Credit: Warner Bros., Toei Animation, DisneyIn a surprising reveal, One Piece is officially one of the most popular franchises in the world, surpassing Disney, Harry Potter, and many other popular IPs.
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When it comes to popular franchises, it’s hard to think of anything bigger than Disney. Not only do they have classic characters like Mickey Mouse, the Genie from Aladdin (1992), and Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), but they also boast the most popular theme parks in the world, like Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort.
If anything could match the House of Mouse, it would probably be Harry Potter. Not only does the series created by JK Rowling have a theme park presence with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but there are unbelievably successful movies and beloved characters like the titular Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), and Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). And that’s not even getting into the video games like Hogwarts Legacy (2023).
However, one franchise has surprised everyone, revealing itself to be one of the most popular franchises in the entire world, more so than Disney or Harry Potter. And that’s One Piece.
‘One Piece’ is the Third Most Popular Franchise in the World
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Recently debuting a live-action series on Netflix, One Piece is a massively popular shonen franchise that hasn’t stopped outputting content since the first manga dropped in 1997. The anime has been going strong since 1999 and has churned out over 1000 episodes.
That popularity seems to have finally made its way into the mainstream. In a recent poll by Fandom, One Piece is officially more popular than massive franchises like Harry Potter, Disney, Star Trek, Barbie, and Pokemon. In fact, the only franchises that are more popular than the tales of the Straw Hat Pirates are Star Wars and Marvel, which are first and second, respectively.
According to Fandom, the ten most popular franchises in the world are:
- Star Wars
- Marvel
- One Piece
- Elder Scrolls
- Harry Potter
- Barbie
- Yellowstone
- The Last of Us
- Fallout
- Disney
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While it is certainly fascinating to see how far One Piece has come since the Netflix series was released, this is by no means the only metric to measure a franchise’s popularity. If the decision were simply based on finances, Pokemon would rocket past the competition despite being ranked 21st on this list. And if you’re looking at influence, it’s hard to remove Disney from the picture entirely.
Then there’s also the fact that the Walt Disney Company owns the two IPs ahead of One Piece: Marvel and Star Wars. In the end, this ranking only really shows that One Piece is finally getting the worldwide recognition it deserves after almost three decades of existence.
Which do you prefer: One Piece, Harry Potter, or Disney? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!