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The New York Times has published its weekly list of the top 10 selling manga books.

Three titles broke into the top five this week, which saw plenty of movement up and down the list.

The first volume of Yen Press’ Black Butler debuted in first place, along with Volume 25 of Del Ray’s Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle in second.

Last week’s first and second-place books--Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 22, and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Volume 4--fell to third and fourth respectively.

The latest volume of Shugo Chara!, another newcomer, rounded out the top five.

Naruto, Volume 46, fell three spots to sixth place.

Maximum Ride held onto the next two spots with Volume 2 in seventh and Volume 1 in eighth. The pair have been continuously in the top 10 since mid-December.

One Piece, Volume 24, and Vampire Knight, Volume 8, switched positions from last week to round out the list in ninth and 10th place respectively.

Volumes 1 and 7 of Vampire Knight, as well as the first volume of Death Note, fell from the top 10.

The full list was:

1. Black Butler, Volume 1, by Yana Toboso (Yen Press)

2. Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 25, by Clamp (Del Ray)

3. Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 22, by Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ Media)

4. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Volume 4, by Naoyuki Kageyama (VIZ Media)

5. Shugo Chara!, Volume 8, by Peach-Pit (Del Ray)

6. Naruto, Volume 46, by Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ Media)

7. Maximum Ride, Volume 2, by James Patterson and NaRae Lee (Yen Press)

8. Maximum Ride, Volume 1, by James Patterson and NaRae Lee (Yen Press)

9. One Piece, Volume 24, by Eiichiro Oda (VIZ Media)

10. Vampire Knight, Volume 8, by Matsuri Hino (VIZ Media)

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Tokyopop has pushed back its next Tokyopop Insider webinar featuring artist Benjamin to Feb. 8.

The webinar will begin at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST).

For more information, and a link to the webinar itself, click here.

The artist's works include Orange and Remember.

“Benjamin's eye-catching art style and emotionally provoking stories that everyone can relate to have drawn the attention of the comic world,” the company said in the announcement. “For all you aspiring artist out there, this is a great chance to have all your questions answered.”

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The live-action adaptation of Min-Woo Hyung’s Priest has been pushed back to January 2011, when it will be released in 3D.

ComingSoon.net reported today (Thursday) the move in release date for Priest was one of several by Sony’s Screen Gems. The film had been set for release in August.

Director Scott Stewart was asked about the upcoming film in numerous interviews leading up to last weekend’s release of Legion, which he also directed, but there was no mention of 3D.

Filming on Priest was reportedly completed in November.

The cast includes Stephen Moyer (True Blood), Lily Collins (90210), Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code), Karl Urban (Star Trek), Cam Gigandet (Twilight) and Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard).

The manga follows Ivan (Bettany), a man who sold his soul to the devil for the power to fight evil, as he battles against the fallen hordes armed with a blade and silver bullets.

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Yen Press announced this week a wide range of previously undisclosed manga and novel properties set for release in 2010, including The Melancholy Of Suzumiya-Haruhi-Chan and K-On!.

Perhaps the biggest title on the list was The Melancholy Of Suzumiya-Haruhi-Chan.

“The first volume of the highly anticipated yon koma featuring all new adventures from Haruhi and the rest of the S.O.S. Brigade will debut in October 2010 to the cheers of Haruhi fans everywhere,” the company said in its announcement. “Yen is absolutely thrilled to be adding this series to its already prodigious lineup of yon koma.”

Yen will follow in November with the launch of Kakifly’s K-On!.

“The four girls who make up their high school music club have set Japan on fire, and their fame is only going to grow when they take the stage for the first time in the states this fall,” Yen said.

In the novel department, the first installment of Mizuki Nomura’s Bungaku Shoujo series will be released in July. Book Girl And The Suicidal Mime is the story of Konoha Inoue, a gifted writer who has lost his passion and is inducted into his school’s literature club by its only other member, the beautiful Touko Amano--a book goblin who literally devours the printed word.

Returning to manga, Yen will publish in November Not Love But Delicious Foods, a manga chronicling Y-Naga’s love of food and eateries in Japan.

“There are some hardcore Yoshinaga Fumi fans on staff at Yen Press, and they are salivating in anticipation of this book’s release,” the company said.

The final property in the announcement is Goldilocks and the Seven Squat Bears, a picture book in comics form.

“What do you get when you take seven adorably diminutive bears and mash them up with some of the world’s most famous fairy tales? You get Émile Bravo’s brilliant and hilarious Goldilocks and the Seven Squat Bears. Readers young and old alike will delight in the misadventures of these dwarf bruins as they attempt to rid their home of the giant lady who’s fallen asleep in their beds. Expect to see lots of cameo appearances by some of your favorite fairy tale figures from your youth.”

To read the full announcement, click here.

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The New York Times has published its weekly list of the top 10 selling manga books.

No new titles debuted this week, but two others returned to the top 10 as Maximum Ride and Vampire Knight combined to hold onto half of the list.

Volume 22 of Fullmetal Alchemist moved up three spots in its second week on the list to take over the top position. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Volume 4, and Naruto, Volume 46, dropped one position each to second and third.

The first volume of Vampire Knight continued its strong run, jumping three spots to fourth. The title also held onto sixth and ninth places with Volumes 7 and 8 respectively.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Maximum Ride swapped their fifth and eighth place positions from last week, the first time the former has outpaced the latter.

