Nintendo Still Atop The Charts

Nintendo is still leading the pack, with the latest U.S. numbers from NPD putting the Wii and the DS atop console sales, and 5 out of the top 10 bestselling games exclusive to the Wii.

Despite Mass Effect 2 enjoying critical success, the best-selling game in January 2010 was New Super Mario Bros. Wii with 656 thousand copies sold, according to consumer market research group NPD. ME2 was #2 with 572k, followed by Wii Fit Plus bundled with the Balance Board selling a staggering 555.7k units. As for consoles, the Wii sold 465 thousand copies and the DS sold 422k. The Xbox 360 nabbed 2nd place with 332 thousand units sold and poor Sony was in third place with only 277 thousand PS3s bought in January. Of course, people are still buying the PS2, with 41.6k of them sold last month, along with 100 thousand PSPs.

Overall, videogame sales fell 13% from the same period last year, with hardware sales hit harder than software with a 21% drop. The only bright spot is that sales of videogame accessories climbed 2%, from $211.8 million to $217 million. Yay!

It’s important to note that these are numbers for the United States only and that worldwide numbers are much different. The software sales numbers include collecter’s editions and the like but not games bundled with consoles like the MW2 bundles.

Not only is Nintendo the King of Consoles, but it’s kicking ass in software sales too. Nintendo grabbed two out of the top 3 spots with games that were released last year, one of which is bundled with an expensive accessory, the Balance Board. The other three Wii titles in the top ten were #5 Mario Kart Wii, #6 Wii Sports Resort and #9 Just Dance, which was the only Wii title not made by Nintendo (Ubisoft) on the list.

There are four Xbox 360 games in the top ten for January: #2 ME2, #4 MW2, #8 Army of Two: The 40th Day and #10 Darksiders. The only PS3 titles to crack the list was its version of MW2 at #7.

Here’s the complete software list followed by units sold for your edification:

1. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII – Wii – 656.7K
2. MASS EFFECT 2 – 360 – 572.1K
3. WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD – Wii – 555.7K
4. CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 – 360 -326.7K
5. MARIO KART W/ WHEEL – Wii – 310.9K
6. SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS – Wii – 297.6K
7. CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 – PS3 -259.0K
8. ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY – 360 -246.5K
9. JUST DANCE – Wii – 191.9K
10. DARKSIDERS – 360 -171.2k