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Forums - Sales Discussion - Bestselling Console In The United States By Year Since 1986

DarthMetalliCube on 17 January 2024

Very interesting. I'm more a Nintendo guy but I gotta give Sega of the early '90s props for stepping up and toppling goliath. Unfortunately for them Donkey Kong Country was just too big to withstand. And then add PlayStation to the mix shortly after and game over.. I listen to Console Wars on audiobook a lot and it really gave me a new appreciation of Sega's underdog story of the late '80s-early '90s. Tom Kalinske was a baller.



 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident - all men and women created by the, go-you know.. you know the thing!" - Joe Biden

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ShadowLink93 on 17 January 2024

This is what i have since 1994:

Top Three Platforms in th U.S (millions of units)

1994
GEN - 3.27
SNES - 2.82
GB - ???

1995
SNES - 2.32
GB - 1.93
GEN - 1.89

1996
PS1 - 1.99
N64 - 1.97
GB - 1.68

1997
PS1 - 5.05
N64 - 4.49
GB - 2.10

1998
PS1 - 7.11
N64 - 4.14
GB - 1.92

1999
GBC - 6.45
PS1 - 5.84
N64 - 3.54

2000
GBC - 6.82
PS1 - 3.25
N64 - 2.53

2001
PS2 - 6.18
GBA - 4.75
GBC - 2.95

2002
PS2 - 8.39
GBA - 6.94
XB - 3.17

2003
GBA - 7.78
PS2 - 6.31
GCN - 3.27

2004
GBA - 7.08
PS2 - 4.68
XB - 4.01

2005
PS2 - 5.51
GBA - 4.37
PSP - 3.63

2006
NDS - 5.32
PS2 - 4.84
X360 - 3.90

2007
NDS - 8.43
Wii - 6.29
X360 - 4.62

2008
Wii - 10.17
NDS - 9.95
X360 - 4.74

2009
NDS - 11.19
Wii - 9.59
X360 - 4.77

2010
NDS - 8.58
Wii - 7.07
X360 - 6.76

2011
X360 - 7.28
Wii - 4.53
PS3 - 4.52

2012
X360 - 5.30
3DS - 3.63
PS3 - 3.41

2013
3DS - 3.81
X360 - 3.07
PS3 - 2.18

2014
PS4 - 4.68
XBO - 4.37
3DS - 2.57

2015
PS4 - 5.72
XBO - 4.93
3DS - 2.40

2016
PS4 - 5.10
XBO - 4.73
3DS - 2.49

2017
PS4 - 5.42
NSW - 4.87
XBO - 4.28

2018
NSW - 5.64
PS4 - 5.29
XBO - 4.36

2019
NSW - 6.48
PS5 - 3.83
XBO - 3.04

2020
NSW - 8.98
PS4 - 2.07
PS5 - 1.96

2021
NSW - 7.61
PS5 - 4.28
XBS - 3.73

2022
NSW - 5.83
PS5 - 5.66
XBS - 4.48

Last edited by ShadowLink93 - on 17 January 2024

Zippy6 on 17 January 2024
ShadowLink93 said:

Some data i compiled

Edit: I see while I was making this table you also posted yearly rankings, oh well. lol

Thanks for posting this data. So if we convert this to calendar years and rank the consoles:

Year 1st 2nd 3rd
1996 PS1 N64 -
1997 PS1 N64 -
1998 PS1 N64 GBC
1999 GBC PS1 N64
2000 GBC PS1 N64
2001 PS2 GBA GBC
2002 PS2 GBA XB
2003 GBA PS2 GCN
2004 GBA PS2 XB
2005 PS2 GBA PSP
2006 DS PS2 X360
2007 DS Wii X360
2008 Wii DS X360
2009 DS Wii X360
2010 DS Wii X360
2011 X360 Wii PS3
2012 X360 3DS PS3
2013 3DS X360 PS3
2014 PS4 XBO 3DS
2015 PS4 XBO 3DS
2016 PS4 XBO 3DS
2017 PS4 SW XBO
2018 SW XBO PS4
2019 SW XBO PS4
2020 SW PS5 XBS
2021 SW PS5 XBS
2022 SW PS5 XBS
2023 PS5 SW XBS

2009 onwards is the same as the OP but before that many years actually have a different winner. The N64 winning more years than the PS1 and the PS2 only winning one year definitely had alarm bells ringing for me so I thought something was wrong.



