I was wondering what the best-selling PlayStation games ever were for North America after seeing a similar thread for Japan. So I decided to lay it out.

Below is a table of games and their sales on PlayStation consoles provided based on North American sales. Figures are in millions of sales, with all games having at least 2 million sales. That number was chosen because any lower arbitrary number would be much harder to work with. Versions of games across generations are combined where applicable. Note that the PSP and Vita are not included.

General Findings

• Since PlayStation was launched in 1995 for North America, 113 games have sold 2 million or more in just that region.
• The oldest game here is Namco Museum Volume 1, a 1995 release in Japan. Because recycling content goes back quite a ways.
• The newest games here are Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Destiny.
• The Biggest Year above is 2001, with 12 of the 113 games listed. Of these, ten were PS2 exclusives. These included Gran Turismo 3 and Grand Theft Auto 3, which are #4 and #5 overall. The other two, Madden and Tony Hawk, also sold well on the PS1. You also had Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, and Jak and Daxter. Awesome year.
• Besides 2001, other outstanding years included 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2013.
• Some of the less outstanding years were 1995, 2003, 2006, and 2012, which saw four or less of the games mentioned above. 2006's two games, Madden NFL 07 and Guitar Hero 2, were also on the 360.

Publisher Findings

• Out of the 113 games, 27 were published by Sony, 24 by Electronic Arts, 18 by Activision, 9 by Take-Two, 6 by Namco, and 5 by Squaresoft or Square Enix.
• Out of the 27 Sony-published games, 10 were for the PS1, 7 were for the PS2, 8 were for the PS3, and two are PS3/PS4 multiplats. Gran Turismo is a mainstay across three generations, but most series from Sony are rarely that popular for that long. Sony's best year might have been 1999, when it released Gran Turismo 2, Crash Team Racing, Spyro 2, and Syphon Filter.
• Electronic Arts was fairly unimportant on the PS1, with only Need for Speed 3, but they stood out starting with the PS2's launch. 14 of EA's 24 games listed are Madden NFL titles.
• Activision published 18 of the 113 games, which mostly fell into three series. There are 5 Tony Hawk games from 1999 to 2003 and 8 Call of Duty titles from 2007 onwards, all the main entries since Modern Warfare. In retrospect, Guitar Hero looks like a fad, appearing in 2006, peaking in 2007, and disappearing after 2008.
• Take-Two is most notable as the makers of GTA, but they have some variety here. Midnight Club was a big hit before GTA3, and more recently they released Red Dead Redemption and NBA 2K14.
• Namco's appearences in the PS1 and PS2 era seem to be linked to their arcade heritage. Three of their six games are compilations and two are part of the originally arcade-based Tekken series. Perhaps their absence after 2005, even as part of the Bandai empire, is connected to the decline of arcades? I dunno.
• Square, Enix, and Square Enix combined only have five games listed, despite their often being associated with PlayStation. The last Final Fantasy to appear is 10, back in 2001. Oddly, the original Kingdom Hearts places highest, at #25 with 3.64 million sales, well ahead of Final Fantasy 7 or 10.
• Konami's four games include Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty, and Guns of the Patrioits, but not Snake Eater. The Frogger remake was apparently more popular.
• Ubisoft's only appearences are Assassin's Creed 2, 3, and 4. Rayman, Tom Clancy, and Prince of Persia all fell short.
• Capcom only appears twice, with only the Resident Evil series. None of their fighters appear.

Games and Series

• Grand Theft Auto is huge, with all top four spots. Interestingly, there is something of a gap in the series. The series saw a major decline from the PS2 trilogy to GTA4, but then GTA5 saw a return to form. Even without PS4 sales, GTA5 outsold GTA4 by nearly 2 million. Also note that the PS2 version of Libery City Stories did well enough to make it here.
• Call of Duty is the other titan here, with five of the Top 10 spots. It largely falls in the "GTA Gap" mentioned above, between the PS2 trilogy and GTA5. The five games released from 2009 to 2013 sold over 4.8 million.
• Crash Bandicoot was the biggest PS1 franchise with the arguable exception of Gran Turismo. Even Crash Team Racing, the spinoff, outsold legends like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil.
• Gran Turismo 1 and 2 each sold about4 million each on the PS1. The series peaked with GT3, which approached 7 million sales, but declined with GT4 and GT5, which sold less than GT3 combined. GT6 does not appear here, but it still has legs ahead of it.
• Madden NFL has 14 games, but these only first show up in 2000. The games sold around 4 million from 2003 to 2006, but declined with the PS3 transition, with the low point seeming to be 2011, when the annual iteration failed to reach 2 million. Madden NFL 15 suggests the series is recovering, with the best sales since 09 or earlier.

Random

• Six games have "War" in their title, four have "Warfare," and then you have "Warzone" and "Star Wars."
• There are no PS4 exclusives yet. However, Destiny, GTA5, and CoD: Advanced Warfare would qualify for this list with just PS4 sales.
• The last PS2 game here is 2010's Madden NFL 11.

Anything interesting that I missed? Please mention it!

So pretty much GTA and Call of Duty

Kind of predictable at the top but to say I was shocked to see Frogger above games like TLOU, FFX and Kingdom Hearts would be an understatement.

Awesome read !

PlayStation sure loves GTA.

Fun list, surprised by how underperforming final fantasy has generally been.

Strange that there's no PS4 exclusives yet, any guesses as to which will be the first? Perhaps Uncharted 4?

You should do this for Xbox and Nintendo as well. :D

Those numbers are just VGChartz. Honestly, when i see the thread title i expect a NPD list... that's not a good work.

At least for TLOU, I'm fairly certain that had the numbers on VGC been correct, it would end up ahead of Frogger. Because Sony confirmed 6 million sold as of march 14th 2013, and 7 million sold  as of july 16th 2013. More than likely it is past 8 million wordlwide by now, on PS3 alone.

GTA deserves this (especially San Andreas)!!!
And nice to see that Crash Bandicoot was a beast in North America!!!