It’s the original PlayStation’s 30th anniversary today (for the US release, at the very least), and US sales analysis firm Circana has compiled a list of the brand’s best-selling games since 1995 by way of celebration.
As always, we have the ever-reliable Mat Piscatella to thank for sharing this data on social media platform Bluesky, and the list he’s compiled is an interesting one, although you probably won’t be too surprised by a lot of the names you see.
Obviously, eternal moneyspinner Grand Theft Auto V tops the chart; it is, after all, a release that spans three PlayStation generations, and given the massive popularity of Grand Theft Auto as a franchise (as well as previously-reported sales figures for the game), GTA V‘s presence probably won’t shock you.
According to Piscatella’s data, there are no games from the original PlayStation era on the top 20 list, and only three were released on the PlayStation 2. Two of those are GTA titles as well, namely San Andreas and Vice City, while the third is Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
All of the others are PlayStation 3 releases or later. In second place, it’s the 2019 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with third place going to another Rockstar game in the form of Red Dead Redemption II.
Places four through six are occupied by Call of Duty releases as well, and blocky sandbox hit Minecraft is in seventh. Rounding out the top ten are Call of Duty: Black Ops III, then the aforementioned San Andreas and Guitar Hero III.
It’s worth noting that all of this is based on dollar sales; the unit sales column looks a little different, but there still aren’t any original PlayStation games on it, and even fewer PS2 games appear on the unit sales list.
It also happens to be the Sega Dreamcast’s 26th birthday today, and to celebrate, Piscatella has compiled a list of that platform’s top 20 best-selling games in the US as well.
Believe it or not, when it comes to dollar sales, Sonic Adventure doesn’t top the chart (although it does top the unit sales list). That honor goes to NFL 2K, with successor NFL 2K1 taking second place (followed by Sonic Adventure, naturally).
The Dreamcast may be dead, but many of the franchises on Piscatella’s list, including Sonic, Shenmue, and even Crazy Taxi, are still around today. Both lists are well worth a look if you want to take a trip down memory (card) lane.
