The best-selling games for the past 20 years have been revealed

The video games industry is rather secretive in some ways, especially when it comes to unannounced titles as well as the performance of games which have been released. That said, thanks to a new report from Circana, the top 20 best-selling games of each year for the past two decades (in the US) have been revealed.

As shared by industry analyst Mat Piscatella via Circana, the top 20 best-selling games of the year in the US, from 2000 up till 2023 have now been revealed. The full list of titles can be found HERE, but the no.1 spot for each year is as follows:

• 2000:Pokemon Gold/Silver
• 2001:Madden NFL 2002
• 2002:Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• 2003:Madden NFL 2004
• 2004:Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• 2005:Madden NFL 06
• 2006:Madden NFL 07
• 2007:Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
• 2008:Rock Band
• 2013:Grand Theft Auto V
• 2018:Red Dead Redemption II
• 2023:Hogwarts Legacy

Observing the past two decades of video games sales in this way is interesting to see; being able to spot the shifts and changes in industry trends over the years – especially following the launch of 2009’s Modern Warfare.

For the sake of brevity, the top spot for all of the years not listed above went to whatever Call of Duty came out at the time. This means that over the past 23 years, COD managed to take the top spot in the US for 12 of them – with only GTA V, RDR2 and Hogwarts Legacy managing to dethrone it since its rise with 2009’s Modern Warfare.

It would be highly interesting to see what this list would look like in other regions of the world.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of the list? Are you surprised by any of the entrants? Will Black Ops 6 be the best selling game of 2024? Let us know down below.

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