The magazine in Japan has produced some of the most popular manga titles around, including Dr. Slump, Dragonball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, DNA², Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, Slam Dunk, Shaman King, Kinnikuman (better known as Ultimate M.U.S.C.L.E in the U.S. or North America, Northern Europe, Oceania, and some regions), Hikaru no Go, Hunter x Hunter, The Prince of Tennis and many others.
Weekly Shonen Jump is targeted towards the young, male demographic ("Shonen" means young boy or man). It features manga with lots of action and adventure, often featuring young, male protagonists with special powers and/or abilities.
Weekly Shonen Jump was launched by Shueisha in 1968, to compete with the already-successful Shonen Magazine and Shonen Sunday. At its highest point, Weekly Shonen Jump had a regular circulation of over 6 million. Weekly Shonen Jump manga titles have also been translated and redistributed in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and also in Germany as the compilation magazine Banzai.
In 2002, Shueisha announced a partnership with Viz, a purveyor of anime and manga in the United States to distribute a monthly version of Shonen Jump in that country. In its first issue (January 2003), it sold almost 300,000 copies, making it the top-selling comic book of any kind in the U.S. for that time period. The titles featured in the American version include Dragonball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, Naruto, Shaman King and Sandland. Starting in January 2004, Shonen Jump replaced Sandland with Hikaru no Go in their line-up.