Console Launch Aligned Sales Charts

Famitsu Sales Database

VGChartz Monthly Sales Database

ShadowLink93 on 17 January 2024
Zippy6 said:
ShadowLink93 said:

Some data i compiled

Edit: I see while I was making this table you also posted yearly rankings, oh well. lol

Thanks for posting this data. So if we convert this to calendar years and rank the consoles:

Year1st2nd3rd
1996PS1N64-
1997PS1N64-
1998PS1N64GBC
1999GBCPS1N64
2000GBCPS1N64
2001PS2GBAGBC
2002PS2GBAXB
2003GBAPS2GCN
2004GBAPS2XB
2005PS2GBAPSP
2006DSPS2X360
2007DSWiiX360
2008WiiDSX360
2009DSWiiX360
2010DSWiiX360
2011X360WiiPS3
2012X3603DSPS3
20133DSX360PS3
2014PS4XBO3DS
2015PS4XBO3DS
2016PS4XBO3DS
2017PS4SWXBO
2018SWXBOPS4
2019SWXBOPS4
2020SWPS5XBS
2021SWPS5XBS
2022SWPS5XBS
2023PS5SWXBS

2009 onwards is the same as the OP but before that many years actually have a different winner. The N64 winning more years than the PS1 and the PS2 only winning one year definitely had alarm bells ringing for me so I thought something was wrong.

Yeah there are a few mistakes in the OP. Also PS5 should win 2024 but that's where it's yearly wins will probably end.



Qwark on 17 January 2024
ShadowLink93 said:
Zippy6 said:

Edit: I see while I was making this table you also posted yearly rankings, oh well. lol

Thanks for posting this data. So if we convert this to calendar years and rank the consoles:

Year 1st 2nd 3rd
1996 PS1 N64 -
1997 PS1 N64 -
1998 PS1 N64 GBC
1999 GBC PS1 N64
2000 GBC PS1 N64
2001 PS2 GBA GBC
2002 PS2 GBA XB
2003 GBA PS2 GCN
2004 GBA PS2 XB
2005 PS2 GBA PSP
2006 DS PS2 X360
2007 DS Wii X360
2008 Wii DS X360
2009 DS Wii X360
2010 DS Wii X360
2011 X360 Wii PS3
2012 X360 3DS PS3
2013 3DS X360 PS3
2014 PS4 XBO 3DS
2015 PS4 XBO 3DS
2016 PS4 XBO 3DS
2017 PS4 SW XBO
2018 SW XBO PS4
2019 SW XBO PS4
2020 SW PS5 XBS
2021 SW PS5 XBS
2022 SW PS5 XBS
2023 PS5 SW XBS

2009 onwards is the same as the OP but before that many years actually have a different winner. The N64 winning more years than the PS1 and the PS2 only winning one year definitely had alarm bells ringing for me so I thought something was wrong.

Yeah there are a few mistakes in the OP. Also PS5 should win 2024 but that's where it's yearly wins will probably end.

With GTA VI and the right 1st party games it might get a 3rd year victory in 2025. Especially if Switch successor doesn't launch Q4 2024 or in Q1 2025. Also shortages might bottleneck Switch 2.



Please excuse my (probally) poor grammar

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S.Peelman on 17 January 2024

It's funny how there are now two lists, by two people who I assume compiled this to the best of their knowledge, but I don't know the source(s) of either so I don't know which one to believe.

I like OP one's better though because N64 wins in that one.

Last edited by S.Peelman - on 17 January 2024

DekutheEvilClown on 17 January 2024
javi741 said:
curl-6 said:

GBA beating the PS2 in 2002-2005 is what surprises me the most, since the narrative surrounding that era treats the home console situation as the whole story with Sony dominating and Nintendo struggling.

That definitely surprised me too, and everyone wanted to make it seem like Nintendo was struggling hard those yeasr when they were absolutely killing it with the GBA, outselling the most successful console of all time for several years and the only thing that stopped the GBA from selling close to PS2 numbers was Nintendo themselves with an even more successful platform the DS taking off early. This really goes to show Nintendo was really never in difficult times despite what the media wanted to make it seem like. 


Apart from the fact the list is wrong you also need to understand that pure hardware sales won’t paint a complete picture of success. GBA sold 377m units of Software, the PS2 is 1.537b. 

The PSP sold 82m units but it was a bit of a flop because its software sales were awful. All the Nintendo pure handhelds had fairly poor Software sales but they did ok because the hardware was sold at a slight profit. This is why handheld market numbers are very misleading, it was not actually a particularly lucrative market relative to its size. 



javi741 on 17 January 2024
ShadowLink93 said:

Some data i compiled

https://i.imgur.com/0DUsjdQ.png" class="bbImage" width="" height="">
* Estimates as of November 30, 2023.

Thank you for posting this. I do need to update my list, for some of these consoles I used shipments to estimate their popularity in the U.S but it isnt as representative as actual sell-through sales data. Wish I found this data earlier. Yea it makes sense that the PS2 outsold the GBA for at least 2 of those years between 2002-2005. For the Wii v DS I used VGchartz estimates since I couldn't find NPD sales data, but seems like the Wii actually did narrowly outsell the DS in 2008.



Robert_Downey_Jr. on 17 January 2024
ShadowLink93 said:

Some data i compiled

https://i.imgur.com/0DUsjdQ.png" class="bbImage" width="" height="">
* Estimates as of November 30, 2023.

PS2 better in year 6 and 7 than year 5 is crazy!



I am Iron Man

JackHandy on 17 January 2024

Sega and Genesis killing it during the 16-bit wars... although I wish this list was separated between handheld and home consoles. Those were two completely different markets.