Modern Warfare 3, Xbox 360 top US 2011 charts

By Fred Dutton Published 12 January, 2012

Plus, full December top 10 revealed.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game in the USA during 2011, according to sales tracker The NPD Group.

Just Dance 3 came in second, followed by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Madden NFL 12.

The full top 10 was as follows:

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC) - Activision Blizzard
  2. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3) - Ubisoft
  3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC) - Bethesda Softworks
  4. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts
  5. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2) - Electronic Arts
  6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC) - Activision Blizzard
  7. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC) - Warner Bros. Interactive
  8. Gears of War 3 (360) - Microsoft
  9. Just Dance 2 (Wii) - Ubisoft
  10. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC) - Ubisoft

Xbox 360 was the biggest-selling console of the year. "Despite larger percentage decreases versus last year, the Wii and the PS3 were neck and neck in second place for Annual 2011," noted NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Preliminary NPD estimates put the total consumer spend on gaming in 2011 at somewhere between $16.3 and $16.6 billion. That represents around a two per cent drop on 2010.

Modern Warfare 3 was also the top seller during the month of December (as it was in November) again followed by Just Dance 3 and Skyrim.

Mario Kart 7 scored the highest new entry at number four, with Super Mario 3D Land sneaking into the top 10 at nine, after debuting outside the chart in November.

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC) - Activision Blizzard
  2. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3) - Ubisoft
  3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC) - Bethesda Softworks
  4. Mario Kart 7 (3DS) 4 Nintendo
  5. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts
  6. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2) - Electronic Arts
  7. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC) - Ubisoft
  8. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC) - Take 2 Interactive
  9. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - Nintendo
  10. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC) - Warner Bros. Interactive

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword would have finished 10th if the chart was based on single SKUs rather than combined platform sales.

Skylanders would have finished fourth if you were to combine sales of software bundles with the character packs tracked in the accessories sales category.

Hardware sales figures are still coming in, though Microsoft has announced it sold 1.7 million Xbox 360s. We'll update when Nintendo and Sony chime in.

Frazier noted that the only platforms to see a month-on-month increase during December were the 3DS and DS, "which is highly unusual since typically all platforms enjoy a lift in the biggest month at retail."

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 1 month ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TazerFan #1 1 month ago

    16.6 billion USD in one market over one year.

    Who woulda thunk it when we were little chaps playing Duck Hunt?

  • Subdominator #2 1 month ago

    MS had 46 % of the console market in December with 1.7 million units, that puts PS3 and Wii at about 1 million each. However we know from the previous Nintendo PR that they sold 1.1 million Wii, so PS3 sold about 900.000. Massively down from last years 1.2 million.

    The whole market is in a decline, seems like it's time for next gen consoles.

  • TazerFan #3 1 month ago

    @Subdominator

    Is declining console sales really an indicator that it's time for a new generation? Isn't it just a function of a greater and greater population already owning the bloody things? It's not a repeat-sale commodity.

  • Subdominator #4 1 month ago

    @TazerFan Well, they just made that number up.

    ... via all monetization methods, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games, is between $16.3 to $16.6 billion.

    I wonder how they measure used game sales for example.

  • Subdominator #5 1 month ago

    @TazerFan Well, if more and more people own the bloody things, isn't that the time to release a successor?

  • Snake_2011 #6 1 month ago

    Subdominator the PS3 did between November 18th and December 31st 2011 worldwide over 3.9m.

  • icelt #7 1 month ago

    Whadda you know, the 360 and MW3 are the top sellers in my home country. Even I didn't think there were this many twats over here ;)

  • Machetazo #8 1 month ago

    Joystiq mentioned in its report that the US NPD results (hardware/physical software/accessories) November 27-December 31 showed a twenty-one percent YoY drop. That's quite something.

  • Casserole #9 1 month ago

    I await the comments of American gamers not liking Japanese games, the same sort that plagued the comments pages of Japanese chart listing articles.

  • inutaihanyou #10 1 month ago

    Modern warfare taking the top spot is not a surprise. There is a huge install base after all.

  • telboy007 #11 1 month ago

    I played MW3's multiplayer once, when I complete the campaign I will probably trade it in. It really isn't my cup of tea at all. Black Ops was awesome though.

  • aphex187 #12 1 month ago

    Treyarch were once that fat kid that everyone picked on at school, now it seems the fat kid lost some weight and grew some balls to be the dominant one over everything else. Call of Duty really does belong to those guys now IMO.

  • mrblonde #13 1 month ago

    Sony's fall from grace continues, while msoft go from strength to strength.The reports of the ps3 neck and neck with the 360 WW were clearly nonsense. More worrying for Sony is the continual , commercial failure of most of its exclusive catalog.

  • Snake_2011 #14 1 month ago

    mrblonde did you read my comment above 3.9m seems like it is going really well to me. the playstation brand did 6.5m this holiday season so your gloom seems a bit far fetched.
    Edited by 2 at 13/01/12 @ 14:10

  • trebellk #15 1 month ago

    Blonde. The first party sales could be a genuine concern for them. In-house studios are expensive things to carry and if they're just not getting the sales they did under PS2 there has to come a point Sony slim down. In fact they've announced some closures this week I think? It's a very changed market.

    Overall sales are still pretty healthy and the competition has been great for us consumers. You get great stuff whatever platforms you own (or on all of them if your addicted enough to have bought them all like me).
    Edited by 1 at 13/01/12 @ 11:00

  • Subdominator #16 1 month ago

    @aphex187 Only the problem with your theory is that Treyarch had nothing to do with Modern Warfare 3, that was developed by Infinity Ward.

  • Subdominator #17 1 month ago

    @mrblonde You'd think they've learned it by now but seems like they haven't. The only great-selling PS3 1st party titles are God of War and Gran Turismo. Old IPS. All their new IPs failed to reach those heights.

  • telboy007 #18 1 month ago

    @Subdominator Thats what he said, more or less.

  • Snake_2011 #19 1 month ago

    Subdominator if they were not making money why would they make them your not making any sense. plus there games are just for PS3 a lot of them games sell on 360 pc wii.

    imo your just saying things that have no numbers to back them up UC3 has sold millions so has KZ3 so has infamous 2 so your talking crap.
    Edited by 4 at 13/01/12 @ 14:14

  • TazerFan #20 1 month ago

    @Subdominator

    Heavens, no. These things are manufactured and sold at a loss. Software sales are key to console manufacturer's profitability, particularly at this point in the lifecycle.