Another starter volume returning to the top 10 was Death Note in seventh place.

One Piece lost Volume 25 from the list, but Volume 24 managed to cling to 10th place.

Also dropping from the top 10 was Bleach, Volume 29.

The full list was:

1. Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 22, by Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ Media)

2. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Volume 4, by Naoyuki Kageyama (VIZ Media)

3. Naruto, Volume 46, by Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ Media)

4. Vampire Knight, Volume 1, by Matsuri Hino (VIZ Media)

5. Maximum Ride, Volume 1, by James Patterson and NaRae Lee (Yen Press)

6. Vampire Knight, Volume 7, by Matsuri Hino (VIZ Media)

7. Death Note, Volume 1, by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (VIZ Media)

8. Maximum Ride, Volume 2, by James Patterson and NaRae Lee (Yen Press)

9. Vampire Knight, Volume 8, by Matsuri Hino (VIZ Media)

6. One Piece, Volume 24, by Eiichiro Oda (VIZ Media)

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Anime News Network has published translated figures from an Oricon report on the Japanese publishing industry.

According to the report, five billion manga volumes were sold in 2009, representing ¥270.5 billion ($2.9 billion) in sales.

This was 23.4 percent of the entire ¥1.1 trillion publishing market by value and 38.3 percent in copies sold.

Among the major manga publishers, Shueisha had the largest market share, followed by Kodansha.

For the full table, click here.

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Priest creator Min-Woo Hyung is working with director Scott Stewart’s upcoming live-action adaptation of his Tokyopop manga.

Stewart revealed in a recent interview with MTV Splash Page that his film does not fit directly into the timeline of the manga, but Min-Woo Hyung has offered input.

"People will see we've worked with Min-Woo because we love his book and he came out over this summer," Stewart told MTV. "The TokyoPop gang brought him out from Korea and walked him through the art department, and we talked about the story a lot, and he talked about he wanted to continue his storyline and how essentially it could evolve [into] the storyline of the movie."

Earlier this month Stewart told Ain’t it Cool News the film will include an animated prologue.

Filming on the adaptation wrapped in November 2009 and it is currently in post-production. The movie is set to be released in August.

The cast includes Stephen Moyer (True Blood), Lily Collins (90210), Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code), Karl Urban (Star Trek), Cam Gigandet (Twilight) and Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard).

The manga follows Ivan (Bettany), a man who sold his soul to the devil for the power to fight evil, as he battles against the fallen hordes, armed with a blade and silver bullets.

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Citing the down economy, manga publisher Go! Comi announced on its forum that the company was putting a number of titles on hold and might discontinue its Web site temporarily.

In a post publisher Friday, Jan. 22, the company stated: “Go! Comi is riding out a pretty tough storm in the publishing industry right now due to a combination of economic downturn and digital theft, both of which have had a devastating effect on even the biggest publishing companies. A lot of small-to-medium publishers (we fit into medium, at this point) have had to scale back their operations, let employees go, double up workloads, and put many of their books on hiatus or cancel them entirely. It would not be unreasonable to assume Go! has had to do some of these things itself, though I can't get into specifics there.”

The post continued to state that the site’s online store would be a good gauge as to what titles were on hold and which were continuing.

“If [a title] is available on our store, it is available in regular stores. If it is not, either it has not yet left the printers or it is on hold. Titles that were due six months ago but are not out yet are most likely on hold. Since licensing manga is currently an unpredictable business, what is on hold today might literally go into production tomorrow, so it's not possible for us to give you an accurate prediction of when late titles will become available.”

The post also discussed the site itself.

“It's expensive to run the site, but ways have been found to keep it alive during these tough times so far. We are looking at the possibility of scaling it back, however, or eventually shutting it down until the economy picks up again. If we do that, we will give you advanced warning!”

Read the full post here.

Found via Icarus Publishing

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VIZ Media will debut Biomega, from Tsutomu Nihei, the creator of the popular Blame! manga, on Feb 2.

Zoichi Kanoe plunges into the depths of 9JO, a sprawling island city in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in search of Eon Green, a girl with the power to transmute the N5S virus. The deadly contagion is spreading across the world, turning humans into disfigured, zombie-like “drones.” But he's not the only one looking for her. Agents of the Public Health Service's Compulsory Execution Unit are also in hot pursuit, with sinister designs of their own. Zoichi and his trans-human allies have no time to waste; the countdown to the apocalypse has begun.

“Tsutomu Nihei created Biomega with a jaw-dropping, intensely powerful art style that reflects his background in modern architecture,” saod Leyla Aker, editorial manager for VIZ Media. “The main characters--the “enhanced” human Zoichi and Fuyu, the AI in his rocket of a motorcycle--navigate this apocalyptic landscape in a story that offers pure speed, action, and suspense. Both manga and American comics fans won’t want to miss this exciting debut.”

Tsutomu Nihei debuted with the acclaimed manga short story Blame!, which was nominated for North America’s Harvey Award and won the Shiki Award in Japan. The artist also created NOiSE, a manga prequel to Blame!. His Wolverine tie-in SNIKT! was published by Marvel Comics along with a commission by Bungie Studios for the HALO graphic novel.

The new series, rated ‘M’ for mature audiences, will be published under the VIZ Signature imprint.

Read the full press release in our forum.