Nintendo ($TYO:7974) continues to break records and dominate the sales chart with its monstrous hit, the Switch. The handheld/console hybrid has already outsold the Super Nintendo and competitor Xbox One for lifetime units sold, and there isn't anything to suggest this trend will end soon.

When we crunched the numbers on the best-selling games of January, both Amazon ($AMZN) and GameStop ($GME) confirm a few things: the Switch is a hot commodity, lots of people got them for the holidays and need more games to buy, Ring Fit Adventure is a popular alternative to a gym membership for New Year's resolutions, and the next Animal Crossing game coming out in March is going to do gangbusters.

Apologizes to Sony ($SNE) and Microsoft ($MSFT), who have to wait until the fall to make headlines with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Amazon

Name

Category Rank (Avg)

Platform

Ring Fit Adventure

5.5

Nintendo Switch

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

9.7

Nintendo Switch

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

10.3

Nintendo Switch

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

14.7

Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Sword

19.6

 Nintendo Switch

Minecraft

20

 Nintendo Switch

Just Dance 2020

20.4

 Nintendo Switch

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

21.6

 Sony PlayStation 4

Luigi's Mansion 3

 22 Nintendo Switch

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

 23.9 Nintendo Switch

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

 30.1 Sony PlayStation 4

Pokemon Shield

 30.6 Nintendo Switch
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe 30.9 Nintendo Switch
NBA 2K20 33.2 Sony PlayStation 4
Marvel's Spider-Man: Game of The Year Edition 33.7 Sony PlayStation 4
Super Mario Party 34.3 Nintendo Switch

The astonishing thing about this list is that launch games for the Switch continue to outsell newer released games on other platforms. The game-to-console attachment rate on Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 must be astronomical because if you buy a Nintendo Switch you apparently need to own those games as well. The only brand new game on this entire list is Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, which if there was a Switch version we imagine it would outsell the PS4 version.

GameStop

Name

Category Rank (Avg)

Platform

Pokemon Sword

30.5

Nintendo Switch

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

33.8

Nintendo Switch

Ring Fit Adventure

45.3

Nintendo Switch

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

52.2

Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Shield

55.2

Nintendo Switch

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

56.3

 Nintendo Switch

Luigi's Mansion 3

73.8

 Nintendo Switch

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

80.2

 PC

MLB 20 The Show 15th Anniversary Edition

100.2

 Sony PlayStation 4

Final Fantasy VII Remake

101.3

 Sony PlayStation 4

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

104.6

 Nintendo Switch

For the first time in a while, Nintendo dominates the Gamestop list as well. Usually, Gamestop showcases the strength of Call of Duty, but none of those bundles or versions show up other than the PC edition. Nintendo is thoroughly enjoying the success of the Switch, and raking it in, since we're at the end of one generation and not quite at the start of the next. Until the new consoles come out, expect the Switch to light up the sales charts going forward.

Animal Crossing is going to sell a billion copies, watch.

Both lists have been edited to remove duplicate listings, gift cards, accessories, and other non-game items. The Amazon list, in particular, had a cutoff: a minimum of 28 days on the best-sellers list. Some games were number 1 for a day or two, but then fell off, and that doesn't accurately represent what sold the best during the month. 

None of these lists account for digital sales, which are how most games are purchased these days. It's only physical boxed retail discs sold or ordered.

The best-sellers lists are based on sales-rank data reported by both companies every day throughout the month. In this case, we looked just at the "Video Games" category, averaged each product's sales rank for the year, and then weighted based on the number of days each product remained a best-seller.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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