One Piece Overtakes Dragon Ball as Toei’s Top Earner

A changing of the guard just became official. One Piece has overtaken Dragon Ball in Toei’s 2026 financial reporting, making the Straw Hats the studio’s biggest earner for the first time in the modern era.

How the crown moved

Dragon Ball spent decades as the untouchable king of anime licensing, with merchandise and game revenue that dwarfed everything else at Toei. But the One Piece machine has been relentless: record manga circulation, the live action series bringing in a new global audience, films like Red breaking box office records, and an anime whose recent production glow up turned weekly episodes into events.

The timing is fitting. As Dragon Ball returns to television with the Beerus arc, it comes back not as the reigning champion but as the challenger in its own house. Competition between the two franchises has historically produced their best work, so nobody should mourn.

Source: IMDb News

My take: This was inevitable the moment the final saga started. One Piece is finishing the greatest long story in manga history while Dragon Ball is still deciding what it wants to be next. Momentum wins.