Totoro Marks 500th Week in Top 300 DVD Chart

[sakabatou]

The DVD of Studio Ghibli's popular anime My Neighbor Totoro marked its 500th week on Oricon's DVD sales ranking chart this month. During the July 18-24 week, it landed at #33 by selling 2,184 more copies for a grand total of 1,084,134.

The DVD first went on sale nine years and 10 months ago on September 28, 2001, and it has been a unprecedented "long seller" since then. It sold its 1-millionth copy last May after 440 weeks on the chart. It is only the fourth million-copy anime title; Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle sold over one million copies since 2005, while Spirited Away sold over 2.3 million copies since 2002.

On Japan's all-time DVD sales ranking chart, My Neighbor Totoro is #9. The DVD tends to double its sales during summer vacations and extended holiday seasons.

Besides Totoro, other Ghibli works benefited from the July 16 opening of the studio's latest film, Kokuriko-Zaka Kara. Arrietty (7,291 more copies for a new total of 230,737), Kiki's Delivery Service (1,055 more copies for a new total of 460,973), and Laputa (893 more copies for a new total of 730,524) ranked #7, #80, and #92, respectively, on the most recent weekly top 100 chart.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-07-27/totoro-marks-500th-week-in-top-300-dvd-chart