko Takeuchi Sailor Moonamong many other monumental series.

Among all the IP addresses that Toei has acquired for some time, Dragon Ball and One piece they were his best artists. While Dragon Ball is used to top the charts as the biggest source of revenue in the last fiscal year, One piece officially defeated, by quite a large margin.

One Piece dethroned Dragon Ball as Toei's top-grossing franchise last fiscal year

One piece is a great series created by Eiichiro Oda that began its serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in July 1997. Two years after the manga's debut, it received an anime adaptation by Toei Animation, one of Japan's largest studios. Meanwhile, Dragon Ball, created by the legendary Akira Toriyama in 1984, was already huge at this point. Around the time of the beginnings of One Piece, Dragon Ball became known to many as the father of shonen. From 1986, Toei Animation also took care of its adaptation.

Over the years, these two franchises have generated revenue in the millions, with their influence only growing with time. Toei holds them as their biggest IPs and they are often at the top of the charts when it comes to generating revenue for the studio. While the two ranks are often neck and neck, Dragon Ball used to be at the very top until One Piece started to rise in popularity.

For the latest fiscal year, dating back to March 2026, the latest report from Toei Animation released on May 12, 2026 officially revealed that One Piece not only beat Dragon Ball, but also blew it out of the water, as evident from the new numbers. According to recent earnings reports from Toei Animation One Piece grossed $179.6 million for the year. Meantime, Dragon Ball peaked at $134.2 million. These two series are far ahead of any other Toei franchise, as indicated by the fact that the third highest-grossing IP, Digimon, has only $20 million, a fraction of what the other two have generated. This shows the grip they have on the industry as a whole.

One Piece Tops in Domestic Licensing, Overseas Films, and Overseas Licensing

Image by Toei Animation

Toei's latest fiscal report for the past year categorizes three main sources of revenue, namely:

• Home license

• Overseas movie

• Overseas Licensing

The biggest chunk of money made by Dragon Ball and One piece comes from overseas licenses. There alone, One Piece earned 12.5 million yen, while Dragon Ball earned 11.3 million. For One piecethere is growth from last year, while Dragon Ball saw a loss here. It also revealed that the overseas film saw a massive increase for the One Piece franchise, going from 8.8 million to 10.2 million. Meanwhile, with overseas licenses, Dragon Ball posted a loss again, falling from ¥6.5 to ¥4.3 million.

In domestic licenses, both series actually saw a slight drop from around 6 million to 5 million. Either way, in all of these categories, One Piece maintains its number one spot and Dragon Ball holds the second spot. For context, One Piece and Dragon Ball each individually trump all other series combined for Toei.

One Piece and Dragon Ball will stand as the mainstays of Toei animation in 2026

WITH One piece and Dragon Ball As Toei Animation is the biggest money maker, the studio is expected to produce high quality content for these series with their new projects. One Piece is currently continuing its current anime adaptation. Right now the story is in the Elbaf Arc and for the most part the adaptation has been great, only pacing issues remain. The Elbaf arc will release 13 episodes in the first half before returning later this year with a batch of 13 more episodes.

Meanwhile, Dragon Ball has faced some setbacks following the death of its creator Akira Toriyama in 2024. The manga for the series has slowed down, as has the anime, with its most recent project being Dragon Ball Daima in 2024. Despite this, Toei Animation recently revealed major projects for the Dragon Ball franchise that will continue until the end of 2026.

Based on the information published in Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri in January 2026, the series will receive a Beerus anime remake this year, followed by a Resurrection F remake, as well as a sequel story called Dragon Ball: The Galactic Patrol, later in the series. Moving forward, these two series will further solidify themselves as Toei Animation's mainstays.

Source: Toei Animation Financial Report