Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

San Andreas is best-selling in US ever

Good work, Carl Johnson.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the best-selling game of all time in the USA, according to NPD Group data dug up by Forbes - GamesIndustry.biz's mag of the day, judging by this and the Apple vs. DS story.

Despite the fact that the data Forbes looked at went back 15 years, all of the titles on the US best-sellers list were released after 2001 - perhaps not so surprising when you consider that the best-selling console of all-time (the PS2) was released in 2000. Three titles from last year - Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, both from Activision, and EA's Madden NFL 2008 - have now made the top ten list, no doubt bolstered by their release on multiple platforms.

The top ten best-selling titles in the US based upon units sold are:

  1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (9.43 million)
  2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (8.2 million)
  3. Madden NFL 2007 (7.7 million)
  4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (7.3 million)
  5. Madden NFL 2006 (6.65 million)
  6. Halo 2 (6.6 million)
  7. Madden NFL 2008 (6.56 million)
  8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (6.25 million)
  9. Grand Theft Auto III (6.2 million)
  10. Madden NFL 2005 (6.1 million)

Viva Pinata better be number 11 or you're all in deep trouble.