US sales analysis group Circana has released its gaming industry sales data for 2024 as a whole, and you'll never guess which of the year's biggest releases topped the charts.
As ever, this data comes from Circana's Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, and it crowns none other than Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as the year's best-selling title.
That's not surprising given that Microsoft has called Black Ops 6's launch the franchise's biggest yet, but it will probably come as something of a relief given that the game was also made available on Game Pass on day one. Looks like that decision didn't do much to dampen its sales.
Black Ops 6's performance will also doubtless come as a relief to Microsoft and Activision given how much the series' budgets appear to have ballooned in recent years; Call of Duty really is too big to fail, so it'll be reassuring that this one didn't.
In second place on the all-format sales chart, it's EA Sports College Football 25, which, again, won't come as much of a surprise given that the game recently swiped the crown of the best-selling sports game in US history.
Helldivers 2, which was sitting at 12 million sales at last count, takes third place, while the hugely successful Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero takes fourth place. NBA 2K25 is in fifth.
In terms of platform-specific charts, it's a tussle between Black Ops 6 and EA Sports College Football 25 for PlayStation and Xbox, with Black Ops 6 topping Sony's chart and College Football reaching number one on Microsoft's.
Since neither game was released on the Nintendo Switch, it probably won't come as a surprise to learn that both Black Ops 6 and College Football 25 are completely absent from Nintendo's table.
Instead, it's topped by Super Mario Party Jamboree, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe taking up second place and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom in third. Mario Kart really is unstoppable, eh?
You can check out Piscatella's full Bluesky thread, which begins with data specific to December 2024 then widens up to encapsulate the whole year, right here. As always, it's worth a look if you're a numbers nerd!
