List of best-selling video games in the United States by year

This is a listing of the best-selling video games in the United States annually by units sold since 1980, with sales figures from The NPD Group since 1994. The United States is a very competitive market for video game developers. Games from different developers around the world have entered the annual lists of top ten best-selling games in the United States. The most successful developers are mostly from Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

Among the 41 reported annual top-sellers between 1980 and 2022, thirteen were published by Nintendo, twelve by Activision Blizzard, four each by Atari and Take-Two Interactive, three by Electronic Arts, and two each by Sega and Acclaim Entertainment. Video game publishers Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts managed to enter the list of ten best-selling games every single year with at least one of their games for the last fifteen years in a row. Of the twelve best-selling games released in the last thirteen years, eleven were from Call of Duty franchise and published by Activision Blizzard. Madden NFL and the Call of Duty series have been on the annual top ten best-sellers list twelve times over the last twelve years. Call of Duty has been the best-selling video game series in the US for the past 15 years.

The NPD lists do not encompass the industry as a whole, as some publishers, developers, and the majority of indie developers do not share data with NPD. Some video games companies also do not share physical games sales and some digital storefront sales such as Steam and Battle.net. Companies that share data with NPD include: Activision Blizzard, Atlus, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Capcom, Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, Konami, Krafton, Marvelous, Microsoft Gaming, NCSoft, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Games, and Wizard of the Coast.

1998
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the best-selling game of 1998.

1999
Donkey Kong 64 was the best-selling game of 1999. 7 of the 10 best-selling games in the US in 1998 were published by Nintendo.

2000
Pokémon Gold/Silver was the best-selling game of 2000.

2001
Madden NFL 2002 was the best-selling game of 2001.

2002
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was the best-selling game of 2002. 5 of the 10 best-selling games in the US in 2002 were published by Electronic Arts.

2003
Madden NFL 2004 was the best-selling game of 2003.

2004
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best-selling game of 2004.

2005
Madden NFL 06 was the best-selling game of 2005.

2006
Madden NFL 07 was the best-selling game of 2006.

2007
Halo 3 was the best-selling game of 2007.

2008
Wii Play was the best-selling game of 2008.

2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the best-selling game of 2009.

2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best-selling game of 2010.

2011
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game of 2011, followed by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Madden NFL 12.

2012
Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the best-selling game of 2012.

2013
Grand Theft Auto V was the best-selling game of 2013. The game became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history three days after its release.

2014
The best-selling game of 2014 was Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

2015
The best-selling game of 2015 was Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

2016
The best-selling game of 2016 was Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Among the top ten best-selling games in 2016, eight were multiplayer games and the other two had multiplayer modes. Among the ten titles, three were published by Activision Blizzard, three by Electronic Arts, two by Take-Two Interactive, and one each by Ubisoft and Square Enix.

2017
The best-selling game of 2017 was Call of Duty: WWII, followed by NBA 2K18 and Destiny 2. PUBG is absent from the list due to PUBG Corporation not sharing sales data with the NPD. Nintendo also do not share digital sales data with the NPD, thus Nintendo games are under-represented.

2018
Red Dead Redemption 2 was the best-selling game of 2018, Rockstar Games' first game in over 5 years. For the first time since 2013, the best-selling game of the year wasn't a Call of Duty game.

2019
The best-selling game of 2019 was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

2020
Top selling game of 2020 was Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and NBA 2K21.

2021
Call of Duty: Vanguard was the best-selling game of 2021. Two of the top 10 best-selling games of 2021 were Activision Blizzard games.

2022
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II from Activision Blizzard was the best-selling video game in the United States in 2022. The game outperformed the previous record-holders for the series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from 2011 and Black Ops II from 2012.

2023
Hogwarts Legacy from Warner Bros. Games was the best-selling video game in the United States in 2023. For the first time in 15 years, the best-selling video game in the US was not a game from Activision or Rockstar Games. However, due to the NPD being unable to track Nintendo digital sales data, only physical sales are counted for ''The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.  The NPD is also unable to track Battle.net sales for Diablo IV''. Call of Duty finished 2023 as the best-selling video game series in the US market for the 15th consecutive year.

2024 (January-May)
Helldivers 2 is the best-selling game of 2024 as of May.